Reflect in aprox 200 words:
- THINK: Think of one specific incident that changed your views on education. Picture the scene
WRITE: a blog post of at least two distinct paragraphs describing one specific incident that changed your views on education using Concrete, Significant detail. The incident you described in class will be a great place to start.
During my senior year of high school, I sat nervously in my counselorâs office, a mix of anticipation and anxiety swirling within me. I had been looking forward to this meeting, eager to discuss plans for the future and take steps toward college. However, as the moment arrived, a troubling realization began to settle in: I had no clear direction or aspirations. My high school education had not steered me toward any specific career path or even sparked a particular interest. I was unprepared for college, and the uncertainty was palpable.
My legs shook nervously, bouncing up and down, and I fidgeted with my fingers, desperately trying to come up with an answer. I was acutely aware of my own uncertainty as I struggled to articulate my thoughts. I had never received feedback from my teachers that highlighted any particular strengths or talents. No one had encouraged me to pursue a specific field or career. As a result, I found myself grasping at straws, scrambling to fabricate a response to my counselorâs question: âWell, what do you want to do after high school?â
Doubt gnawed at me as I contemplated the idea of college. I questioned whether I was even prepared or capable of pursuing higher education. My sense of direction was so foggy that I feared I might not even make it to college, let alone have a clear vision of what I wanted to achieve.
During the 4th grade my views on education took a turning point. I remembered vividly that we were in my math class doing math exercises. I was struggling to find the answers to each question, they were problems that involved adding and subtracting fractions. I was getting frustrated that I couldn’t get the answers and gave up. My teacher noticed I was struggling and getting frustrated, he came over to me and asked what was wrong, I mentioned to him that I felt defeated that I couldn’t get to the answers and gave up. He sat next to me and told me ” you will be faced with obstacles, trust me I know, but don’t let those challenges bring you down. Push through those limits. Nothing comes easy.” When I heard these words I felt a weird sensation that I can’t explain, I stayed thinking for a while and felt like someone flipped a switch in me and felt different, I felt like a change in me and grew a different mindset, I said to myself that he is right that I shouldn’t give up this fast because I new that I will never learn from these mistakes and will never grow with success. After, he helped me and guided me through the problems and helped me realize how to get to the answers, and he got up and told me before he left he mentioned to me ” don’t be ashamed to ask for help, there will always be someone to guide you in anything just ask.” I am very grateful for the situation I was put through because it led me to hear those words my teacher had mentioned to me, and I wouldn’t have a change in my views towards my education
Til this day I have those phrases in the back of my head, and whenever I am put in a situation that I want I just want to accept defeat and take the easy wait out, I stop and remember these phrases and try to push through my limits til I succeed.
*take the easy way out*
*because I knew*
My senior year of high school was the most anxious I’ve ever been. Teachers and parents pushing you to find the best college for you; when I didn’t even know what I wanted. Before the first day of senior year, I remember being in my room laying down on my bed thinking what major or field I wanted to be in. I could feel my mind drifting away as I was fidgeting and playing with my fingers.
The first day of school was how I expected it to go. The whole day my teachers were pestering me about what my college plan was and what I wanted to do and I didn’t know. I felt embarrassed telling them I didn’t know because everybody had a plan. I was knocking my feet up and down on the desk because I was nervous and anxious the whole time. The next class went by and I came in with the same expectations; I knew it was gonna be a long day. AP Economics was the huge turning point in my education. My teacher jumped straight into material and didn’t pester me about college, he knew that all that un needed pressure was unnecessary and pushed me in a more positive direction. He knew how to help students and made the class a fun environment. Till this day, I remember going to class worry free and knew I was going to have a fun time.
In the fourth grade, i dreaded every morning because the first class of the day was math. I would do anything to avoid it. Every morning, I would pretend to be sickâ faking stomach aches, throwing up, anything that would allow me to go to the nurses office and avoid the whole class. My teacher had this routine where weâd be in class with multiplication tables, and I would always get the answers wrong. I hated the feeling of getting those answers wrong. I would feel dumb and lik a failure. I just wanted to escape the embarrassment of being wrong in front of my classmates so my âillnessâ became a daily act.
