Introduction

Right now, I have two names.  Officially I am Lauren Neuner, but to my family and friends I am Lauren Walker.  I just thought I’d get that out there so as to avoid any confusion.  My favorite things to do outside of school include reading, being outside, cooking, napping, and playing with horses.  I used to have a horse of my own and then I loved to ride, but since I had to put her down I have to settle for playing with my friend’s horse.  Unfortunately he has had issues with his suspensory ligament and isn’t sound to ride, so we just play.  

My favorite subject (and the one I hope to teach) is biology.  Biology is the study of life and living things.  People usually look at me a little weird when I say that, but it honestly has been my favorite since before I even knew “biology” was a word.  I have literally been into biology for as long as I can remember, and it has been serious business to me for nearly that long.  As a kid, I was always drawn to the animal based toys. I played with Barbie horses, plastic zoo animals, veterinarian toys, and stuffed animals, but my favorite were dinosaur toys.  It was tons of fun.  All the toys had to act like the animals they were based on, and I made sure that my younger brother, Austin, followed the rules of nature.  It may have been a little harsh considering that he was no more than five years old, but like I said, biology was serious business.

I decided I wanted to teach while I had my horse.  I lived in a rural area that was quickly being converted into a suburb and in order to reach the good horse trails or arenas I had to walk down roads and through neighborhoods.  I loved it when the local kids would come out and ask if they could pet the horse and ask questions.  I found out that I really enjoyed sharing what I knew in a way that they could understand.  I decided to go into teaching biology because that’s what I’m passionate about and relevant pretty much everywhere.  For a while I thought I wanted to go into ag ed or even veterinary science.  After watching my vet float my horse’s teeth with a power grinder, I decided I’d like to do something that would be a little less physically demanding.  When I was able to help tutor one of my roommates in biology during my freshman year, I found that I really did love it- even the microscopic stuff.

I feel that literacy is very important in biology.  I defined literacy as the ability to show or demonstrate understanding or proficiency in a particular subject in an appropriate manner for that subject.  In biology, that means students should be able to describe in words (orally or written), diagram, demonstrate or show in some other way that they can interpret scientific writings appropriate for the students’ age.  A student with a high level of literacy would also show understanding of scientific process and experimental design through any of the ways listed above.  I think that another way students show what level of literacy they have achieved is by asking questions.  A student who shows an adequate level of literacy will be able to ask a question that is more relevant and meaningful than a student who shows an inadequate level of literacy.