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Discussions Process Unit 1 Weekly Assignments

Unit 1 Final draft

Education is confusing or maybe it isn’t, maybe I just have hard time adapting to it. I could pass the exams, do well in class, be the best student, but does all that benefit me outside of school ?
I mean I can still succeed another way.

There is many other alternatives to education, the question is how far can they really get me , I went from not understanding the benefits of education  to not liking it all to enjoying education and actually benefiting from it.

Having a good teacher and doing a subject I liked changed my whole experience in school because I felt motivated to learn.
My education experience was all over the place but I’m glad to say that at this present day I believe in education and that my experience has helped shape me into the person that I am today and all thanks to my college experience which is what shaped my relationship with education.

Learning new languages, adapting to a new curriculum was not always as easy, which was what caused my confusion with school over the years.
My emotions in middle school were feeling scared of embarrassing myself or frustrated because I was doing something simpler than other kids.
Being someone that doesn’t like asking for help or even asking twice when I didn’t understand made me work harder  but also more difficult as this caused me to learn myself in the context of  when I didn’t  understand  instead of asking and get an answer straightaway I will wait till I get home and find out by myself but when I was studying in Switzerland ,I realize that it’s easier and faster to learn languages when your communicating and letting yourself make mistakes

As I was growing up I started adapting quicker enabling me to fully learn and feel more comfortable even though I was still very shy, specially back in Spain, one of the things teacher would always say that I would never put my hand up despite knowing the answer or needing help as I barely talked but it did not help that I could sit in class all day no teacher would make sure I’m updated with all the work or anything  as I started in the middle of school.

 To be honest when I was young I loved learning but when I moved high schools to the UK I started falling behind ,at first I always kept to myself and tried to adapt but in high school everything was different.

Between lack of motivation and being distracted I limited myself to learning and it did not help that I didn’t like the school at that point I was only looking forward to the fun at lunch time and after school rather than how to get good grades. I left with 3 Gcse which according to my school I wouldn’t be able to “move forward” and that didn’t help at all as it just made me not care rather than motivating me.

My college experience it’s what made me focus back in school, this one particular teacher really helped me ,she made sure me and my friends always completed our work at the best possible ,she would tell us to stay over and review what we done so far to help us even though we wasn’t the best students but she always looked out for us and kept us from getting in trouble and excluded as schools in UK are very strict,as well the course I was doing was art and travel and tourism, getting to go out and travel every now and then was a nice experience which made us enjoy the course more and kept us motivated to pass the class. Before this I was really unmotivated and didn’t see the point in school. The only thing kept in there was because of my parents and friends. The qualification from this school and my high school is what brought me here today as this is what got me into this university/college and opened many opportunities for me which is why I’m not able to do the major of my choice and pursue my career.

In conclusion my college (high school in the US) experience is what benefited me the most ,it taught me that if your good with your teachers and is interested in the course you have higher chances of passing it ,this is also where I had my first work experience which was made by the school and this benefited me outside of education and I am very grateful as this the reason I’m still in school today ,I am also at a more mature age to know what my priorities are and how to move forward.

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Unit 1

Unit 1 – Education FINAL (Sara Reyes)

Imagine being in elementary school living your best life, straight A student in all topics and in one of the top 3 class. Then suddenly, you are in a class where you do not understand nor speak the language. Now you are failing, you’re frustrated and have no resources to better yourself? Yup that was me; part of an educational system that did not prepare us for what was coming in the upcoming year. They did not provide any resources prior or eliminating bilingual classes. Nor did they have a plan in place to provide assistance such as tutoring or 2nd language programs to non-English speakers. Tutoring should be mandatory for non-English speakers. It should have been in place prior to the transition. The educational system failed us! 


Coming from a primary Spanish speaking family, I did not know English until later in life. We attended all Spanish classes. Meaning all the classes Science, Math, Writing, History even gym was taught in Spanish. When I was in elementary school, we had bilingual classes. I was able to attend school in Spanish. Homework and class work were provided in Spanish as well which made life very easy being that I can ask for help at home as my parent & sibling spoke Spanish. I have the necessary resources to excel in school and pass all classes with high grades. My mother was able to help me with homework and when she couldn’t help me, I would be able to ask my brother for help. However, everything changes when I entered the 3rd grade. The bilingual classes were phased out and student coming from Spanish classes were entering an all English class without prior preparation. Note: I did not speak English at all. If I knew 5 -6 words that was a lot but not enough to transition to an English class and keep the grades I already had.  

