During my senior year at Southern Illinois University (SIU) I was selected for an extraordinary opportunity as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Introduction to Psychology. Within this position I ascertained a passion for teaching as well as a strong desire to work closely with college students. While instructing one section of this course I developed personal connections and grew quite fond of my students. One student in particular, Tamaira, was a bright, upbeat, and successful young woman doing very well in my course and a delight to have in class. However, halfway into the semester her behavior drastically changed as she was often absent, no longer participated in class, and her grades were notably lower. Upon noticing the sharp turn of events I sent her an email with my concerns along with an invitation to have a discussion. My email went unanswered. Nonetheless, Tamaira showed up to my next class. While passing out exams, she locked eyes with me and held a handwritten note on her desk that read, “when I was 15 years old I was diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorder. Sometimes I get depressed, but I want to do well in your class. Please don’t give up on me.” Feeling genuinely empathetic, I said to her, “I won’t.” After class a long positive conversation ensued that served as a catalyst toward her regained emotional strength and performance. This singular event in my teaching experience has had a profound effect on propelling me toward
For my last semester of observing before student teaching, I was placed at Mink Shoals in a fifth grade class. I was placed with Miss Whitten. She is an amazing teacher who has taught me many valuable lessons. Miss Whitten has been at a variety of schools and classrooms so your management techniques and basic skills were great. I spent about one-hundred hours in her classroom. I got to know her, and all of her students very well. Being at Mink Shoals was the first time I had the opportunity to work with hearing impaired students. In her classroom, she had two students with hearing issues. I only got the opportunity to work with them during math, but I was able to learn how to communicate and teach them to the best of my ability. In her classroom, she also had a few students below grade level in a variety of subjects. She taught me how to work with these students. We were able to work with these students one-on-one because we did a lot of group work. She would always be sure to put the students below grade level together so I or she could work with them to help them improve their skills.
Senior year, a time when all students begin to reflect on their lives as well as the their yearns with their hopes and dreams. Jose vargas a senior at Theodore Roosevelt High School has traversed the rocky road that is high school. He has an interest in science and wants to find a career in the medical field as a doctor or as a forensic investigator working to solve crime. Jose vargas has an interest in cooking and enjoys working out as the feeling of increasing his strength is something that he enjoys to do. The student would like too go to college to and be the first to do so in his family. He also shows an interest in working with companies and working with sales in trying to improve companies and helping them get sales. I am vurrently
When junior year ended last summer, I felt like I knew exactly what was coming my way-- after all, I watched three different groups of my friends go through senior years of their own. It was finally my turn to experience senior year, something it seemed I had known about for years, and I felt like senior year would be easygoing and uneventful. Now, it has taken just a few short months to realize how incorrect I was. If senior year has taught me anything, it is that one never really knows what comes next for them, even if they have a good idea. The monumental highs, as well as the deepest of lows, have kept me on my toes throughout my senior year.
A handful of my students were either emotionally disturbed or had experienced traumatic experiences outside of the classroom, typically in the communities they live in. For example, I had a student named “Brandon” who experienced daily issues with misbehaviors and defiance in the classrooms in which he entered. This student had been classified as emotionally disturbed before entering Clearview Middle. Brandon had issues with obtaining safe relationships with peers and staff, refusing to follow basic safety procedures, and defiance with authority on multiple occasions. As a part of his safety plan, Brandon was to come to my classroom to “reset” when these types of behaviors occurred. Brandon and I had a relationship where he knew my expectations when he entered my classroom and we had a trusting relationship.
In 2011 I came to the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, and four years later was a member of the first graduating class Stockton University in 2015. During those four years as an undergraduate student, I enrolled in a number of classes and interacted with an immeasurable amount of students, none of which I could tell you the name of, nor any of the professors that I have interacted with ever again. This had been the format for my education to which I had become accustomed to.
My eighth grade year of Middle school. I had many challenges, with making friends and subjects. But one challenge was mathematics.I knew my eighth grade year was most important when it came transferring into my high school years, yet I didn’t do anything to raise my grade in mathematics at that time. It wasn’t until two I had a very low grade in mathematics on my report card at that I realized I needed to do something about my low grade. So after that report in math, I really was determined to really bring that F up to at least a B or A. So I remember I started to go to after school tutoring to get help with my math subject. They placed me with a teacher named Ms.Alice. And she really helped me with my subject.
