Personal Narrative: Funtastik Preschool

Ever since I was younger I have always tried staying away from reading. The only person in my family that likes to read is my mom; however, she does not read often. Once she picks up a book, she cannot put it down. My dad on the other hand, never picks up a book. He and I are one in the same; we do not like reading because we have a hard time comprehending what we read. My brother also does not like to read. He does not like reading because he has a learning disability. My mom always had an extremely tough time getting him to read. Overall, my literacy experiences at home are few and far between.

I have been a preschool teacher, teaching mixed age children from 18 months to 5 years, for over 10 years. I started as a work study employee, while attending the Community College of Philadelphia in 2006, to a part-time teaching assistant while attending Temple University in 2010. This led me to a lead-teacher position after graduation and then to a program coordinator. I have developed effective working relationships with children in the past years. This position has helped me improve my teamwork and interpersonal skills by cooperating with other teachers in planning teaching materials according to the Reggio Emilia approach and by sharing teaching resources. I decided that working with children, understanding and assisting in their education,

My first day in kindergarten I was scared the first day but when I got there I was fine and I had fun. My conferences were always good in elementary. I had a lot of friends and was always popular. When I was in 5th grade I had a lot of jobs because teachers liked me. One of my jobs was after everyone got done with recess me and joey got to go pick all the balls up and usually when we picked everything up me and him play 1 on 1 Elementary

The school I went to visit was Public School 69. It was my little brothers elementary school. The reason I chose the school, was because I remember seeing him happy every time he came home from kindergarten. Every day he would come home and have a different project he did in class to show off. The outside of the school looked like a regular public school, but inside Miss Suzy’s* (not her real name) classroom was bright, warm, and inviting. My visitation was in the morning, right when the children began school at 8:00am. When I walked inside, the class room was baby blue with all kinds of art projects on the walls. Miss Suzy welcomed me very kindly, and discussed with me, her srtudents and what they have been learning. You can not help but

My whole life I felt love, but never like the love I experienced three years when I walked in the Lawrence County Developmental Center. The LCDC is the special needs program for the student of East Lawrence and I was chosen to be an aide my sophomore year. Most of the kids could not speak, if they could speak they still had problems communicating. I felt like I had walked into a totally different world, and that made me want to spend every free moment in the LCDC. My three years with those kids taught me the most incredible lesson: your life is what you make it.

Little by little, children finish their meals and get ready for naptime. The children dump the remainder of their milk in the same sink where they wash their hands. Slowly children go lie down on their own. One of the TSS’s turns off the lights on that side of the room. Kayla puts on a rest time cd and goes to start cleaning up the kitchen. I ask what kind of music is playing but Kayla is not sure. Alyssa gets blankets for any children who need them. Kayla tells her the children only get their blanket if they are settled down. Seeing the children start to fall asleep I get ready to leave. Saying goodbye to Kayla and Alyssa, thanking them for their time.

The first school I have ever went to was Pilgrim preschool. Then, I went to Calavera Hills elementary school and now I go to Calavera Hills middle school. I am currently in seventh grade and happy. Some of my accomplishments is having all A's and A+’s on my report card for 6th and 7th grade and being in honor roll. My favorite subjects are math and P.E.

In August of 2008, I went to Eureka Community Nursery School. The very first day of school for me, now it would be as easy as counting to three.

I attended fifth grade at Northside Elementary School, but was very excited to get over to Martha Brown Middle School!! I remember, even though I was excited to be in the sixth grade, I was nervous! I remember on the first day of middle school, I was lost trying to get to classes. I could not remember my locker combination and had to ask for help from the very tall Mr. O’Dell. I just felt that nervous because I could not remember what seat to sit in and the classes seemed like they were going to be difficult.

My experiences working with children officially began in 2012 when I started working for One of A Kind Progressive Early Education. I worked with children of all ages, primarily toddlers and preschoolers. While working at One of A Kind, I assisted the lead teachers as much as possible. I helped develop daily routines of activities, lesson plans, nap, and toilet-training times that seemed most effective for the students. I worked with parents during pick up and drop off times to make sure they were happy with the schedule and care their child was receiving. I was in charge of maintaining a safe environment for the students at One of A Kind.

Like many people everyone wants to find their calling and figure out where they belong. My parents moved to the United States risking their lives on a boat from Haiti but soon separated while in america . My mom did a great job raising four kids on her own and I being the second child took part in raising my two younger siblings. In elementary school I struggled in many subjects but excelled in art, when I finally learned to read and went to middle school my grades were high enough to have honors reading and social study classes and even apa classes in highschool. I continued to excel in a lot of my classes, turns out I was smarter than I thought and all I need to do was learn to read and have people who took the time to teach me.

Maybe I was too little, or maybe I was too short, but either way I did not make the jump. In the second grade I was your average eight year old, who always wore her hair in ponytails, and enjoyed playing tag at recess. One day I saw the fifth graders on the monkey bars at recess doing something I had never seen before, they were jumping to the fourth bar. I waited untill Kids Inc. that day to try the jump, but it was no use I was acting like a scared baby.

I started my educational career in John F. Kennedy Elementary. I don’t really remember my years there because I only went there for Kindergarten and 1st grade. After that, I went to Sepulveda Elementary. That was a learning experience because I had to basically be on my own for a couple of days since I was the new

The only year in elementary school I enjoyed was fifth grade. This school year was full of encouragement and kindness from my teachers. Their constant motivation and kind words gave me the confidence to improve my grades in school and interact more with my classmates. After fifth grade, my entire class and I left our old school, and relocated to the middle school. This change was not the easiest for me either. While elementary school was a tame and controlled environment, middle school gave students more freedom and was less strict on students.

The teachers taught me well, while my peers taught me more about life. I made my best friends in middle school and we are a family now. I cherished the time I spent in middle school. I was a top student who was doing well, had many friends, and was making a name for myself in sports and extracurricular activities. Then once again graduation rolled around and I had to leave all of the good things behind. But I was ready to embark on an education that was more geared towards my future.