 

I remember my mom receiving a letter in the mail during the summer break basically saying that my brother and I were scheduled to take an English assessment exam as bilingual classes were no longer available for the upcoming school year. I was never able to wrap my head around the decision-making team. How can you transition Spanish speaking students to an all-English class with no preparation? What was the point of taking an assessment exam when they knew that the students weren’t fluent in English and majority of the students came from a Spanish speaking home where their English was broken? I’m pretty sure I failed the exam but here we were 3rd grade English class!

 

The English-speaking teacher I was assigned to Ms. Clarke, didn’t really have time to sit one on one and hand hold us throughout the class. I had a million questions, and I couldn’t really relate my questions to her because of the language barrier. We would use hand gestures to get our message across; if that; or she would just be frustrated and ignore me. I remember her saying “wait til home” (that I understood) as in “wait until you get home to ask for help”. Little did she know that my mother couldn’t really help me because she didn’t speak English herself. It was a frustrating situation for everyone. I remember crying to my previous teacher and telling her how much I hate English if I can go back to her class. I knew we couldn’t, but it was worth the shot. 3rd grade was a very emotional time in my life. I was very depressed and felt helpless most of the time.  I was not used to receiving low grades and always was afraid to fail especially in school. I felt like we were all set up to fail and a lot of parent & teachers did too.

 

Before the ELA/ESL program was put in place by the educational system, Bilingual teachers came together in the evening and provide free tutoring and English reading lessons to students and parents. The program back then was called SFA (today it is called ELA/ESL). SFA was a life safer not only because it was run by the bilingual teacher’s we were familiar with but because the teacher made it a fun learning experience for both parents and students.  

 

The program was broken up into 3 sessions. You had the “during school hour” program which was strictly for students. We were allowed to get a lunch pass to sit in the SFA class during lunch hours. The one-on-one sessions which were for selected students. Those students were handpicked and pulled from gym class or the auditorium (movie time) because they needed more help. Then you had the evening session. My favorite. It allowed both students and parent to take the class together. We learned the fundamental of English. The English alphabet. What’s your name? How old are you? Where you live? Etc., before jumping into school material and reading sentences. Let me tell you, there is nothing funnier than hearing Spani

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Discussions Unit 1

Final Draft

Like most people I hate being forced to do something I don’t want nor enjoy doing. I think everyone can agree that being forced to do something when you’re not genuinely interested in is dreadful. It becomes an obligation rather than a positive experience which can make finding the motivation for it hard. This was true for most of my time in school until senior year. Throughout my whole academic career I was never really interested in any classes. I felt as though school was a burden. That was until I had people to motivate me, like my parents and my teacher. Without these people to help me I most likely that I would not be where I am today. Instead, I would probably be working a regular minimum wage job and being home all day rather than trying to further my education. Going to college was something I never really planned and much less wanted to do. Just the thought of having to be in school for an extra four years when I didn’t really have to irritated me. I felt as though school was an obligation instead of an opportunity to gain knowledge and keep you on track to success. But when I got to my senior year everything changed. I had a teacher who understood and genuinely cared. Having a good teacher and my parents to encourage me opened up my eyes and made me realize that I did want to further my education.

My grades were always mediocre throughout middle school, and as high school came it got worse. It was like my whole educational career was a downwards spiral. Having no support from my teachers made it worse. Teachers never showed interest. It felt like if I wasn’t a straight A student with perfect attendance then I wasn’t worth the extra effort. It made it very difficult for me to find the motivation to do anything when the very people who were in charge of education couldn’t care less. Not only this but the teachers would also allow students to do anything they wanted. There was barely any learning and even less respect in the classroom. I felt like helpless, like the education system was failing me. No matter how much I tried I just could not find the motivation to actually care about school. It wasn’t until my senior year that everything changed. My senior year was when I got an amazing teacher for my trigonometry class. My trigonometry teacher always showed that he cared and would not let me get off without doing my very best. If there was an area that I was struggling he worked with me after school to make sure I got it. He made sure I showed up and was on time to all of my classes. It was refreshing to finally have a teacher that cared for my education and even just me as a person. This sparked the motivation for me to do better in school and continue educating myself.

It is important to have a great support system during your education career. Without one, it can become very easy to lose sight of the the purpose of education and give up due to lack of motivation. I, myself, was almost a victim to this, however having a great teacher and amazing parents by my side to motivate and support me made me realize I had the ability to be great the whole time. They gave me the motivation I lacked in order to finish out my high school career. My parents’ played the most important role in all of this by constantly telling me to do my work and being on my case about it. If they had not been there to motivate me I would not have gone to college. I would probably be home all day doing nothing or working at a minimum wage job with no career. People like me prove to others that it is crucial to seek guidance if you need it. Guidance can come from a friend, family member, school staff member, or whoever you’re comfortable talking to. Even the smallest amounts of encouragement can go a long way.

