From the moment I walked into the doors of Gertrude Fellow’s Elementary School as a five-year-old kindergarten student, I fell in love. I went into each day excited and ready to learn. This passion for school continued throughout my high school and college years. It is part of what drives my love for education. School was always an environment to be myself, explore new things, and to even make a few mistakes. As a young child, I thought everybody felt the same way. I was confused when peers said they hated coming to class, or couldn’t wait to go home. I couldn’t understand why anyone would hate something I loved so much.
As I grew older, I learned about the difficulties students face while trying to get the education they deserve. I
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My education has covered a wide array of topics like child development, abuse and mental illness in families, and diversity within parenting and families. This education is essential when working with students, as they are so often faced with issues outside of school that may impact their ability to focus in school. For example, they may have issues at home with family that preoccupy their minds and prevent them from learning. They may be stricken with poverty and worry about where their next meal is going to come from, or they may have an illness that prevents them from coming to school every day and they fall behind. These issues are ones that have been discussed extensively in my classes. Among many other things, I have learned that when working with people in any capacity you need to consider every aspect of their life to successfully help them.
I have been able to put the topics I learned about in classes to use, while gaining valuable experience, by working with children and students through my jobs. For the past two and a half years I have worked in a before and after school daycare program caring for children ranging from preschool to sixth grade. At the daycare, I am the lead associate for preschool aged children. As the lead associate, I care for an average of 30 preschoolers and supervise the staff that work with me. This involves planning and implementing activities for the children, communicating with teachers and parents in the school to coordinate
Being a parent transformed me in unexpected ways. I found myself wanting to provide for my daughter and later my son the same security and benefits my parents had provided for me. I found a job at University Children’s Center. UCC provides care for children from the ages of 6 weeks to 6 years and I wanted to be close to my children. I worked with all the age groups but found my niche in the infant program. I enjoyed the close bonds I was able to form with both the babies and their families. I took great pride in creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. I took classes to become Infant Nursery Room Supervisor. Once again, I excelled in my studies and enjoyed the learning process. Bringing the information I learned into the classroom was
From my point of view, it always seemed like I was the only one of my peers who enjoyed going to school—even in kindergarten. With my father’s constant reading and my fascination with learning, I quickly became immersed in books and learning all that I could, whether it be about
As a kid, I always felt like I was on the wrong side of the fence. Even into my early adulthood, I still felt a sense of otherness and invalidity. Over the last three years, working at Ruskin Elementary School has allowed me to recognize all the teachers in my life who have never given up on me. I don’t always feel like I deserved the interest they took in me, but their selfless patience and love for teaching gifted a once, lost kid, a sense of confidence, value, and worth I never thought I could have. More importantly, the last three years at Ruskin have exposed me to the concrete disparities deeply embedded within our education system. Those who our society often paints as nuisances and burdens have been painted as such since birth. A child
Throughout most of my adult life I have worked with children and families in different capacities and roles. Most recently, I worked with children and families in the role of school social worker in Jackson County Schools, GA for my graduate school field placement. All of my experience there involved working with children and families in some capacity, whether it was advocating for services for a family and student that needed them or being a liaison between the school and parents and making sure parents had the opportunities and understanding to be a part of their child's educational needs. I went on many home visits to talk with parents and met with students during school to assess any concerns teachers or administrators had. Prior to my
Working with children is a very rewarding and sometime can be a testing experience. During My comprehensive hands-on experience in the childcare center I chose to work with the one year old classroom. Working with the one year olds were challenging but interesting.