But my teacher caught on. Instead f scolding me or ignoring my attempts to avoid the work, he stared paying extra attention to me. He saw through my act and he pushed me harder. He offered help after class and gave me extra practice problems. He encouraged me every step of the way. I admired his patience and persistence. Slowly, the tables i dreaded every morning became less daunting. By the end of the year, I wasnât just passing math; I was one of the top students in the class. That experience changed my view on education, showing me that with the right support and determination, even the subjects we fear the most can become areas where we excel.
good morning Jes, on your second paragraph, you put stared instead of started, “He started paying attention to me”. Just to help out if you don’t mind.
In my second year of high school, first thing in the morning I was assigned the English class. From the first moment I entered that class I felt that I was not going to do well at all, from that day I completely hated the class I just didn’t like it. The days passed and I still didn’t adapt to the class, I didn’t understand anything my teacher said or explained. My disgust went so far that every day I cut the class, even knowing that the consequence was that every three late arrivals I would get detention during lunch. I didn’t care about that, I reached the last ten minutes of class to do nothing. I remember that the teacher got sick and was absent for two weeks and it was two weeks that I attended the class full time.
After several months, the teacher caught me cutting the class, instead of scolding me, at the end of the class he called me and told me that it was what was happening to me, that he could help me. He offered me extra help to raise my grade, and he told me that he saw great potential in me that I simply had to focus on. I accepted his help and my grade went up. I even started to like the class. For me, this experience made me change my view on education, because it showed me that if I focus and propose something I will achieve it and I will always see someone to help me.
During my years of elementary school, I had always been a very shy person. Every time I would get asked to read out loud, I felt as if I lost my voice. I would always be nervous when the teachers began teaching and wanted to randomly pick a person to answer a question, although I knew the answers, sometimes, I didn’t give in, I just listened and was in hopes they would not make eye contact with me. Sometimes looking away worked other times teachers knew that’s what I was always doing in order to avoid them, and they would purposely call on me. After I realized they caught on I began leaving the classroom at certain times where I knew questions would have to be answered randomly, asking to go to the bathroom was my safe option. If I could not go to the bathroom I would ask to go drink water.
This was all until I met my fifth-grade teacher. He was a very understanding out of all of them. He did not pressure students to talk, he made sure every kid was on the same page. He was the only teacher to really understand how much I hated talking out loud and instead of putting me on the spot and make things worse for me. He decided to slowly get me comfortable with engaging. He made small group of students to read to each other ones that I would be comfortable in and slowly began adding another student. This technique really helped me instead of pressuring me. It allowed for be to practice engaging out loud without getting anxious.
During my senior year, I had many mixed feelings. With all my peers having an idea of what college they want to attend, what career they wanted to pursue, It was hard not to be anxious. It felt like everyone around me had a clear path in besides me. I would take casual walks in the lush park with the thriving of plant life and rich greenery, it was a place where I would gather my thoughts and get to understand myself on a deeper level. I wanted to find my own direction.
Even throughout these walks I couldn’t muster a clear image of where I wanted to be, why is that? It was irrefutable that I eventually had to start making decisions, yet it was that I feared most why is that? In class my peers were asking each other where they see them-selves in the future, most had a slight idea but then it got to me, I couldn’t assemble an answer why is that? As I eventually got to meet with my counselor we started discussing possible options and I was bound to tell him how I wasn’t aware of the direction I wanted to go, he told me that this was fine and proceeded to ask me some questions that I never cared to ask myself. This ended up being very helpful because it got to unlock some things that seem blatant once you hear it. He asked one question that still sticks with me “Are your hobbies something you can translate to a career?” This changed my view on education because a lot of people may be stuck due to not fully discovering their soul.
I had so many friends at the beginning of my junior year in high school. The crisp, cool air would surround us as we walked to school. I’m with my friends Makayla, Sarah and Jasmine. We were all around the same height and the same age. Makayla was my best friend, and I didn’t know much about the other girls. It’s fall, and we’re discussing our college plans, Halloween costumes, and the SAT. I didn’t have much interest in college or the SAT. Time was moving too fast for me. I felt like I didn’t have the time to think about what I wanted to do. Eventually, it would come to me, and it was a concern for later.
I was falling behind, and my friends had plans for the future, while I just wanted to be 16 forever. I decided I needed to lock myself into learning because I was scared of being left behind by the world around me. I was sitting in office hours with my English teacher, trying to learn new ways to study and other ways to improve my learning. Then, suddenly, she turned to me and mentioned how I could be teaching myself this all on my own without her. She told me I didn’t need her help. I just made myself think I did. That’s when I realized she was right. I went home, bought some study books on Amazon, and got to work. From that point further, I learned that no one else had to âtellâ me what to do for it to be right. I could be my own teacher. I just leaned on school for me to learn things. After COVID happened, I forgot what it was like to be an active student.
One of the most important changes that came to how I thought about education and teaching came as a series of events throughout the later half of my high school senior year.
For context, I made the silly decision to learn the entirety of pre-calculus, calculus I, and calculus II in two months (the reason for this was that a college I wanted to go to had strict requirements and I got the opportunity to order any AP tests that I wanted), and so for 2 months I did nothing but study math, sometimes eat, and sleep. I didn’t really do anything else, and for the most part I didn’t care about anything else. Near the end there were days that I would come in to school for one of my many AP tests and would have to stay in school for the rest of the day, so I would come to my last period class, my Algebra II, and as always, study calculus (because what else would I do? Study math two years behind my level?) and my teachers always go mad at me. You would think they would be overjoyed that I am studying math that is far more advanced than what they were doing in class, but actually they were constantly angry at me for not doing the in class work (which consisted of reviewing and paying attention to their slides.) I think that this significantly changed how I view the education system, it was not about learning, succeeding, or about how well I was doing, but instead it was a contest of who could follow the rules the best. Even when I sat quietly in the back and did math problems without my phone or headphones, they still saw it as a challenge to their authority.
PS. I passed all my AP tests, got into the college, but couldn’t figure out a way to pay for it, so I had to go to city tech :(.
Throughout my life, there have been plenty of times when I have been in an educational incident. However, one specific incident that changed my view on education was when I used to get purposely picked on by my dean in middle school. He always used to deliberately try to catch me doing things so I could get in trouble and would blame me for things all the time.
Typically this would always occur in the cafeteria and sometimes the classroom. Every time it would happen he would do it around my friends or a large crowd to make it a scene. He always used to wear a short-sleeved button-up and khakis he also wore glasses, and it was almost rare to see him smiling. My sister used to also go to the school but she graduated before I went there he was cool with her and they never had a problem. But for some reason, he had it out for me.
I was in that school from 6th to 8th grade and throughout those 3 years I always wondered why he would always bother me and I could never understand. It got worse every year I remember being in his cold dark office almost every other day for doing nothing. It was nearly like he had fun picking on me. There was one time when I was going from one class to another and Someone who usually doesn’t speak to me said hi to me so I paused for a second then said hi back little did I know the dean was watching me from down the hall the whole time. When I got to the class we were testing there were assigned seats and someone was sitting in my assigned seat I tried to ask him to move but he wasn’t moving so my teacher told me it was fine and I could just sit somewhere else but right before I was going to sit down I turned around and the dean was right behind me and told me to come to his office. When I got there I asked him what I had done and what the problem was and he ignored me then called my dad and said, âYour son was late to class and started disturbing the class because he was too busy talking in the hallwayâ. When I heard that I was in disbelief I had no words to say But after that, I knew he had it out for me. Which made me dislike school and the whole education system, I realized they didn’t care about the kids.