In school I came to a realization that not all methods of learning work for me. It is difficult when you’re in a class and a teacher just throws a worksheet in front of your face. I’ve experienced this on multiple occasions, which also played a part in my lack of interest in school. For me, reading from a textbook or being lectured doesn’t help me retain any information. I enjoy hands on work , and group work that’ll allow me to learn and share new ideas with my peers. It is important to find new ways to help you learn, this can help with an increase in interest in the material you’re learning. One thing that helped me tremendously was setting goals for myself. Setting goals for myself allowed me to accomplish things I never knew I could accomplish and helped me stay focused In school.

Without people to motivate me like my parents and my teacher I would not be sharing my educational narrative with you today. Having these people in my life really made me change for the better. Without my trigonometry teacher to make sure I was doing and actually understanding my work I would not be where I am now. Furthermore, without my parents constantly hassling me to get my work done and to always do my best I probably wouldn’t have continued on this path. With that being said, if you’re like me and are having trouble finding the motivation and will to continue in school, or even outside of school take this as a sign to try new ways to better yourself. For me it was seeking guidance, finding a new way to learn, and setting practical goals for myself along with a solid support system that allowed me to find the motivation to continue my education and go to college.

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Unit 1

Final Draft- Rosena

From my standpoint as an African-American female with an IEP in the New York City educational system, education has a different meaning than its dictionary meaning. The dictionary meaning of education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. To me, education is empowering the next generation of young trillionaires. The educational system should empower the young to not only be critical thinkers in the classroom but also critical thinkers in life and use that skill to help them achieve their full potential in the real world and help reach their goals and aspirations. I believe this experience within my education sparked a different light that I’ve never seen in myself before.

In elementary school, I struggled with not only spelling words but also understanding the task at hand, comprehension was a big issue for me. The public elementary school I went to from kindergarten to 3rd grade, they didn’t make sure the students knew how to spell and just kept promoting the kids. It seemed as if they didn’t care about our education the way they should as educators. Then in 4th grade, I transferred to a Catholic School where I was doing way better than I was in the public. The teaching in Catholic School was way better than in public school because they made sure that the students understood the material. I was excelling in subjects such as science, and ela, as well as math but not so much religion or social studies. I only excelled in subjects like Science and Ela because I liked them. On the other hand I struggled with religion and social studies the wording would throw me off causing me to overthink the question and get the answer wrong. 

In middle school, I got evaluated and it was discovered that I had several learning disabilities such as dyslexia (where I mix the letters up like “i“ and “e”), I’m an overthinking (during a test I normally spend too much time on one question when I  should do the ones I know first then everything else after), and writing (verbally I can give you an essay but drafting I struggle to get my thoughts on paper). Having dyslexia would explain why I failed all those spelling tests in 4th-7th grade. Also, I felt as if I was going to struggle with school the rest of my like. Having an IEP, made people look at me as  “different”, or made me “slower” than what they were. I got  called names like “slowie” or “sp-ed.” Truth be told, everyone who talked down on me, didn’t apply themselves like they should’ve or they looked to me for answers. Being called those made me feel like I wasn’t cut out for school. Like I wasn’t one of them. Like I wasn’t going to succeed like they were. Honestly, my IEP was beneficial because it gave me a reader (someone to read the question and rephrase it a different way where I can understand it), extra time on tests, and a different testing location. The reader helped me focus, it helped improve my confidence and comprehension.

In high school, I’ve mainly learned that you don’t need to worry about what others think about you because there are others in the same boat as you and this statement is one of the reasons I began to improve. High school was a wake-up call as to who I called “friends”. I can say the one person I consider my sister, is the definition of my sister, ride or die, partner in crime. The friends group kind of fell together due to our mutual interest and the fact our birthdays and in the ’20s with a few exceptions. They taught me that regardless if I had an IEP or not they still had my back through whatever, they were there whenever, and I can rely on them, they aren’t even friends for real, my mom calls them her kids so that makes them my family. 

For me education wasn’t the easiest thing well it isn’t for anyone but it was really rough being looked at as “different”, having learning disabilities, and struggling with comprehension was definitely not a walk in the park. This experience molded me to be a mature young adult by showing me that not everyone is down for you, they’re just down for the moment and what they can get from you. I also learned that I have to be vocal and fend for myself academically because this isn’t grade school where I have teachers or my mom or paras to voice my academic needs. Just like Thomas Edison failed 10000 times perfecting the lightbulb, I may fail over and over but I will never give up. Even now with me still struggling with things  I won’t let the struggle overcome me. Every obstacle and battle I face as I go through my college years, giving up will not be an option when it comes to my success story.