Intro Letter of Louise

Hi! I'm Louise Fell and I am originally from England. I am currently here on exchange, from UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire) in the North West of England. I live in a seaside resort called Blackpool and it is a popular vacation spot for people in the UK. I completed all my schooling in the UK. Our education system is slightly different to the American one! I went to St Teresa's Catholic Primary School when I was aged 4-11 in Cleveleys, England. I then went to Our Lady's Catholic High School when I was aged 11-16 in Preston, England. When I finished High School I had gained my General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE's). The next thing I had to do was to get my A-Level's (Advanced Level) at St Mary's Catholic College which I achieved in 2007 and then I began my University Career at UCLAN. I hope to graduate in July 2010 with a BA(Hons) in History, and then enter into a post-graduate teaching credential course, or embark on a masters course.

As for technology, I think that I am definitely part of technology generation, however my little sister who is 5 can already do half the things I can on the computer, so I guess I'm not as good as I think! :) I am definitely a PC person at the moment, but I do like using the Mac and I am definitely being tempted at the moment to buy a Mac, however, they are a lot more expensive to own in the UK, so there is a downside to me owning one. However if (or rather when) I move back to the US I will probably move to having a Mac instead. I am currently using Windows Vista on my laptop and I have the latest version of Microsoft Office, which I like a lot better than the older versions of Office. It is a lot easier to use and you can do a lot more! I like to learn how to do all different things on the computer and I think that I am a pretty fast learner when it comes to computers, since I was the last year at my high school who did not have compulsory Computer classes. I feel that now it is incorporated into the Curriculum in the UK, it is an essential tool that is needed in the outside world, as otherwise it would not be compulsory.

As an exchange student I did not read the Mission Statement so that did not influence my decision to come to CSUSM, it was purely because of the sea and sunshine why I came to California, however once I read the mission statement I feel that it would have played a big part on me choosing to come and study at Cal State San Marcos. I agree with the focus on the students learning and the process of including the student into the learning and centring the learning around the student rather than around the state. From the people who I know in the College of Education, and from what I can see from the mission statement, I would definitely consider CSUSM as one of the places where I would come and do my teaching credential when I return to the US.