I used to be outgoing. My transition out of it was something more gradual, but I do remember one specific thing that pushed me in that direction more clearly. During sixth grade, I was already starting to fold into myself, avoiding interactions and spending most of my time alone. This wasnât because of school, my classes actually were pushing me in the opposite direction since they all required some sort of teamwork or human interaction. My math class was different. For the first half of the year, we didnât have to deal with group work and the like because it doesnât make sense to do that for something as simple as algebra.
I liked math for that first half of the year. It was simple, and somewhat fun. Coming back from winter break, we saw that our math teacher had been swapped. Something about moving to a different school, which is a strange thing to do in the middle of a year. Anyways, our new math teacher has very different policies from our old math teacher. First, he gave homework everyday. And second, he put us in groups of four/five where we were expected to work together, yâknow, like a normal group. The homework policy was annoying, but it wasnât something I couldnât adapt to. The gropwork, on the other hand, was something I was entirely unprepared for.
Our first day trying this group thing was also our first day back from winter break, so it was natural for me to be nervous. We hadnât seen each other in a while and they all seemed unfamiliar. It was one of those cold, misty mornings where it feels like the air is sticking to your skin. When we entered the classroom, there was a seating chart on the board and the desks were arranged unfamiliarly. After settling down and getting the unnecessary introductions out of the way, we got to work. It was awful. I donât remember what we were doing exactly, but I remember grumbling in my mind about how slow everything felt. Previously, Iâd just finish the worksheet(s) and take a nap or something, but that was off the table now since we were expected to talk. Worst of all, I had nothing in common with the three other kids. They didnât have anything in common either, so classes were always long and awkward. Since then, I started seeing group work in a more negative light even when I enjoyed talking to different people. My love of math was also crippled by the boring combination of how my math teacher taught, the groupwork, and the daily homework.
It was a typical Tuesday morning in my high school biology class, and we were diving into the complexities of cellular respiration. Our teacher, Mr. Thompson, was known for his engaging lectures, but on this particular day, he decided to try something different. He handed out a set of personalized learning plans tailored to each studentâs strengths and weaknesses. My plan included a mix of visual aids, hands-on experiments, and interactive quizzes, all designed to help me grasp the intricate processes of glycolysis and the Krebs cycle. As I worked through the materials, I noticed how much more engaged I was compared to the usual lectures. The personalized approach not only made the content more accessible but also sparked a genuine interest in the subject matter.
This incident was a turning point for me. It made me realize that education is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. The traditional methods of teaching, which often rely heavily on lectures and standardized tests, can leave many students feeling disengaged and overwhelmed. However, when educators take the time to understand their studentsâ unique learning styles and adapt their teaching methods accordingly, it can make a world of difference. This experience opened my eyes to the importance of personalized learning and inspired me to advocate for more individualized approaches in education. It taught me that when students are given the tools and resources that cater to their specific needs, they are more likely to succeed and develop a lifelong love for learning.
In my 6th grade year, I was going to take a federal examination, the school setting in my country is taking an exam at grade 6 and transferring into high school (secondary school) of six years grade seven till twelve. In other to get into a high school, a federal examination had to be passed, I was nine years old at the time and I was someone who does not study a lot before taking examinations, always had confidence in my knowledge and memory, although it had worked a lot of time. Before the date we would take the examination, a mock examination was set up to replicate and show us what the examination would be like, feel like and some practices. The mock examination scores were going to be graded too and inputted in the year report card although we were told mock examination are much more complex compared to the real examination.
The day of the mock examination came, I of course did not prepare a lot for it, I was in the room filled with other students, classmates writing the examination, but I felt completely alone in the four edges of the examination hall that was the hardest examination I had ever wrote, I felt completely lost and disappointed, I knew at the moment I set my eyes on the question paper the exam was going to be a long one. I completed the examination with a little bit of hope and belief in myself, I finished the exam, saw smiles on some people faces, I got home, I sat in my room and though “I have to change my ways”, I realized at that moment that education, learning is not something that exists initially in one’s brain it is something we gain from studying and It is most times not just something we know on first introduction, I knew I had to do better from there on, I thought to myself I did not want to feel weak and lost in an examination ever again and luckily for me I passed the mock examination and also the main examination.