Class Reflection Paper

For four long years I felt as if my high school was in a different world in of itself. I had spent that time interacting with an extensive amount of groups, or “cliques”, and getting to know what they do. Through my experiences, I had begun to realize what made this “subculture” high school of sorts run like it did. High school is an incredibly dynamic time for people, and I had changed as a person dramatically from my freshman to senior year. Like many, my freshman year was quite awkward, as remnants of my middle school self remained with me. As time went on, how, I talked to more people and grew out of my passive and shy personality. This did not just randomly happen without reason though. I began to learn and realize who I was and whom I enjoyed talking to in school, which explained why I spent so much time socializing with multiple kinds and groups of people. Everyone’s concept of “normal” was different, and high school was where I learned that lesson and will never forget.

Hi class, I hope you enjoyed this days at elementary. Back to reality you have to do...

Having only one AP class where I felt I could be successful, I enrolled into AP Studio Art for my junior year of high school. It was advertised that students would only work 4 hours a week on their own for it. In the past, I got high grades in my art classes, so, I thought it would be a better fit than the other three AP classes that were offered to me. I was so, so terribly wrong.

This course can be of useful in my everyday activities of dealing with Nursing Home facilities, NYDOH and Department of Social Services. I will increase my knowledge of different approaches on how to distinguish issues for solutions to operational challenges and learn advanced techniques on processes I can use to enhance my productivity in getting our members approved for institutional

As Epiphany once said "I’ve found that growing up means being honest. About what I want. What I need. What I feel. Who I am." As I came into the Junior year, I didn't expect as many setbacks as I encountered. It was definitely a challenging year academically and personally because I hit many bumps in the road that made me fall into a never ending spiral of pessimism. I have definitely improved myself since the beginning of the year and have learned a lot of valuable lessons. This year has definitely been about growth and finding a pathway from darkness to light that has shaped me to become a stronger person with the ability to be challenged and not doubt myself but rather to overcome the obstacles and strive for

Life changing… it is a word that I sometimes think about, but never truly understood its’ meaning, until the summer of 2017. During church one morning my pastor was standing up on the stage in front of the congregation giving the announcements for the week. The final announcement was regarding a summer mission trip for high school students. The students would go to Reynosa, Mexico where there is a children’s home that my church serves at every year. I had never been on a mission trip and had never experienced anything like it before, so I decided that I would go on what could be a life-changing trip.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

Over the years, I have worked closely with children in various settings from babysitting to the actual classroom, and each time I gain new understanding of children which has allowed me to grow more patient about their behavior. Additionally, I must add that most of the children I have worked with have all come from low Socioeconomic status families which has been proven to be the cause of major behavioral issues. The way I have witnessed the behavior of these children be managed varies between each of the locations. Some teachers and caretakers are quite harsh in their discipline while others are much too passive. In essence, as learned in the Environment and Programs as well as the Discipline and Limits unit, there are several key elements that determine the behavior of children in the classroom. As it relates to Preston Taylor Ministries, behavior management is sometimes ineffective especially when dealing with certain children; however, for the most part, I believe this center handles behavior in an efficient manner.

Previously teaching was something that teachers did. The role of teachers was known to be the center of the classroom, they were expected to know everything about a subject matter and be able to explain it well to students. The role of the students was to learn by listening, practicing and working hard. We now know that teaching and learning are closely related. By understanding the relationship of teaching and learning we can understand the concept of Mathematizing. Mathematizing is the process of constructing meaning. This is accomplished by letting students develop their own strategies and questions and letting them explore them through classroom discussion with their peers. (Young Mathematicians at work) This can also be accomplished by allowing students to use real world examples to help deepen their understanding of the concepts.My understanding of this topic has evolved over this course I was always viewed teachers as the know it all of the classroom and the students roll was to retain as much as possible because they were going to need to use it on a test in the future. Learning the new concept of mathematizing I recognize that a teacher must also act as a facilitator of the classroom. Allowing students to think freely make mistakes and make sense of problems and concepts on their own. While also leaving space for the students to teach the teacher or help the teacher understand what they are thinking and how they came to their answer.

I thought I knew pain; I wrong. True pain floods the encompasses a person. The anguish overwhelms every aspect of their lives. I first saw true pain in the eyes of poverty. During my seventh grade year, I had the opportunity to go on my first mission trip. The young, naive version of myself who flew into Haiti never returned, but was replaced with a new, wiser rendition who is determined to change the world.

An affluent stable community in the middle of southwest Minneapolis surrounds the students at Southwest High school. The school promotes community and cultural reflection across all classes. In observing a teacher in this school I found they are very passionate for the multicultural curriculum as well as offering many opportunities for students to use critical thinking across all subjects.

Since I was in a middle school setting, I was given the opportunity to observe multiple classrooms which a variety of different students. In my first class, I noticed that most, if not all students were African American. The ratio was 22:1, where about 18 of them were boys. The second class I went to, had a ratio of 19:1. The ethnicity in this class was again, mostly African American, with a few Hispanics and Caucasian. The third class represented a ratio of 20:1. The ethnicity was made up of mostly Hispanics, Caucasian, with 1 African American child. My final class ratio was 18:1, where most students were Hispanic and African American.

The most important resource is children. In order to fully tap that resource and allow children to gain the knowledge needed to perform to the best of their ability, and thus become effective, contributing members of society, competent teachers are needed in classrooms across the world. I hope to become a teacher, specifically for elementary-aged children, once I finish school; however, with all of the varying teaching methods educators across the world employ, I am curious to see which approaches to expanding young minds have been the most successful. Additionally, as a teacher, I would like to provide a creative environment for students that makes learning something students want to participate in, as opposed to a chore. Furthermore, because children all interpret information in different ways, I am interested in finding teaching methods that work for a majority of children.

Since taking this class, my mind has been opened to so many new ideas and perspectives about the society we live in, and teaching in general. I have always considered myself to be an open-minded person, and have always striven to be socially aware. I would make sure to be on date with current social events that were happening and especially during the election, I made sure to know all sides of a topic before trying to talk about it. When I had to sign up for this class last semester, I thought that it would be easy, and that we would not talk about anything I did not already know. I thought I was socially aware about everything at the time, and that I did not need to be educated anymore on the topic of multiculturalism. Well, having been in this class for half a semester I can honestly say that I have learned more in the last eight weeks than I have taught myself. I feel like I have been able to broaden my multicultural lens extensively since starting that class, and I know that it will continue to widen as the semester goes on.

During my first year in college, I did not realize the major challenges I would face being a first-generation college student that was undeclared as a major. I knew I had to continue my education as many of my teachers and advisers in high school had mentioned. But I never knew the struggle of not having a family member to ask for advice or guidance to navigate my college education or choosing a major. I became interested in helping other students in their path post-high school by volunteering, mentoring and working with high school students in their process of applying or learning about their postsecondary education options. After working with different ethnic groups I came to realize that those that identified as