2. EDU697: Capstone: A Project Approach Professor Keith Pressey

3. Hello Professor Keith Pressey and everyone in class! Many of you know me from previous courses but to those who don't, my name is Pablo Vazquez and I am native from the island of Puerto Rico where I lived until I was 23 years old. I have several hobbies such as playing musical instruments like the guitar and drums, writing short stories and of course, reading. I also enjoy going to fishing trips with my father and take every chance I can to do so when I visit my beautiful Island.

4. I have been living in this great country for almost six years and it has been an amazing experience for me and my family. Apart from the birth of my daughter the other best thing to ever happen to me was my decision to pursue a degree at Ashford University. During these past few years, I had been working on a Bachelor's Degree in Social Science with Concentration on Education. Finally after a lot of hard work; on March of 2012, I finally completed my Bachelors and graduated.

5. Unfortunately I have not started to work yet on the career that I have studied for and I have no previous experience in the field of education but I am certainly looking forward to being in a classroom and helping kids’ acquire the necessary skills to achieve great things in their lives. It is my hope to eventually teach third or fourth grades, particularly in the area of history which also one of my passions. I hope to be able to help them see the importance of knowing history, what it has all meant to us as humans, as well as our achievements and our failures.

6. One of the greatest challenges I have faced during my time in this MATLT was being able to handle family life, my work and more recently moving to another state and starting over again. It has been difficult but I have never doubted that my efforts in maintaining stability when it comes to my studies and I am certain it will indeed pay off. On the educational side, one of the concerns that I had about the courses was finding out ways to successfully implement a significant change in my field of study with the use of technology. With the courses that I have taken in this Masters, I have been able to learn all the right steps and procedures that will be necessary in making this effective positive change in education. From all the necessary research procedures and planning to managing and crafting an effective action plan, all the valuable things I have learned in this Master’s will definitely be of great benefit to my career.

7. ““I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” ―Mark Twain I think that Mark Twain’s quote means that one should not limit themselves to learn only in the classroom, but to do so whenever possible. I think my whole experience studying online has helped me achieve exactly that because I have been able to take my studies further by researching data first hand over the web. It has been somewhat of self-educational experience that has effectively helped me understand all the concepts and information that I will be needing in the future. It has been an amazing ride.

8. Anyways, I am really excited to be here in my final course and I am thrilled to be here learning with Professor Keith Pressey and all of my fellow students. Good luck to you all and if anybody requires my help, please do not hesitate to ask!

9. Mark Twain Photo: http://zumaworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/bad-luck- mark-twain.html http://zumaworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/bad-luck- mark-twain.html Centre College: http://www.centre.edu/majors/history.html http://www.centre.edu/majors/history.html Globe Photo: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/t eaching-resources/?ar_a=1 http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/t eaching-resources/?ar_a=1