May came around at long last. So did the end of my second semester of college at Florida Atlantic University. Not only did I survive my freshman year, I thrived, passing eight of my nine joint courses with A’s and getting A-minus on the other one. Just like “Neon” Leon shocked the departed Muhammad Ali in 1978, I defied my own expectations and those of a few among my closest friends and family. Did I soon spend the next few months indulging in summer merriment at the beach, getting my tan on while thirteen-year-old boys fawned over pictures of Selena Gomez? Nope. I took summer classes to keep my mind sharp and knock out a few of the requirements towards a degree which I’d earn three years later. One such class = a six-week crash course in public speaking. Everything went well until I got an assignment to create, practice, and deliver a three-to-five-minute speech involving someone who stood out. The possibilities overwhelmed me until I recalled someone with an outstanding life, hit him up on my cell, and talked to him in person one hot Saturday afternoon.
When going into my second semester of senior year knowing I had enrolled to take Freshman Composition, I was nervous. However, despite all the negative feedback I had received, I challenged myself to do my best and try my hardest to never give up or slack off. That was unsurprisingly a challenge for me, but with a little motivation of getting the class out of the way this year instead of having to take it next year got me through the semester.
Towards the end of my senior year of high school, I was preparing for the next chapter of my life. I would be attending UC Davis in the summer for a four weeklong orientation program, specifically for first generation college students. This was the first time I would be leaving home by myself to a different country and it was the first time in over eight years that I would be exposed to the American culture. I did not have any roots in any American city nor did I have a so-called “home state.” However, if there was one thing for sure, it was that Germany was my home and it has been for the majority of my life. In this paper, I will be discussing how the following topics in sociology: culture, socialization, and identity are related to my move from Germany to California as well as how I felt during the entire situation.
I began my higher education at Antelope Valley Community College in pursuit of these skills, and graduated cum laude in May 2012 with my Associates in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Shortly after, I was admitted to California State University, Fullerton for my Bachelor’s in Psychology, where I also joined the University’s Delta Epsilon Iota Academic Honor Society. It was here that I also discovered how useful philosophy is in understanding human behavior, and added the subject as a minor to aid me in my studies. My belief is that while psychology generally explains why a person reasons in their particular manner, philosophy explains the different ways that said person could reason. I believe that this will be useful in treating clients, since the philosophy aspect will help me understand the perceived logic that the client holds, which in turn will support the overall treatment.
Throughout my first year at Bowling Green State University and being in the Education program, I have heard the term “unions” a lot. Within the course that I’m currently in, Intro to Education 2010, we covered information about teacher unions, but not to the extent that I would like. My question is what are the benefits of teacher unions and after I get my degree in middle childhood education should I join one?
Codrut, it was very thought-provoking to read your post and realize that there are other campuses similar to the one where I work. It is a reality that students all across the nation are in desperate need of interventions. Correspondingly, due to behaviors such as the ones you describe it is imperative to be proactive in assisting students and helping them understand that regardless of the situations they might be facing there is hope for them by counseling them and assisting them in creating short and long term goals. “With the increased prevalence of mental health and emotional issues in children and adolescents, professional school counselors need to take an increasingly active role in understanding these disorder and facilitating services
The 1979-80 school year was my sophomore year; the 1980-81 school year was my junior year. For both of these school years the Mid-Valley Junior High School and Mid-Valley Senior High School continued to operate in a campus environment in Olyphant.
There are two major personal experiences that I have had to do with emotional impairments: my field placement at Roosevelt Elementary Schools and when my Education 225 class went on a field trip to Sheldon Pines Schools. At my field placement, I am placed in a resource room where there are about eight students from the grades of 3rd grade to 5th grade who I see every Tuesday afternoon. Each student in unique and amazing in their own way, but I would like to focus in on one of my students, Arianna. She has an emotional impairment that has been shown to me in many different ways and it amazes me every day. I
This year, is my last year of highschool. For a very long time I have dreamed of being a senior and finally graduating from high school. I remember when I was a child, I wanted nothing more than to be a big, scary Senior. Now that I am this Senior and the end of the line has come, I am not sure how to feel. I expected to feel ecstatic and amazed as to how far I’ve come. I expected to feel empowered and more of an adult with a plan. Truth is, I don’t feel that way. I have, thankfully, a plan for my future, but I don’t feel like being a senior is as big as a deal as I had made it out to be when I was young. As I grew older, I realized that while getting older is fun, the responsibilities that come with it, are not all fun and games. As a senior, I realized that the real journey will begin once I step onto the college campus. Elementary, middle, and high school, are more like stepping stones for what you will become once the parental controls are turned off. That is why it is important, and what I realized a bit too late, to utilize the time you have now.