Greetings!

Hello all! Chelsea Ott here. I'd like to start off by introducing myself a little bit. I'm a small-town girl, hailing from St. Joe, Michigan. For those of you who are familiar with the "mitten map": hold that right hand up with your palm facing forward and point to the very lower-left corner, almost to the wrist. That's my home! I actually grew up in Bridgman, which is about 10-15 miles southwest of the place I currently call "home". And yes, that's right, I do commute all the way up to Kalamazoo, which is about an hour's drive!
Regarding my educational career, I graduated from Bridgman High in 2011 with about 65 other students and continued on with my education at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, MI. I obtained my Associates Degree there and transferred to Western Michigan, where I am now in my second year! I'm majoring in Secondary Education/English, with a minor in Political Science. I really do love my program here and am very excited to be back for my final year! (Let me just say that again because I just cant get enough: My final year!!) As a senior here at WMU, I'm currently taking four courses: My first Pre-Internship (4060/65), Studies in Drama, Adolescent Literature, and, of course, Writing in Secondary Education. I absolutely love literature, so I'm always excited to take on the challenge of having multiple literature classes in one semester.
Finally, I think I should tell you all a little bit about what I like to do outside of the classroom. My boyfriend of four years and I love to go kayaking, camping, and swimming in Lake Michigan. One of the absolute best parts of living where I do is the fact that we're only about five minutes away from the lake. I may be a little biased, but I think our Great Lake is the greatest ;). I've also been cross-stitching since I was six years old, so I always love to pick up the needle and some thread whenever I have time. As I mentioned before, I also love literature, snagging a book whenever I can -- that is, whenever I'm not reading for class! I addition to all of these things, I'm a huge music-lover, and we attend concerts and music festivals whenever we can. I listen to all sorts of genres of music, but house music will always be my true love! One of our favorite spots to soak up the underground house culture is Detroit, so that's often a vacation spot for us. Oddly enough, Bob Dylan is also one of my favorite musicians, which is obviously on the opposite end of the spectrum!
I look forward to working through this class, especially since we have such a small group. I have a feeling this class will give me a lot more confidence in my abilities to teach writing and to create a classroom structure that is conducive to success!