Personal Narrative: Pretty Large Classrooms

I don’t have a steady classroom. I have different students throughout the day. I usually have between eight and 12 students at a time. The class is small so I can have “eyes in the back of my head” and give students the attention they needs.

I teach eighth grade Language Arts in a Jr-Sr. High school that is located in a predominantly farming community. My classroom is located in the Jr. High hallway, in the rear of the high school. Within my classroom, there are thirty student desks situated in groups of 6 with two small tables at the front of my room that are used for paper pick up. My desk and a computer desk are in the rear corner of the room. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Which allows for a lot more diverse learning. Google Classroom is used daily as well as many other applications suited for 1:1 schools. In addition to my computer I have a projector hanging

For two years I begrudgingly walked into Fuller Middle School, sometimes staying home because I had a ‘headache,’ my home, as well as other places I was always resentful, pissed off, quick tempered, and just downright rude. I was a typical middle schooler going through family changes. I wore band tees and ripped skinny jeans to every event my mother would let me--including to school, I constantly violated dress coded until I found my way around authority and the policy, listened to heavy metal, colored my eyeliner on until I looked like a panda, and generally tried to make myself appear unapproachable. That’s when my mom began dating the man who I would eventually call my first lifeline.

My eighth grade classroom is set in a Jr-Sr. High school and is located in the Jr. High hallway, in the rear of the high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. My desk and computer are in the back corner of the room. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Google Classroom is used daily as well as many other applications suited for 1:1 schools. I also have a projector hanging from the ceiling and two large white boards located on the front and side walls of my classroom. The class that I will be focusing on in this paper is made up of 26 students, 15 boys and 11 girls. One student with learning disabilities, another is an ELL student. This class meets for 55 minutes.

Students are groups based on their academic level, and have their desks are set in 4 groups of 6 with one group being in a set of 5. Two groups are in the front of the class while the other two groups are in the back of the class. 2 students are placed facing the window and 2 other students are facing the closets (making the students facing each other), and the last 2 students are facing the front of the classroom. I find that this positioning of the students is great for allowing students to turn and talk, and work as a group for certain assignments. The down side, however, is that students tend to talk excessively to one another, and get distracted more

Beginning my elementary school career, I attended Indianapolis Public Schools. When I entered school, Kindergarten was only half days, and we were working on materials such as, learning our alphabet and counting to 100. The workload was a far cry from the addition, subtraction, early reading skills, and science that my daughter is learning in kindergarten this year. Following the first grade I left the Indianapolis Public School System and entered into a new school system. Embarking on second grade we started working on the skills that would help us read proficiently. I was absolutely struggling, but I was also so distrustful that I didn’t dare to say anything to my teacher. Thankfully, even without me saying anything to her, my teacher noticed

The room will be arranged into a horseshoe shape with walking space and access to supplies. The teacher’s desk will be at the front of the room and supplies at the back. This arrangement would be successful because it allows students to be close to communicate but they can also be spaced out. It also allows for the students to have a better view of the teacher and board without the view being obstructed.

As I walked around Northwestern it seemed that at any minute a building could spring up and join the swaths of modern structures that lined the campus. This not only differentiated architecturally from other prestigious universities but also signaled a different way of thinking and learning at the university. At Northwestern I was blown away by the dedication to empowering the student body and encouraging learning as a community. I can think of no better example of this than The Garage. As someone who enjoys working with others, having a space to experiment and build entrepreneurial skills is somethings that I would utilize as often as I could on campus. Classroom academics at Northwestern also hold true to this mentality. I had intended to

Up above the classroom full of children staring at me, I have to adjust this light fixture. I remember being in class thinking the maintenance people were so obnoxious. I don't remember being that small when I was 17 either. I feel so old now, how strange.

S is for school I don't like school one bit but I have had some good things come from school. Like file trips and other thing but what I remember closely is when we played with fire. It was a cold December day we were two days from rapping up an assignment form science. The assignment was to so what would happen to 4 different substances they were placed in water,vinegar,fire and one other one I don't remember at this point in time. To day was the fire one you knew by the faces of some kids that they were going to do something bad. I was one of them but not in the why you think. I was going to try and burn the substance to a crisps. We charge though the room looking for are equipment and are partners. Once we got the try we

I remember the first time I ever went to elementary school and I was scared out my mind. I really didn't want to go. I tried to run out but my uncle chip grabbed me before i could make it out the school. School was fun but I always wanted to stay home and chill.I didn't recall any favorite moments in elementary school.

How to start? Well it was 5th grade; and I went to creeds elementary school where we had two separate classes. Each class stayed together and moved to different subjects as a group. During the Second Quarter a new student joined our 5th grade class and I remember first seeing her in the hallway and I was like “dang who is she”. Later I found out her name was Harley. The only problem was that she was in the other class. So when we would get ready to switch subjects we would be able to see the other class in the hall. This quickly became my favorite part of the day because that meant I got to see harley in the hallway.

My number one concern in a classroom is giving my students options as well as providing structure, accommodation and room to move. The whole group area would be utilized for lessons that can be taught to the entire class, such as the whole class portion of the literacy block, as well as morning meetings and calendar time. I plan on utilizing the smart board, a wonderful resource, quite a bit and would provide a visual calendar on the bulletin board just above the word study/writing center, while also using a digital calendar program on the smart board. I placed the whole group area in an area that doesn’t have lots of distractions, such as the door or any windows, or the bathroom. It is my hope that this setup would help keep my students engaged in the lesson.

My life outside class room was very much active. I was a member of the East-West Center Participants Association (EWCPA) as one of the Activities Coordinator for one semester. I gained new experiences during my internship with the Research and Economic Analysis Division (READ) under the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT). I was fortunate to attend one of their forecasting exercise meeting, gaining valuable insights about their forecasting method and process. Also, I am heavily involved every Sunday with a local Fijian community church in Honolulu, being part of their musical band and choir. I recently joined a local Harlequins Rugby Team, and played few games for them in their local rugby competition. It’s another

I known about Rutgers New Brunswick through friends of mine who a Herd the University. They told me that Rutgers undergraduate degree programs are comprehensive and include a spectrum of majors. When I read about Rutgers, I found that Rutgers is truly impressive because of the way that the faculty, students, and community help to create an environment that celebrates dreams, empowers aspiration, and supports individual efforts. I also like Rutgers because they pair college degrees with experience. So, at Rutgers, I will take classroom instruction to a higher level through personal attention and hands-on experience.