1. Introduction of Katrina Griswold EDU695: MAED Capstone Instructor: Orvie Mizzell-Bullock March 30, 2015

2. My Family Hello my name is Katrina Griswold. I live in a Prescott Valley, Arizona. We are located somewhere between Flagstaff and Phoenix. We are right in the middle so we get the best of both worlds, snow in the winter and not too much heat in the summer. I moved to Arizona in 1998 to be with my high school sweet heart. We were married the following year. We have Known each other for 30 years and have been married for 16 of those years. We have one teenage son who keeps us busy. He recently turned 19 and is trying life out on his own.

3. Work Experience Gerber Children's center as a Teacher Kindercare as a two year old Teacher Childtime as a Teacher Kindercare East as a Teacher in the two’s room KCEOC Head Start as lead Teacher NACOG Head Start Teacher Sacred Heart Preschool Director NACOG Head Start Teacher

4. I have been working with young children since I got out of high school. In the last few years I decided to go back to school to get my Bachelors degree and then thought why not finish and get my Masters in Early Childhood Education. So that is the plan! I love working with young children, and I am actually not sure what I want to do once I graduate. I have been a director but needed to be back in the classroom and be hands on with children, so I currently teach for our Head Start program, and have been with them for 16 years. I have a very large family, both my parents remarried. Giving me siblings scattered all over the united states. Both my parents families are from a small town in Louisiana. So I grew up with that southern hospitality all around. We have a mixture of Indian, French, and African American. I recently learned some of our family history, and where our family falls into the history of Louisiana. It was enlightening and worth the history lesson.

5. Professional Goals Working towards my Masters has opened options I had not even thought of living in such a small town. I have looked into working for the Health Department, licensing centers that will have children in them. Going to work in the school district up to third grade. My problem is even though I will have my Masters in Education, I still do not know what I want to do.

6. What was the challenge you experienced? Putting what I have learned into words that make since to others not just myself. It always seemed I was talking to a friend rather Discussing a topic with a colleague or professor. How did you overcome it? Practiced my writing. Write an assignment, read it and have someone else read it for me. To make sure I was addressing every point and not just jabbering on which tends to happen a lot. Still struggling with writing but trying to improve in both writing and verbal communication. How did the experience sharpen your knowledge and/or skill in teaching and learning? I need to know how to communicate through my writing and my verbal skills. I need to get the message across that I am intending to get there, while still sounding professional and like I know what I am talking about.

7. “These standards, the Common Core standards, are clear and straightforward. They will allow for more innovation in the classroom, less regulation, they'll equip students to compete with their peers from across the globe.” 4 Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida May 30, 2013 Reference http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2013/05/national_education_leaders_ war.html