My Academic Experience

Ever since I was young, I knew something was different about me. I’ve always had an active imagination and would write all kinds of stories, sometimes through pictures and sometimes through words. Not until I was in first grade did I notice my writing was different than my friends. It didn’t bother me though because I was too young to realize something was wrong; I was just different. One weekend, after playing restaurant with my mom and brother, my mom contacted my teacher to talk about some concerns she had with my reading and writing. She was told that I seemed to be progressing on an age-appropriate level with my peers and that nothing appeared to be wrong. But my mom persisted, and insisted that I be tested for a reading disability. My dad is dyslexic and my mom, knowing it can be passed down, was watching for the signs in my older brother first and now me. After testing, one of SV’s school psychologists announced that my results showed I had a learning disability. I then went to my pedestrian to talk about it and then to a special learning center in Sewickley for further

I first found out I had Dyslexia when I was in elementary school Around First grade. In my class we had reading groups Red was the first level was red then yellow was the second then green, blue ,purple. I started out in the red group and I feel ok about it because it was the beginning of the year and all my friend were in the red group to. But as time went one my friends and classmates graduated to the yellow group and then to green and blue all while I stayed in the Red group. Seven year old me was distraught of this unjust system of reading Groups I would go home crying after I did not advance to the yellow group. When I finally did advance to it I felt accomplished but still left behind by my

This is how my life started as a dyslexic. Sitting there embarrassed and ashamed of myself that I couldn’t read as well as the others lead through my whole life.

It wasn’t until my bright seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Garver saw the signs of a dyslexic kid in me before the first quarter ended that I found out what dyslexia was. She told my mother what she thought I was dealing with and how we should go about learning if I even had dyslexia. After a week load of tests and my annoyance level raising, they told me I had dyslexia. I tried to ignore what they said, the help they tried to give me, and I decided I wasn’t going to believe them. I thought they were just making dyslexia up, that they were trying to make me look stupid. After long talks with my mother and my teachers where I told them I had no intention of going to special classes, they decide to instead give me extra time to finish assignments. The extra time to do assignments really did help, I would have to re-read any assignments given to me multiple times to understand them, and I would have my mother check any writing I did to make sure it made sense and wasn’t backwards.

Welcome to the “playground of unregulated freedom” (Delbanco, 19) that is college. These institutions all have a purpose in forming an individual. Some take their years in college to discover who they are, to gain independence, or to simply complete their degree. My personal experience thus far during my collegiate career has been to focus on following my passion. I have taken my love of athletics, and interest in the human body as a way to motivate myself through school with the end goal of receiving a doctoral degree. Given that my first year of college was full of hardships that caused questions as to whether an education was truly worthwhile, I am here as a sophomore stepping out of my comfort zone daily to pursue my passion.

I began Mrs. Chambers’ interview with the first background question, like in the first two interviews, tell me about your educational experiences in school. Mrs. Chambers’ responded:

One of the clearest memories I have is of the day when my mom sat me down, looked me in the eye and said to me that as a women in this world, I was going to have to work ten times harder as any man to command respect. She told me that as a woman in this world, there are certain inevitabilities I have to accept. The main one is that life is unfair. She said that accomplishments are inevitably going to be handed to men that you feel you worked hard for and deserved. This, she said, was going to sometimes make me feel outraged or bitter, and oftentimes make me feel worthless. She said, however, the most important thing that I must do is simply put away my pride, roll my shoulders, stiffen my lip and work harder than anyone. In that way, I can succeed.

I am a 18 year old dyslexic student attending an urban public school in America. I was in 4ht grade, in school, reading a book, when some things just did not seem right. My teachers thought I could not read because I struggled with words or would have to start over many times. I would often confused letters with numbers and would see letters as numbers After a series of tests, it was discovered that I had dyslexia.

My primary responsibility is faculty and staff development. In my first year, I developed our Coaching, Practice, and Reflection (CPR) program for new faculty. This program helps new faculty transition, focus on their teaching and begin developing relationships with potential mentors. This program also runs in conjunction with the services provided by Center for Teaching and Learning at the university. During the development of our latest strategic plan for the college, colleagues and I moved faculty and staff development from a function within my position to one of the five strategic priorities for 2013-2018. At this time, we are creating a faculty and staff development model that identifies four distinct developmental milestones over the first 10 years of a hire’s transition from novice to expert while continuously enhancing student learning. As a leader in the college, I feel it is a professional responsibility to discover opportunities for improvement as well as unleash the talent of our faculty and staff directly resulting in a healthier student experience.

My overall educational experience at West Los Angeles College was great. I have met professors and counselors that changed my life. They believed in me before I believe in myself. Those mentors have been encouraging and supporting me unconditionally. I dream that one day I could have the chance to make a difference in the life of a student like those heroes did. Being involved in the community have supported me tremendously in my journey. As an immigrant, a low-income family and a mom, without the support of programs like the EOP&s, I wouldn't be able to achieve what I have accomplished in my

Ever since I started to walk, talk, and run during my toddler years, my parents started filling my mind up with stories about their past. My father would say, “I could not fulfil my passion of becoming a doctor because of our financial status! We were broke! But you have everything you can ever imagine, so please become something that can accommodate you and your family in the future!” My mom in the shadows would also be yelling out,“Studying is only going to benefit you and only you! Trust me we won’t even touch your money if you wouldn't want us to! We want you to do something we couldn't do.” So growing up my sister and I always had the belief that being literate was everything, as with being literate you can achieve education and if you

How has Service, Scholarship, Leadership, and Fellowship influenced my educational experience? To be truthful, these Hallmarks didn’t really register with me until my second time around in college. Before, I spent most of my time trying to find myself, or what major I wanted to be in and then finally making sure that I completed all the required classes so that I could finally earn my college degree. I was the first person to go to college in my family. I wanted to make something of myself and still do.

My academic experience prior to college has been an exciting event through my life. During my schooling before college I learned about very important skills. The information I learned from my teachers helped me gain an understanding of the different techniques I needed to succeed in the real world. School also helped me develop better social skills which helped me become a better person. As a student in school I had many successful experiences, and challenges. These experiences and challenges that I faced helped me grow as a person. As a student school helped me improve my life in many aspects.

When I was a kid, school for me was waking up early in the morning. I also have to study a lot in school, then after school I have to do homework. I remember my first day at school. My mom and dad, both were so happy and prepared but I was so nervous and cheerless. I didn’t like to wake up early in the morning for school , but as time flew by I started loving school which made me wake up with energy instead of tiredness. I began to enjoy the school as I made new friends and I got to know how it is like when you meet people out of your neighborhood. With my friends I had lunch together and study together. I started to understand what the purpose of the education system. Based on what I understood I think the purpose of education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn to be on their own. In this journey of education I had a lot of positive and few negative experiences,but the negative experiences also helped me growing. Positive experiences are my teachers helping me improve, and I improved more when I moved to the United States.

American society values higher education. College provides many opportunities for developing a variety of social networks, both formal and informal. Obtaining a college degree will be such a valuable and