Reflection Essay

Giving back to the community is a passion of mine. The most rewarding experiences in my life have been doing what I can, to help others. As an Education major, helping children in the community is important to me, and reflected in my volunteer work. I have volunteered in several classrooms over the past two years in partnership with Junior Achievement. Volunteering with Junior Achievement allowed me to teach second grade students about the community they live in, the differences they can make in the community, and empowering students to become successful citizens who make a positive impact in the community. I have also volunteered with SA Reads, tutoring four students in reading in high-poverty schools in San Antonio. When tutoring, I use Science-Based Reading Instruction to improve literacy components. Tutoring students with SA Reads allows me to directly impact the lives of children in the community by tutoring them in reading each week, improving their reading skills, and helping students who would otherwise fall behind, succeed. Other ways in which I have impacted the community in a positive way is by regularly donating platelets at the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, donating books to children nominated for an angel tree, volunteering at SWISD Special Olympics, Volunteering with Voices for Children, Picking up litter in a neighborhood, volunteering at the Celtic games and music festival cultural event at the kids’ corner, raising awareness of human trafficking

In this class we have a credo, and in that credo there are some key words that were capitalized: Read, Think, Write, College Level, rigorously, Holistically, Learning, Safe, and Fun. Everyone has their own way of defining words, some maybe the same and some may be different but that’s ok. In this essay I am going to thoroughly and efficiently explain to you in my own words what each of these words mean to me in the context of this course.

Patience is the key in accomplishing anything. My most challenging class this year would be my Math Analysis Honors course. My main struggle was fully understanding the curriculum that I avoided my sophomore year, with Algebra 2 Honors. The curriculum was knowing the domain and range of a graph, I assumed that this notion would stay in Algebra 2 and not follow me into my next math course. Starting off the year, the class was simple as it was review of Algebra 2, however days later I am faced with domain and range. I took tests that dealt with this concept and would always get those specific questions wrong. I remember, my teacher saying how most concepts in math would never go away and would be there when taking math in college. My first thought was getting help right away and was exactly what I did. I stayed after school in the Godinez Grizzly Lounge where I got aid from a tutor who took her time in fully explaining the essential way to understand domain and range. After a couple of weeks attending tutoring sessions with her I felt more confident in working with domain and range and was able to get these questions right on the next test that I had. Learning how to figure out these two concepts on a graph was harder as a result of giving up my previous year. I knew, however that I needed to address the issue differently and that's what I did. Although I may not be an expert, I can now figure it out without having to guess or give up on the question. Aside from a challenging

I spent the first years of my life in Pensacola, Florida. I was raised by a single parent, my Mom, and learned a lot about independence and women’s rights. Pensacola is a Navy town and she worked at the base. She would invite Navy people to our home during the holidays which taught me a lot about diversity. I learned a lot about from the people that came to visit and we had good times. They were in all colors and from various parts of the country. By the time I was in school, I had no fear of people different than me because of my exposure at home. In high school desegregation and bussing was taking place. Tension was running high and fights were breaking out nearly daily. A mixed-race group of us met at a girl’s house with the idea that we had no significant or insolvable differences and that we needed to find a way to stop the violence. We had a productive meeting and found common ground. The meeting took hold and the word got around that things needed to calm down. We needed the police to leave campus and we needed to take care of our own problems. It was a valuable experience. After High School, I went to a 2-year college and got a degree in Law Enforcement. That didn’t take hold well as my experience with the local police department was not good. I found them to be junk yard thugs, violent, and sex offenders of sorts. It was also a time I discovered my true love: skydiving. A friend of mine talked me into making my first jump with him. I was always fascinated with the

Not many people attribute hardship to the actuality that they are the initial root of the issue. In my instance, a speech disorder restricted my ability to effectively communicate; however, a subconscious attribution lead me to limit my social interaction. My failure to extort the idea of structured redevelopment immobilized the outcome of effective action.