When I was in my last year of middle school, I knew that Ramon C. Cortines of visual and performing arts was the school for me. However i encountered a slight problem that could have affected me from going. The school was in downtown and I live in south central. There was another high school that was right around the corner, where i could have taken an easier approach to my high school years. I could have woken up later, eaten breakfast and I didn’t need to rush myself. Going to my local school, Augustus F. Hawkins, would’ve given me a simple, painless morning where i didn’t have to wake up at six o’clock. However, Hawkins didn't offer the things that I wanted, and the environment of the school made me uncomfortable. It was a high school ridden
One example of a family that teachers must consider are teen parents, whom often find it hard to go to school and be a parent at the same time (Raising Children Network, 2012). As a teacher, it is important to understand that there might be stresses with a teen parent working long hours, struggling to pay bills, and sometimes the lack of knowledge on how to raise a child ("Teenage Parents and Their Educational
When I was a child, school was my favorite activity. The classroom was a place where I could have fun with other kids my age, and learn new things that I repeated to my mother every afternoon on the car ride home from school. Telling my mother what new knowledge I’ve gained was exciting, because I had a fascination of learning and sharing what information I knew.
For nine years of my life I hated school. It just didn’t make any sense to me why every child was required to go to school for eight hours and a hundred and eighty days a year. Many of the things I’ve been taught I feel will not have any importance in my life later on after high school, but it doesn’t matter, I still had to learn it whether I liked it or not.
I am grateful with the the opportunity in my past school setting along with my current position as a Therapist to work with students from underrepresented groups. While working with students from diverse backgrounds, I focused on what makes them different and how they are raised by their culture beliefs influence how they are able to function in their classroom setting and community environment. As an Attendance Officer in a middle school setting as while as a Therapist in the community, my role is/was to conduct home visits, where I not only learned about the students home environment, but it provided me with an in-depth understanding of how to connect with the student while improving their education and mental health disability.
I always thought school was supposed to be like the show called “Recess”. I began to loath television shows that gave me this false hope as I got older. For the most part school was a breeze through junior high and until now. I can only believe that I struggled in primary school in the past due to lack of steadiness around me. I also believe that the constant changes in my environment have played a crucial role in shaping my approach to schooling and my expectations of and attitudes toward it. In this informative essay I will explore my learning experiences, how my views were shaped, and the connections and significance of each event.
Ever since I was a little girl, I knew that in my future I wanted to become a teacher. I always looked up to my teachers, especially the ones I had in elementary school. I even played 'school' with my friends and pretended I had my own classroom. I loved being in charge. During a summer, I was given the opportunity to work as an Energy Express mentor and work with a group of eight children. This was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever been through. I was a mentor to help guide the children, and by the end of the summer I felt as if I had really accomplished something. I am planning to pursue a career in elementary education. I love children, and just knowing that as a
In the first week of the second semester starts on my long road of potentially becoming a teacher. My Educational Psychology class had me thinking and analyzing the issues in the world specifically education. I have always known that there are issues in the world of education but I didn’t know some of the issues are close to home such as our community of De Pere. The issues, conversations we talked about included the high rates of poverty in children, America’s drum major instinct, and the opportunity gap. All these issues pose a significant issue in our educational system and lives of children.
Another topic discussed was how to better serve minority students who have disabilities or mental health diagnoses. Sadly, there is a negative stigma associated with having a disability or mental health diagnosis, and many parents do not want their children labeled. As counselors, we should form relationships and build trust with the families. Once we form these relationships, we can introduce the idea of an Individual Education Plan. At first, parents may be hesitant, but we cannot pressure them. It is important to be knowledgeable about the process, explaining it to the parents, and discussing the advantages.
many heartbreaking situations (that we see countless individuals overcome) would begin to define us as people and keep us from achieving our goals and dreams. Many of the students in my classes come from backgrounds where a good education isn’t readily available to them or from homes where all they see is negative patterns of interaction and communication danger signs. It is the resiliency within them that doesn’t allow them to be defined by their circumstances but rather empowers them to seek help in order to ensure a better future. Research shows us that there are risk factors for divorce and abuse but they can be combated greatly through proper interventions such as education. If there is anything that these classes have taught me is that education is key to helping the families within our community thrive despite where they came from.