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Diversity Project Spring 2017

Introduction

For my Diversity Project, I was placed at Meadowbrook Elementary School in Pittsburg,

Kansas. This school is in the USD 250 district. I was placed in Mrs. Robinson’s classroom. She

is a special education teacher at the elementary school. I worked mainly in the resource room,

but there were a few times my student and I walked to her general education classroom with Mrs.

Buzard. I also came into to contact with Miss Rachel who works as a paraeducator at the school.

Building Report Card

Name of School Meadowlark Elementary

Where is this School Located? Pittsburg, KS

If the website you study is different than KSDE.org, provide the site you visited to collect your data in the
space below:

School District Demographic Data

Total population of the school district (not the community)__________________________

Percentages of the following student populations:

Gender:
53% Male
47% Female

SES (socioeconomic status):

60% Economically disadvantaged
40% NONeconomically disadvantaged

Race/Ethnicity:
4% African American/Black
15% Hispanic
N/A Asian
70% Caucasian/White
N/A Native American
10% Other

Disability: 17% ELL (English Language Learners): 3%

School Building Demographic Data

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Gender:
50% Male
50% Female

SES (socioeconomic status):

73% Free/Reduced Lunch (Economically disadvantaged)
27% Self-Paid Lunch (NONeconomically disadvantaged)

Race/Ethnicity:
3% African American/Black
21% Hispanic
N/A Asian
66% Caucasian/White
N/A Native American
10% Multi-Racial (Other)

Disability: 16% ELL (English Language Learners): 13%

Building Assessment Data

Reading Assessment Data (ELA)

Grade Level 3

All Students Level 1 30% All Students Combined Levels 2 – 4 72% All Level 4 Only 11%

State Comparison Data

All Students Level 1 23% All Students Combined Levels 2 – 4 78% All Level 4 Only 16%

Student Subgroup Data for ELA

Category: Free/Reduced Lunch (Economically Disadvantaged) Grade Level 3

Level 1 34% Combined Levels 2 – 4 66% Level 4 Only 10%

State Comparison Data

Level 1 33% Combined Levels 2 – 4 67% Level 4 Only 7%

Self-Paid Lunch Only

Level 1 18% Combined Levels 2 – 4 82% Level 4 Only 12%

Category: Students w/ Disabilities (District)

Level 1 59% Combined Levels 2 – 4 41% Level 4 Only 5%

State Comparison Data

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Level 1 49% Combined Levels 2 – 4 51% Level 4 Only 6%

Not Disabled Subgroup

Level 1 26% Combined Levels 2 – 4 74% Level 4 Only 12%

Category: (You Choose another student subgroup from drop down menu) ELL Students

Level 1 45% Combined Levels 2 – 4 55% Level 4 Only 9%

State Comparison Data

Level 1 39% Combined Levels 2 – 4 61% Level 4 Only 5%

Math Assessment Data

Grade Level 3

All Students Level 1 16% All Students Combined Levels 2 – 4 84% All Level 4 Only 15%

State Comparison Data

All Students Level 1 15% All Students Combined Levels 2 – 4 85% All Level 4 Only 18%

Student Subgroup Data for ELA

Category: Free/Reduced Lunch (Economically Disadvantaged) Grade Level 3

Level 1 18% Combined Levels 2 – 4 82% Level 4 Only 16%

State Comparison Data

Level 1 23% Combined Levels 2 – 4 77% Level 4 Only 8%

Self-Paid Lunch Only

Level 1 11% Combined Levels 2 – 4 89% Level 4 Only 11%

Category: Students w/ Disabilities (District)

Level 1 46% Combined Levels 2 – 4 54% Level 4 Only 5%

State Comparison Data

Level 1 41% Combined Levels 2 – 4 59% Level 4 Only 7%

Not Disabled Subgroup

Level 1 12% Combined Levels 2 – 4 88% Level 4 Only 17%

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Category: (You Choose another student subgroup from drop down menu) ELL Students (District)

Level 1 7% Combined Levels 2 – 4 93% Level 4 Only 7%

State Comparison Data

Level 1 27% Combined Levels 2 – 4 73% Level 4 Only 6%

I was honestly surprised by my cooperating school. I was informed going into this school

that is was a high poverty location. I was expecting that, but I was not expecting it to be 73% that

qualified for free or reduced lunches. Although, Pittsburg School District does have a higher

percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged.

