To further develop our community we must first ensure that each child is given the crucial encouragement needed in order to become successful. Since many of the students I am aiming this program towards are in underfunded schools my first step will be to achieve the support of the neighboring public. According to Franklin P. Schargel, author of From At Risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do, “he identifies individual risk factors -- personal characteristics, habits, and experience; family situations; and peer and community relationships -- and then address the factors over which school leaders can more directly influence -- school climate and culture, school connectedness, school safety, attendance, and school achievement.”[2] By effectively notifying parents and concerned educators we can improve our chance of reaching other schools. We will inform them of the jeopardy children are facing and the appropriate steps we can pursue to guarantee each child continues their education.
It is also important for me to join on-campus organizations that work with at-risk youth to broaden my network for additional assistance. Their experience could only benefit my vision and help increase my effectiveness. The most important aspect of my involvement with students is to stay consistent with my plans. In order to keep a strong relationship, I will volunteer at local elementary schools and stick to a precise schedule. We will give the children a sense of stability and also establishing myself to community leaders, that this is my passion. In addition, my intent is to encourage the educators to become more involved in after school programs where we try communicating with the children in order to bridge the gap between school and home.
Furthermore, to promote the expansion of my dream I will create my very own non-profit organization. The purpose will be as previously stated, to ensure that each student continues their education. Here, children will be adequately equipped with the components needed to succeed. We will establish ourselves at local schools with the goal of creating committees. These committees will range from, one-on-one & group therapy, study sessions, prep courses for college, diversity enrichment, and other group activities.
For the establishment to continue to develop we will examine our success and show those willing to donate money or time, that what we are doing is making an impact. Taking assessments of not only the student’s academics but, also their emotional and physical state will help us attain sufficient feedback. On top of that we will also give out surveys to each parent, teacher, and school administrator. Here, they can properly grade and comment on our program. With this assistance we can make essential improvements in certain areas to aid in the continuous progressive change of our children’s education. We can also collaborate with other pre-existing clubs that have a similar focus to improve our reputation. My organizations most important focus will be to keep children safe and in school.
The real role model, who shaped my vision toward learning, is my elementary school teacher, Mr.Fleurent. He was a looping teacher, which meant he would have the exact same group of kids for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. He was the first person that would talk to me as if I were a capable young adult whose opinions and thoughts mattered. I have never felt as inspired as I did when he would speak. One of his constant reminders that stayed with me was simply to get good grades, because that would get me into college. His lesson was so simple, yet so effective. I had not once been told by a teacher before that college was an option for me. Considering where I grew up, I was lucky to graduate, let alone attend a university. Mr.Fleurent’s unique methods of teaching inspired me to follow my passion when pursuing a career, instead of my bank account. He took such pride in teaching his class; seeing him do what he loved to do each day made me want the same thing.
“Effective leadership depends first on one’s personal vision and then one’s leadership vision.” [3] A child’s life can be chaotic, with each day comes new worries, and my childhood was no different. After my parents divorced, the moment I came home from school I became a full time mother. I would worry if we would have enough money to pay all the bills. Having enough food for the month was an added luxury if we managed to keep the same roof over our heads. When I went to school I already had a lot to deal with at home so, I was not always focused. When you have so much stress at such a young age, you really do feel like you are all alone in the world and you can’t imagine surviving. It is a necessary precaution to implement a program where the gap between school and home life is bridged; a program where students don’t feel isolated. When I was in elementary there was a program called Communities In Schools (CIS), a non-profit organization that created “a safe place to learn and grow.”[4]
Communities In Schools focuses to keep students in school and continuously learning in an effort to prevent them from dropping out. The summer after my senior year of high school I was awarded an internship working with CIS. I had applied for it months in advance because I was interested in its extensive programs involving one-on-one interactions with children. In high school I had always been drawn to art, and children are rather similar because you need to be creative and patient with both. When I begin to paint, the outside world turns into white noise and all I can focus on is figuring out what the end result of my work will be. Now when I have a child in front me I have the same feeling, and I want to help them focus so they too can make it past the noise and see the finish line, a diploma. I soon realized, through the CIS summer program, that my passion was teaching.
The best part of my day, was when I would find new arts & craft projects for the children to make, and teaching them how to do it. Seeing their eyes light up when they had finished a project made me happy and making sure that these kids had something to look forward to was even better. This propelled me to pursue a career in education. After the summer ended I came to the University of Texas as a Liberal Arts, Psychology major and soon thereafter transferred to the School of Education. My degree now is a Bachelor of Science in Applied Learning and Development with this I would like to become a looping teacher one day, specifically teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Staying at The University of Texas will ensure that I continue to educate myself and become a teacher. Next, I want to better communicate with the youth and get my message of learning to them, to do this I want to get my master in Children’s Psychology.
In my freshmen year at The University of Texas my classes consisted of its core curriculum, the classes that were deemed appropriate for my intended field of my interest. In the fall, of my four classes the one class that I felt applied to my degree was Anthropology, we discussed so many different cultures and customs from all around the world. By increasing my knowledge into various diverse cultures this could only further help me reach more students of different ethnicities and race.
Later, in the spring semester, psychology helped me take a step forward toward understanding what it is that makes children (and every day people) tick. Each day the professor introduced a new concept, theory, and map about the human psych that helped give me a deeper level of understanding of what goes on in the human mind. The purpose of the class was to show that we are always developing new concepts to understand the way we think, as human beings we will continue to evolve and become ever more complex.
Taking a Leadership & Ethics class has given me the time to think about questions I’d otherwise overlook, for instance, “Who are you?” A repeated theory in the Alice book, this was the most influential questions I have ever been asked. The answer has spanned into more than just what you will do for a living, you are not just a career. The essence of who you are comes from what inspires you. What causes you to be passionate? What you would do for free, and what makes you happy? All of these questions that were asked in my UGS course have all led me to the same answer, teaching. I love to teach children. Before I was always hesitant about becoming a teacher, I felt it was not prestigious enough. I had made it all the way to The University of Texas only to aspire to become an elementary teacher. Now, after completing a self-evaluation of the person I am, I can clearly see what it is that has brought me to this point in my life. Through all the adversity I have made it this far I am lucky to aspire to become one of the many who educate our nation’s future.
Over a respectable amount of time and hard work, I would like to see the national drop-out rate decrease drastically. To fully understand and help students I will need to continue my own education here at The University. Completing my degree will only fortify my position that education is the solution. Children are faced with as much tribulations as the next person, but with the added pressure of school breathing down their necks it’s hard to imagine them going through it alone. By giving them giving them the proper attention and guidance we can eliminate the need to drop out completely.
Word Count without Quotes: 1,671
Word Count with Quotes: 1,760
Quotation Citation:
[1] http://www.cissa.org/howitwork.php
[2] http://www.focusas.com/Dropouts.html
[2] http://www.cisnet.org/default.aspsafe place to learn and grow”
[3] UGS 302 Course Packet (P.254)
[4]http://www.cissa.org/howitwork.php
Photo Citation:
[5] http://www.edudecisions.com/articles/teaching/index.php
[6] www.wsnindia.com/images/psychology.jpg
[7] http://www.cissa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12
[8] http://the-office.com/bedtime-story/alice_lg.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment