Autobiographical Essay

Autobiographical Essay

Tiffany Machado

College of Western Idaho

EDUC -120-003W

Professor Doug Rapley

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 Autobiographical Essay

Introduction

In this world good things are often hard to come by in certain circumstances. As a child

one good thing that you come by is a good teacher. Teachers can either be exceptionally good or

they can be bad but when you get that good teacher it changes everything. Teachers are who you

look up to when it comes to hard things. The reason I want to become a teacher is because of

having those good teachers who were there for me in challenging times. Without those teachers I

would not be where I am today.

Educational Background

When I was younger, I moved around quite a bit. My Education started at YMCA

which is a Preschool in Morgan Hill California. After that I attended a school called Paradise

Valley Elementary School for grades kindergarten to 2nd grade. Then I moved to a small city

called Galt and attended the Marengo Ranch elementary school for the grades 3rd through 6th. My

secondary school that was also in Galt was called Mccaffrey Middle School. I finished and

attended the rest of my post – secondary schooling at Liberty Ranch High School in Galt.

Due to some complications that happened during my first semester in college I am not

at the current level of education I want to be at. My current level of education now is a

““sophomore” so my fourth semester credit wise. I attended William Jessup University my first

year, but I ended up transferring at the end of the first semester. When I transferred CWI

(College of Western Idaho) (College of Western Idaho) (College of Western Idaho) none of my

credits transferred due to most of them Christian based because William Jessup is a private

Christian based school. After that, my financial never fully transferred to CWI so by the end of

the semester I was “withdrawn” from all my classes. By the end of my first year, I had ZERO

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credits, since then I have been working on getting back to what was supposed to be education

wise.

My schools were basic and had what most schools had. By the time I was heading

into middle school or a little before they started the concept of common core math. Though it is

not that unique or uncommon nowadays but then it was uniquely different for my small-town

school. In school there were certain classes you were able to take online to get ahead faster and

achieve more credits. Something unique at my school was that starting my first year, they started

to do a hybrid schedule. We had 4 periods with an A/B schedule and everyday classes.

My education has contributed to my development as a professional educator because with

all the things I have been through I have learned a lot, especially during covid. My education has

improved as the years have gone by and watching how my teachers took the time to help me

understand the work is exactly how my education contributed. When you are younger a lot of

things contribute to your way of learning. When I was younger, I had a tough time learning

certain things and concentrating. My teachers that had saw that I was having time are the ones

that took the time to teach me the material again but slower. Thanks to those teachers my

education has improved and are what helped contribute to me becoming a professional educator.

Work History Service and/ or Extracurricular Activities

My work experience is small, but I do have one. Throughout my high school years, I

worked for my mother’s business Lawrence Real estate. There I was a filer, which means my

responsibilities were making all the files that were numerically correct inside and when they

were put in the cabinet, they have in alphabetical and marked by year. In 2021 I started working

for Bath and Body Works and there my roles were cashier and a closer. My responsibilities were

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making sure everyone got helped and then when it came to closing, I cleaned up the store. My

next job was gymnastics coach at Diamond peak Gymnastics, my role was teaching the ages 2 to

13 gymnastics and tumbling. My current job is as an online shopper at Walmart. My roles and

responsibilities are to make sure I get all the items needed for the online order and make sure the

orders get done in a quick manner.

These experiences have contributed to my development as a professional educator due

to several things. At each place I worked I learned different skills that would help as an educator.

As a filer I learned how to keep things organized and clean. At Bath and Body Works, I learned

how to deal with people being rude, yet I was calm and able to calm the person to help them with

their problem. At the gymnastics center I was able learn how to deal with multiple kids of a

variety of ages. At Walmart, I can keep each order separate and know where it is supposed to be

but also help customers on the floor in a timely manner.

When I was in high school, I was part of the cheer team for all 4 years. As part of

the cheer team, I was able to attend the cheer nationals and Florida. Where my team became

National Champs for our routine. While in high school I also participated in leadership my first

year which was quite the experience.in last year of high school I was able to participate in link

crew which was a class that focused on helping the first-year student navigate their first year of

high school. Right now, I am about to be part of the Honor Society here at CWI.

