Welcome to the Homepage of Sandra Balasic!

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"The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others" --Tyron Edwards

         Welcome to my homepage! My name is Sandra Balasic and I am currently a senior at The College of New Jersey. I am majoring in Biology and Secondary Education, and I will be graduating in December of 2007. This site will hopefully get you acquainted with who I am, my ideas and values about teaching, and my experiences thus far in the field. Enjoy!

    During the Fall 2006 semester, I participated in the School of Education's JFE program. I was given the opportunity to teach two ninth grade Honors Biology classes at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in West Windsor, NJ. JFE stands for Junior Field Experience. Essentially, JFE is the first time we aspiring teachers have a chance to get up in front of a classroom and teach an entire unit that we completely develop ourselves. The unit that I prepared was on Evolution and Natural Selection. I had a blast teaching this topic to my freshman students, as it allowed me to explore a current controversial issue in our public school system. I was lucky enough to have an amazing cooperating teacher in Mr. Bob Corriveau and two wonderful class periods of students who were excited and anxious to find out what I could bring to their classroom.

    During the Fall 2007 semester, I completed my student teaching at Westfield High School in Westfield, New Jersey. I taught three classes of high school level biology, which included eighth, ninth, and tenth grade students. One class was composed of entirely eight grade students that are specifically bused to the high school for two classes each morning. The other classes contained both ninth and tenth grade students. I developed lessons and laboratory activities on Ecology, Evolution, Taxonomy, Cells and Cellular Transport, and Biochemistry. Again, I was extremely lucky to receive two dedicated and enthusiastic cooperating teachers; Mr. Chris Tafelski and Ms. Molly Phelan.

        Before continuing on to the rest of my site, let me comment on the quote on the top of this page. Tyron Edwards' comment about education is the very idea that I base my teaching philosophy on. You can find a link to my teaching philosophy at the bottom of this page, the link labeled "Philosophy of Teaching." Developing self-dependent learners in my students is something I hope to achieve as an educator.

In the links at the top of the page you will find details on my experiences as a student teacher. Embedded throughout my teaching philosophy page you will find links to sample lesson plans I used during my student teaching.