Hi everyone! My name is Malissa Pierce. Yes, I spell my name with an “A”. My mom changed her mind on my name when she saw me and decided to change the spelling. Anyways, I’m 22 years old and a junior/senior here at CSU Chico. I’m an English Studies major with a minor in Creative Writing. I hail from a “city” in far Northern California called Redding. if you’re ever up in that neck of the woods, you’ll realize why I added quotations around city – we’re *slightly* bigger than Chico, but very much isolated. I’ll give you a bit of my academic background and why I ended up in ENGL 431.

Upon graduating high school in 2010, I had to take a semester off because I was involved in a car accident and needed time to recover. I attended my local community college, Shasta College, for two and a half years thinking I was going to be a meteorologist. However, I chocked on calculus and second-semester chemistry, so I dropped the semester to do some “soul-searching”. Everyone thought I would be a great teacher, so I took a leap of faith and applied to Chico State as an English Education major.

Last semester, I found myself gaining more interest in educational research rather than teaching itself. I believe that education is a human right and a gateway towards society’s essential needs, such as healthcare, environmental science, etc. Everyone deserves a chance to an education, regardless of their background. I determined that I’d be better off advising high school/college students (the transition is my focus) along their academic careers. Right now, I’m trying to determine what my honors thesis will be for the 2015-2016 year. Upon graduation next spring, I hope to attend a graduate program along the lines of Higher Education, Educational Policy/Leadership, College Services, and so forth. My goal is the University of Oregon, but I’m keeping an open mind to avoid pure disappointment.

Kim recommended me to take this class to work with freshman during this semester, this summer, and through next year. So, here I am. And I’m totally stoked! Oh, and thankful that Kim has helped me pave a path for the short time we’ve met.

When I’m not babbling about myself on academic websites, I’m an outdoors enthusiast – hiking, water sports, snowfall, etc. I love trying new platforms of technology; I consider myself an Apple girl (despite having a Galaxy phone), but I think PC is the devil. I binge on Netflix, read trivial websites and random articles on Wikipedia, watch random Doctor Who videos on Youtube (I’m a Whovian!), and quote movies. I also drink orange juice like a machine.

But I am a devoted Parks and Rec fanatic!

In regards to this weekend’s reading:

Out of the two articles, Wenger’s Communities of Practice caught my fancy. I believe learning is essential to student’s earning an education, regardless of their grade level. Wenger hits the nail when she explains what accounts for learning.

“We all belong to communities of practice. At home, at work, at school, in our hobbies – we belong to several communities of practice at any given time. And the communities of practice to which we belong change over the course of our lives. In fact, communities of practice are everywhere.” – Wenger, Page 6

Many people, who’re slightly clueless or careless to the world of education, assume learning means sitting in a desk and absorb whatever your teacher tells you. However, we learn something every single day. This weekend the policies at work that differed from the store I came from Redding. You can learn new discoveries or practices with whatever hobby you participate in. You practice the learning to be patient and friendly with family, friends, a significant other, or a stranger. If we lived in a world where we didn’t learn anything new, then the compendium of knowledge is untouched and left all alone. Our current, narrow-minded thinking of what we view as the archaic learning practices must be reformed as several social structured platforms must encompass everything that occurs around a person. Though this reading was slightly fuzzy to me, I think that was what Wenger was explaining.

I’ll read the reading a few more times before we review in class.

Sorry that this post is late. I’ll be honest here: I had a bad weekend at work and I completely forgot about everything until now. I usually don’t procrastinate.

I hope everyone has a prosperous semester!

– Mal