These experiences have taught me to be who I am. They have contributed to my love

for helping others in their schooling. Yet they have contributed to me knowing that you can have

a little fun when it comes to schooling. Sometimes all people think about school is that it is

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boring and long. Which is exactly what these experiences have not taught me because as a

professional educator I can make schooling fun while learning.

Ethical Reasoning in Education

Some teacher-student relationships can be appropriate but then there are the ones that are not.

When it comes to students and their teachers it should be just a school relationship. Students

should be able to trust their teachers. There are some circumstances where a student becomes

afraid of their teacher. In the Idaho code of ethics principle 2 it lists that committing any acts of

child abuse is unethical no matter if it is physical or emotional. No matter what, if it is physical,

it is still considered abuse even if it is mental.

Teachers have the power when it comes to their students but that does not mean they get the

right to take advantage of a certain situation. Teachers should be calm and collected, if they have

a problem with a student, they should take it up with the parents or a principal. There is no pro to

the abuse of students from teachers. There are pros when it comes to code of ethic principle 11

letter a because it prevents treaters from acting in unethical ways to students. The trauma that

comes from the abuse of someone you are supposed to trust is hard to deal with. Especially if

you must go to school day after day to see the same teacher.

Students should not be afraid to come to school and see their teachers, not feel the fear of

what they think they will do wrong when they walk into class. There have been cases of kids

who are picked on by their teachers or their guests singled arrow because they had done

something wrong one day and now the teacher just has a thing against them. But no matter what,

teachers should not be saying rude things to their students, calling them names, and especially

they should not be hitting them or laying a hand on a student. Every student has the right to feel

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safe in a school, what all schools preach about these is that their schools are safe to come to. The

code of ethics prevents students from feeling hated by their teachers but there are those who go

against it still.

Considerations for Choosing Education as a Career

I should be a teacher because I have the personality and energy for it. I love children and my

energy around children is happier. I think I should be a teacher because I can chase my dreams.

Being a teacher is someone who loves children and can have patience in certain times. A teacher

can be many things and have many assets to them. I should be a teacher not because I deserve it

but because I will work for it.

The skills I possess are ones that can help me become and teacher. Though I have many

skills that would help enable me to become a teacher there are some that are more ideal. One of

my skills is communication, which is a key skill to have when dealing with students and

especially when it comes to the parents of the student. Another skill I have would be patience,

which is an important skill to have because not all students learn at the same rate. The last skill I

will be naming is enthusiasm because I want to be a third-grade teacher and with younger teacher

you want to be cheerful.

Outside of the skills to be enabled as a teacher, I have many other skills. One skill I have is

Being able to be positive which is useful because I am able to have positive outlook when it

comes to certain situations. Another skill I have is time management, which is great because I

can have my things in a timely manner. then I have the skill adaptability which I use to be able to

adjust to certain things and go with it. Lastly, another skill I have is organization which helps me

to be able to keep all things in place and know the whereabouts of the items.

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I have plenty of skills that I can use for other careers outside of teaching. One of the skills is

empathy, which is useful when communicating with people or patients. Another skill is listening,

which is well used when working in an office, to be able listen to what your boss is saying or

what a customer is saying. One another skill I have is creative thinking which helps me produce

ideas and is a good skill when it comes to the working field. The last skill that I can say I have is

leadership, which is a useful skill to have when it comes to leading a group or when it comes to

working in a higher setting.

Professional Goals

My long-term goals as of right now are all over the place. I do have some good goals so far

like what I plan to reach for my master’s degree in teaching even if it takes me a couple of years.

Another long-term goal I have is to be able to find a good school to teach in the long term. I plan

on transferring to a 4- year university in Florida to get my bachelors in elementary education. To

achieve these goals, I plan to stick to getting all my work done and staying in school. I also plan

to meet with my student advisor to help me get my plan into action to be able to transfer by this

time next year.

My short-term goals are simple and that is to keep my grades up. Another goal is to start

looking in to getting another job or switching to something that I must do more with my career

path. These short-term goals can help me progress towards my long-term goals in many ways.

One is by keeping my grades up it helps my transcript look better to colleges I am applying to.

Also, by keeping my grades I will be able to stay in the honors society that helps with

scholarships and transfers. The second way it helps my long-term goal is that by finding a

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different job that is more like my career path will help me get ready for the environment in which

my career will be part of.