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Hello world! My name is Mark Campbell, and I am a Secondary Science Teacher Credential Candidate at National University. I was born and raised in Southern California, and after traveling to many places around the country and the world, I know that the southland will always be the place I call home.

I was inspired to become a teacher by the most extraordinary role model one could imagine. My grandmother was a lifelong teacher, teaching elementary school from Maine to California, and the lessons she taught me about giving back and finding where you can add value in the world stuck. From an early age, I knew I wanted to be an educator. After completing a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Sciences at UC Riverside, I have worked toward the goal of becoming a full-time educator.

In the pursuit of discovering my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, I completed the North Carolina State Teaching and Learning Styles questionnaire. My scores in each category are as follows: Active: 5, Sensing: 3, Visual: 1, Global: 3. From reading the descriptions, I can see that I have a strong preference for active learning, and I think that plays into why I enjoy teaching science. The hands-on nature of the labs and the content appeals to my preference for active learning.

I noticed, especially in my preference for active learning, that I may have a tendency to pay less attention to students who have a stronger preference for reflective learning. For these students, I need to remember to balance my instructional time to be able to give those students a chance to reflect and process the subject matter on their own.

While I scored low in all of the other categories, indicating that I do not have a strong preference in those areas, I feel I will need to keep these learners in mind as I structure lessons and support students individually, as each learner will present their own strengths and challenges.