Educational Autobiography

Reflect upon your education, an influential teacher(s), and your strengths/areas you would like to improve upon in a personal narrative that answers these questions (5 points):

1. How old were you when you started school? Did you attend preschool? 2. Where did you live? Was the school within walking distance, did you take a bus, or did someone drive you? 3. What is your earliest memory of being in a classroom? What grade were you in? What did you like most about school? 4. What were some of the learning experiences you had in school that are still vivid memories? 5. What were the major events taking place in the world during your childhood years? 6. In what grade did you have your favorite teacher? What particular qualities made him/her your favorite? 7. Who/what inspired you to become a teacher? How can your school memories serve you as you explore the field of education? 8. What are some of your strengths as a person? As a student? As a future professional? 9. How will these strengths serve you as you look forward to becoming a teacher? 10.What are some areas that you would like to improve upon? Will they be problematic if you choose teaching as a profession?
Please utilize the following format: 12 point Times New Roman Double spaced Single-sided Indented paragraphs Correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Name__Wendy Suarez_______________________________________________

I was fairly young when I first started to attend kindergarten at age four. In California, (more specifically Los Angeles) - where I lived up until I was five years old- the school system doesnt have a cutoff date for what time of the year someone was born so long as the student would turn the appropriate age within the school year. Thats why I entered school at four years old. I didnt go to preschool but my mom did try to enroll me a private one, however I didnt pass the entrance test. I remember walking to and from school with my mom; mainly because I would try to chase my shadow (it was pretty amusing). My school wasnt far at all. All we had to do was cross the big street that was behind my neighborhood, and then walk for about a block to reach Stanford Avenue School. I went there for all of Kindergarten and 1st grade and then my family moved to Chandler, AZ to get a new start because the company that my dad worked for went out of business due to fraud. The school here at the time however wasnt over yet, so I had to repeat about 2 months of 1st grade at Humphrey Elementary. I enjoyed it though since my teacher, Ms. A, was especially nice to me. My earliest memory of being in a classroom watching the teacher teach my kindergarten class some hand motions to a song. I was watching from the back of the class room putting something away and I ended up also capturing this memory. School kept me busy and entertained; it gave me something to do which is why I liked it. I liked school so much that I never missed a day- and I still have the perfect attendance trophy from kindergarten to prove it! I would always be filled with so much joy whenever I did/answered something right. I realize that those feeling of pleasure from productivity and doing thing correctly are probably one of the reasons why Im a little bit of a perfectionist.

The activities from school that I remember most richly would be the really fun or interesting learning activities. Such as the time we lightly placed a sheet of paper in a tube of water that had colorful chalk shavings at the surface. There was also the day when fire fighters came to our school to give us a lesson on fire safety. They even brought a fire truck that had an obstacle course inside that we designed to have us act out what we had just learn. I also remember the time in 1st grade music class where we made our own instruments. I was in that same classroom when the September 11 attacks happened. My music teacher turned on the television and we watched (most of us confused) as the buildings let of all of the smoke and destruction. Mrs. Baker looked really distressed and upset by this. I was a little worried about our own safety thinking that her distraught was due to this event happening near us and that we were in danger. Thankfully this is the only major event taking place in the world that I can really recall. My favorite teacher to this day is Ms. Palomaa from my sophomore year in math. She has so much passion and enthusiasm that it inspired me to work hard in everything that I commit to. Ms. Palomaa was a very young teacher, it was probably her second year as an educator but she had so much devotion and excitement to teach math. She worked so hard for us and gave us many opportunities to do well in her class such as test corrections, and tutoring after school. It wasnt until the second half of the year that I realized that I should be working just as hard as Ms. Palomaa, if not harder. Thats exactly what I did after that epiphany; the more I watched Ms. Palomaa teach the more inspired I was to work harder. I ended up applying that change of work ethic to all of my classes. Suddenly learning was that much easier and even more enjoyable.

I owe a lot to Ms. Palomaa. In fact, she was the one to inspire me to become a teacher, although originally I wanted to teach high school math. I wasnt until I started taking brief calculus as to when I started to have my doubts about that, because I was starting to struggle in math. Nevertheless, I still wanted to become a teacher. I happened to be taking Early Childhood Education II during the same time and so I started considering teaching the little ones. I already knew that I was good at it since all of the teachers at my schools daycare loved to have me around, so right now Id like to teach Kindergarten. I have loads of patience as a person, heaps of passion as a student, and tons of persistence
to become a future professional as a teacher. Hopefully, these strengths will help me to work with and teach children. Ever since Ive made the decision about becoming an educator, Ive been observing my own teachers and professors. I look for not only their teaching methods, but the personal qualities. Ive observed things like kindness, reason, responsibility, etc. I admirer many traits that my teachers have and I aim to have those traits so that I can become a successful teacher. However, my tendency to get nervous/stress easily may get in the way of really connecting with the students. I also have this worry that Id become a burn out as the text book refers to it perfectly. I dont want to suddenly hate something that I have so much a passion for. I understand that it can be fairly stressful as a teacher; however I want to be able to look at my students and see the reasons as to why I teach. I have this image of teaching Kindergarten, and it looks so natural from the real world. A stranger that I was talking to just last week guessed that I was studying to become a teacher. She said that she could imagine me teaching little kids and she hasnt been the first one to guess right, thus

others can see that vision too (which gives me additional confidence). Now its just a matter making that dream come true.