Educational Reflection Essay

I was out of place, a quiet girl whose clothing was obviously not fashionable, lucky if she had a bag lunch, and no reason to be confident. I was picked on relentlessly by others who recognized an easy target. My chaotic home life was never conducive to good grades, or school for that matter. No one I knew was a role model and no one volunteered to step up to be one. With no social life and a toxic home life, my grades plummeted before they had a chance to climb.

I started my 7th grade year with no friends in any of my classes. The only time I saw my friends was after school or during band, which I missed class time for. Another time I missed class was because of my gifted class. My grades had started to fall to spots they have never been. Missing class a lot caused me to spend more time making up my work and I had to make sure my grades did not fall again. I was quiet because I did not know many people in my classes. I was nervous because I started to lose my grades. I was joyful and happy when my grades were still high. My parents were helpful and smart; they helped me gain higher grades and not let it happen again.

Going to school lays out the foundation for many aspects in a person’s life. Going to school teaches learning and how that person feels about learning. It promotes socialization and relationships with others. It builds memories that are cherished for a lifetime.

Education is a vital part of our society it is critical, from the early stages of preschool, kindergarten, middle and high school and to those that are pursuing higher learning. We are all in a consistent learning cycle, paying little respect to our present educational structure. All through history, we have been learning in various ways. Since we are in the 21st Century, learning is winding up more digitalized. This is the thing that makes it so vital to be able to get a handle on information for what it's worth and have the capacity to apply it to our regular day to day existences. As we learn, we should likewise comprehend that there are diverse learning styles out there that does not transfer data in a simplistic way. This is the reason, as individuals, we must choose if the way data is passed particularly works for us or not. As Friere states in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, "Education either works as an instrument which is utilized to encourage coordination of the more youthful era into the rationale of the present framework, and achieve similarity or it turns into the act of flexibility. The methods by which men and ladies bargain basically and imaginatively with reality and find how to take an interest in the change of their reality." What does it REALLY mean to gain an education? Does it mean you attended a university and got a degree? Does it mean you can recollect pretty much all that you see or read? As I would like to think, it is not one or the other. Being

“Dad why did you leave everything you had in Egypt to come to America?” I observed as he attempted not to think of a generic response. He responded “education” and after a long pause he explained,“education was what motivated me to come to America.” Further he explained how he believed that America’s educational system, unlike those of many third-world countries, allows choice which furthers to success. He repeatedly stated vaguely that in Egypt that real success does not exist. However, despite his opinion, I am not sure it exists in America either.

Prior to the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, I had already decided upon heading to pharmacy school and learning about the profession in detail before eventually graduating with a professional doctorate degree in pharmacy. Taking advantage of the Summer Scholars Advanced College Academy program offered by the local community college, I could participate in secondary dual enrollment while still in high school. Throughout the entire three years from there on out, I would typically attend high school classes in the morning and afternoon and come evening time, I would head over to the college. During my sophomore year, my brother advised to stick with 3- and 4-unit non-science courses to slowly ease myself into this new schedule. Focusing primarily on the relatively lighter breadth requirement courses, I would be endowed with the opportunity to come home, eat a snack, and complete a few homework assignments before heading to class once again but this time, at a different institution.

I started off by asking the students what their names were, then I introduced myself. I had my laptop in front of my lap, I found that very difficult to read the powerpoint to the students. I had to monitor and adjust by holding the laptop up and to the side, so that I was able to read it. After I went through the powerpoint one student informed me that they had not learned about weathering and erosion yet.

The ideas I have been considering since starting and college and starting this journey as college freshman has been the idea of not settling for the least and to believe in myself more. This probably sounds like a very basic discovering one has with oneself but it has made an impact on how I believe in myself and how I carry myself in regards to school work and achieving goals. An idea I have been considering is not an easy decision and I know that I won't deciding anytime soon but the idea of furthering my education and actually becoming a practitioner nurse sounds appealing. I don't know yet if I want to fulfill that education after graduation from nursing school but it has been idea that has been been planted in my head by talking to some peers and other nurses that are interested in furthering their education.