I have never been a good student. This comes as an utter surprize to most, for one reason. I’m smart. Or so they tell me. Smart, but not good at school. I mean, ask any kid or millennial adult, and they will tell you school sucks. I just got out of highschool, and can guarantee that it still blows. But as my my theory of knowledge teacher would have posed for us to write last year, why does school have such a bad rep? Why do so many students loathe it? (Use documents from in class,as well as outside readings…. ) For every complaint there is about the school system, someone claims to know the answers. I myself have had an odd education in the places I’ve learned, who I’ve learned with, and the levels I’ve learned at. Add an (un)healthy dose of anxiety and depression, and you’ve got a pretty clear snapshot of my time in the public school system. (I mean, I’m still technically in public school, but it's a college, and I’ll get there later.) Of the dissertations of the school system we have done in class, several have rung true for me, but not always for the right reason.

my senior year of high school, I was the FFA president at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School. As president, I tried to make sure everything was done on time, but by the end of the year I was a little worn out. Irritated with having to do everything myself I tried to delegate but still ended up doing mostly everything. My officer team had clocked out for the year and I was upset. Sitting in an officer meeting one day before school, I asked my advisor if there was any chance we could talk to some of the officers about participating more, which was mostly about the officers that never came. Instantly he snapped at me in front of everyone else, including my little sister. In summary he told me I was a bad president and that I blame others for my mistakes. I was so shocked that I didn't even respond. I sat silently crying right next to him avoiding all eye contact. This was when it all started.

Inclusion: Means the action or state of including or of included within a group or structure. In education this means everyone has the same opportunity, there should be no boundaries to stop a learner reaching their full potential in the learning enviroment. (wikipedia)

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

For the past three and a half years I have participated in the school band. In that time I’ve taken part in concert band, marching band, and jazz band. Setting up my schedule in sixth grade kicked off the adventure.

As I read J. K. Rowling’s commencement speech for a graduating class of Harvard University, I found myself connecting with the text on a very personal level. As I reread the speech for tis assignment I was able to reconnect with the text and old memories came rising up to the surface of my mind. I connected with the following quote: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all- in which case, you fail by default.” Rowling’s statements regarding failure relate to the time when I failed my math class last year and how that experience changed my life.

To begin any task, one must have a minimum amount of effort within them. Even if the task is something they do not want to do the anger of having to do it fuels the effort. And that is how I myself begin an essay, full of anger. The base of an essay begins with writing the assignment in my planner and trying to figure out how to spread my process around. Here is the mind process of an assignment for myself “okay if its due next Monday and today is Wednesday that is 4 days away, I start the outline today begin writing…Friday and then there’s 2 days left I will figure it out from there.” 4 days is a good example for my process because in my unorganized mind I like to think writing a (short) paper takes 3 days. The first I outline, the second I write and the third I revise.

Practicums are a time to put into practice what we as pre-service teachers have learnt in theory. This experience can be challenging and rewarding all at the same time as it makes a pre-service teacher face both their strengths and challenges as an individual and an educator. Lesson planning can be time-consuming during the hours when one is not teaching but makes the teaching time run more smoothly. There are standards that graduate teachers need to adhere to and relationships with mentors, children, families and colleagues to establish all in such a short time.

When I went to Advisement and Registration, I wanted to un-declare my major. I spoke with my advisor, Sue Lombardo, and she mentioned a two-credit course that would ease the transition into a major that would suit me. Seven weeks after school has begun, I have already formed an idea pertaining to what I want to do with my life. This class has revealed my interests, personality, skills, strengths, and values. All of these things are important to know and I hardly knew anything about them before. I have already applied these aspects in my search for a major, as I want to be sure that the major I choose will satisfy my needs and wants. Additionally, after I graduate I will use the information obtained, through this class, to selectively

In life, there are a lot of events that can certify one’s challenges. People pass through a lot either to make it in life or to achieve a certain target. Despite this, the only thing that can stand out of this hustle is happiness. This is a feeling that has no limits in one’s life. It’s not negotiable not purchasable. The only thing that an individual can ascertain to is self-worthy and this element generates automatically.