TE865, Summer 2019, Katie Spalding

                 As I explored this unit’s readings, I couldn’t help but feel inspired, confused, enlightened, unaware, encouraged, grateful, and devastated all at the same time.   These feelings started with James Baldwin’s Letter from a Region in My Mind in which I was called to consider a person’s perspective and state of consciousness when it comes to issues of race, but also those underlying issues of religion, love, and what it means to be “a good citizen”…and really even on a much larger, more important scale, to be a good human…or to even act humanely as a starting point.   I have always felt a certain tugging at my insides when I have been asked to dive into racial relations, slavery, the horrible things that have happened between white and black, past and present, my ancestors, his ancestors, her ancestors,   and he and she and I presently.   I have grappled with these thought...

               I have to start by admitting that social studies has never been my strong point.  In fact, that is exactly why I chose to take the course.  As I browsed through course offerings, I realized that I need to focus my time and energy on improving this area of my teaching and life, rather than shying away from a course that might provide so much growth for me both professionally and personally.   So often I have all of these deep feelings regarding politics, social studies, what it means to be a “good citizen”…such emotion regarding some of the prevalent issues in our country right now…but I feel as though I don’t always have knowledge of the hard facts, the theories, the names that have been so influential in driving our democracy forward, to really speak my mind in a way that is educated, makes sense, and can make anyone truly buy in to my ideas/arguments.   So, in a way, you might say that it was quite meaningfu...

Hi there! I'm Katie Spalding, and I'm an East Lansing, MI native. Both of my parents attended MSU in the late 60s to early 70s, met, married, and have yet to leave MSU's college town.  Living so close to the university, and having parents who remain MSU alumni, I've been bleeding green since birth.  I followed in their footsteps, receiving my bachelor's degree and teaching certification through MSU after attending Lansing Community College.  It wasn't until my third year of college (and taking a year off of school to gather my thoughts) that I decided to pursue teaching.  I always envisioned myself becoming a pediatrician or pediatric nurse, but decided that teaching was a better fit for the lifestyle I had envisioned for myself and my future family.  During this time, I also held a part-time job at the USDA, while also holding a second job as a nanny for a family with eleven adoptive children (eight from the same birth mother).  The experience def...