I started my practicum today in Miscellany second grade class. Mrs. Calloway used a lot of student-centered teaching. The tables are set up into small groups of about five students. Thought out the day we have multiple students that are pulled out so Mrs. Calloway told me I would be working with those students a lot to finish the project they get pulled out during. After reading a book to the class, Mrs. Calloway post a question on the board and has the students answer this. A lot of the students just copy what she posts on the board. When the student is done, she goes around and gives them a star for completing it. This is the only feedback the students get during the day.

I believe that education is the process of ongoing growth within an individual. This process begins at a young age, almost at birth. This individual is born with certain interests and powers that shape them. Through education these individual powers or interests are continuously shaped, forming new habits, ideas, feelings, and emotions. An individual will eventually be able to share their ideas, feelings, and emotions, and become a member with in the American society.

Today education is everything it determines who you become in life and how successful you become in life as well. If one wants to truly live a happy life and enjoy the good things the world has to offer, you certainly need to get educated. It is no question that a great education gets you a great job. Education is a major key to secure one has a stable life. Today’s society has its own set of unspoken and spoken rules in education. In the society that we live in today, society expects one to attend school followed by college then get a job and lastly settle down with one's life. Education helps you become a useful member of society. In today’s world there are key issues that stand in our way of receiving the right education we need to pursue our dream job. Key issues is education are those issues that shape us and are very important one’s education. Although sometimes in life we come across key issues in our education, one should never let those key issues stand in one’s way of pursuing one’s true education.

As I have assessed various theories and ideas pertaining to education and human development, I have made a sincere effort to reflect on my own experiences as an education professional. Our readings about student development and our analyses and discussions surrounding the challenges that current education systems pose have not only opened my eyes to deep-rooted, systemic flaws in ideology and practice, but they have also allowed me to seek out deeper meaning with regard to my current role as a professional of higher education. For my reflective essay I would like to highlight some of my experiences in the field working in continuing education, or non-credit programming for adult learners, and how postmodernist ideology has become a tool through which we seek solutions for those who have been disserviced by our current education system. Specifically, I will reflect on why students are often underserved as a result of traditional educational models, and how continuing education programs offer viable, postmodernist solutions to a broken system.

I have been asked to reflect on what the world may be like in 2020 and how will those changes affect education. In addition, I have been asked to share how the innovations in the classroom affect others and how being a teacher will be different in 2020 versus today. Let me reflect on these inquiries for you and share my predictions based off of topics we have discussed in this course as well as current world happenings.

What is it to be educated? Education is often thought of as a school. A place where kids are forced to go 5 days a week, sit through mind-numbing lectures, and have so much homework thrown at them, that by the time they get home they are drowning and don’t know which way is up. But if it is taken into consideration, that isn’t what it is to be educated; that is the educational environment. To be educated it to be constantly adding on to what is already known. Like a castle, I want to my mind to be a stronghold. A citadel of knowledge. By constantly illuminating myself with more comprehension, I can be more prepared for a future career or just a regular conversation. A goal of mine is to avoid ignorance, and the easiest way to do that is to learn constantly. When I took a year of AP World History, I felt I was receiving, at least to me, what felt like an education. It was like nothing I had ever experienced in school before. I see my mind as a palace. Something that I can constantly build, to make it stronger and greater. The more I learn, the vaster and more magnificent it becomes. An experience with taking an AP class is what gave me mindset.

My parents were born in China and immigrated to America around their mid-20 and then a couple of years later they had my sisters and I. My parents did not have a good education and to them, education was everything here in California. They went through numerous hardships and worked numerous jobs that were terrible, unsanitary, and unfair. To them, education was everything for my siblings and I and the way they viewed education was similar to how a functionalist would too. They see only the positive in education and “view education in terms of the benefits and functions” (Major, Education and Religion). I understand where my parent’s viewpoint in education came from because of how tough life was for them, but school was not easy for me. We lived in a very small city called El Monte and it was and still is a very poor city. I always knew we struggled with financial problems, so I saw education as a way out of this “poor” life for my family and me. It may take years to obtain a stable position in society, but from my parent’s influence, I could see that it would be worth it in the end. I have encountered problems in school where I was not exceeding my expectations in specific subjects or I was not getting the grades I needed. A majority of the population in my high school were Hispanics and less than 15% were Asians, including me. The students in my school were not very motivated to learn or even had goals beyond high school.