Category: Unit 1

One teacher I will always remember for the rest of my life is Ms. Grace. The main thing I remember about her is how she used to have a vanilla mixed with cigarettes smell that I used to love so much. I remember being scared of school because I knew no one there, and me not knowing how to speak English at the time, was ready to just give up anything school related. At around that time I got transferred into Ms. Graces class and after a while she noticed that it was hard for me to communicate the way I wanted, so she would find ways to say things in a way that I would understand better. Eventually she started teaching me English little by little, and looking back I notice how patient she was with me and in extremely grateful for that.

After third grade my parents put me in another school because of their jobs, so after second grade was that last time I saw her. One thing that I remember her teaching me was learning how to ask for help and how to be patient with myself even when I didn’t understand something, which was something I was very bad at growing up. This year when I graduated I got the opportunity to see her again and when I did we both just bursted into tears.

When she hugged me, she hugged me tight and then all that nostalgia came back to me as soon as she did. As soon as I hugged her back the smell of that warm vanilla and cigarettes came back to me. I thought it was crazy that she smelled and looked exactly the same as I remember her. The first thing she told me was how she was extremely happy to she me in a cap and gown with my high school diploma, and that just gave me the most warmest and proudest feeling I had ever felt. She proceeded to tell me that she was actually retiring soon and how she was happy that she could see me again and was shocked on how I still remembered her after all these years. And that’s when it hit me, she had such an impact on my life that I would be able to remember her without even trying, and that showed me that you can see which teachers are the one who really love and care about their jobs because, I know for a fact that if Ms. Grace did not care about her job me and my friends who also had the chance to be taught by her, would not have remembered her after all these years.

 

The time that I had found out about my aunt graduating college and starting her career changed my views on education forever. My dad told me about his cousin graduating college and how she was gonna work with wind turbines and also travel around the world. She lived in Detroit but was moving to Texas for her career. She would post all about her job and how she really enjoyed it. My aunt being praised by our family and seen as one of the successful members of the family inspired me to finish school and to also get a career just like her. I also took inspiration from her career choice because she works as an engineer and I saw how I can be an engineer since I also like to work with computers and hardware.

 

I have not seen education as being the number one goal in my life because I liked to do other things that I enjoyed doing. But I now know that education will build my future and get me to do what I want in life. I also find education interesting since I learn a lot more from it than i do anywhere else. My aunt made me realize all this and I appreciate her for it. I wouldn’t be as involved as I am in college than I was before I found out about her.

I used to be scared of teachers. I used to think they were always correct, never stood up to any of them. Until one winter day in my first semester of my first year of high school I had too because of the way I was being treated. Although I had to, I still didn’t, and I regret it to this day but it made me stronger and more confident thankfully. So to start off I had this class first period everyday, so if I didn’t make it on time the teacher would get angry. It was also an art class in which I am terrible at art but I was proud of myself for still trying and getting good grades. I would always make it on time but during this time there was problems going on at home, so I came late about three days in a row. We were working on an art project that took about a week, sketching, outlining, coloring, and following the rubric given to us for every project. On the third day of me being late, she was already complaining with her loud annoying voice, which made me want to apologize after class.
So after class I stay to apologize to her. Everyone is leaving meanwhile I am just standing in front of her desk to talk to her, and explain what has been going on recently. It was a big cold room, I was looking down at my old shoes too nervous to apologize to her, and finally words starting falling out of my mouth. I start explaining and apologizing for my tardiness just for her to say it doesn’t matter, she doesn’t care, and to try harder. I was in such shock, and in an even larger shock when I saw my grade for the project we were working on. A week worth of my hard work given a 65 because of three days of tardiness. I asked her, “what is this grade I made sure to follow everything on the rubric?” just for her to say that I missed important points while I was late. I remembered specifically following the rubric but since she was the teacher I didn’t stand my ground and bit my tongue. Which is what has pushed me to stand my ground and not bite my tongue when I feel anything is unfair. I even try to help my friends or even my freshmen sister make sure they don’t get pushed around by power hungry adults who think lowering a child’s whole average is better than being understanding about their situation.