For third grade, the state assessment for English was a little lower than the state average

for Kansas. I also noticed that they went down a little bit from the year before. The differences

were not drastic by any means, so this could possibly be since it is just a different set of kids

taking the tests. Their free and reduced lunch statistics are a little above the state average. The

lower test scores could be because they’re hungry and having a hard time focusing., they could

be tired from not enough sleep the night before, or maybe there are problems at home. However,

one score that surprised me was the scores for level 1 of students with disabilities. There was a

16% in scores from 2015 to 2016. 2016 differentiated with the state by 10% as well. I know that

these are different students each year, but these numbers seem too drastic to me. This is an area

where goal setting will need to be essential with the staff to reach for improvement.

Math scores overall are not too different from the state average. It is drastically different at level

1 and level 4 from the previous year at Meadowlark. The is a 10% difference in the level one

category and a 5% difference in the level 4. In the subgroup of free and reduced lunch, scores for

Meadowlark are much higher than the state average. The level 4 for this subgroup also doubled

from 2015. This shows me that they’ve maybe implemented a change, and it’s receiving better
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results. The level 1 scores had almost doubled as well, which indicates that there is still room to

grow improvement wise.

Overall, when looking at this data, it never occurred to me that this was a “bad school.” I

saw some of the data as just things they could improve upon. Some of these things could be out

of the teacher’s hands. Some students may be tired, maybe they were fighting with a parent or

friend, or maybe they just had a bad day. There could have been an issue at home that is

distracting them as well. There are several things that you need to consider when reviewing

scores. Low scores don’t mean bad teachers or bad students. They just mean there is room for

improvement and growth.

Target Student

My student is in the third grade. She is a nine-year-old female who works in the resource

room in the afternoon. She is extremely personable, quick thinking, and skilled in mathematics.

She has the ability to grasp new information quickly. She is willing to listen to you if you listen

to her as well. She is extremely sure of herself and her abilities. When she is struggling with

something, she will ask you for help. She is honest with her behavior chart, and will tell you

when she received a below average score on her chart and why.

The student is also easily distracted. She needs a quiet space with few individuals to stay

on task. There must not be any loud noise nearby, or if there are too many individuals in the

room she will not want to focus. She will tell you if there are too many people or it is too loud

for her to complete her work. When this happens, it is best to accommodate to her needs. You

can put up dividers to block out the individuals from her sight, and give her headphones to put

over her ears to block out some of the noise.

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My student’s first impressions were that she was strong in her mathematics and can grasp

new information. This did not change over the weeks; however, I did notice trouble areas when

we would work through word problems. She expected me to read through them for her, and

would not want to read them through herself. When we would have to answer using words, she

had to look off the charts provided in the problem for spelling. She would write letters

backwards or completely leave some letters out. I believe an area of concern for the student is

reading and writing.

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Daily Entries

Journal Entry 1

Wednesday, March 15- 2:00-3:00

When I walked into Mrs. Robinson’s room today, she was not present. I waited for a few

minutes to see if she would return. She could have been in the bathroom, meeting with a teacher,

or coming back from another class. After about a minute, a para walked into the room and I

introduced myself. She called the room where Mrs. Robinson was and she told the para that I

was to observe her and the student she was working with until she could return to the room and

introduce herself to me.

The paraeducator had the student inform me on what they were working on. He told me

they were working on manners. He mentioned that good manners were using phrases such as

please and thank you. The para pulled out a worksheet that asked the students to cut out each

phrase and glue it to the good manner shamrock or the bad manner shamrock. They went through

the phrases first and labeled them as good or bad manners, then glued them to their appropriate

shamrock. Before she allowed him to cut the phrases out, she drew lines around them in crayon.

This led to me believe he does not use scissors often because they could be a weapon for him.

Earlier while she was introducing him to me, she had said she was thankful he was not hitting

people today, which means he has violent tendencies. This would make sense as to why he does

not get to use scissors.

Mrs. Robinson came back in and introduced me to the student I will be working with this

semester. She handed me a worksheet and we began working on math. My student catches on to

new concepts quickly. I introduced a new topic to her today for math, and she finished the

assignment rather quickly. She can sometimes become distracted, but I could easily refocus her
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by asking her if we could get back on task. She is a good listener and seems to be open to new

people. She likes her personal space and is incredibly sure of herself and her abilities. I am

looking forward to working with her this semester and having an opportunity to know her as a

student. I am also looking forward to acquiring new knowledge and skills by working alongside

her.
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Journal Entry 2

Monday, March 27- 2:00-3:00

I felt more comfortable walking into the classroom today. I had a good first day with my student,

so I was excited to work with her today! She is an incredibly smart student. Today we worked on

math. Most of it was review. We started with subtraction and when to borrow. We looked at two

numbers, the top row had a box in front of a number and the bottom had a single digit number. If

the top number was smaller than the bottom, she would put a line through the box next to it

indicating that you would need to borrow. If the top number was larger than the bottom, she left

it alone indicating you do not have to borrow. Next, we moved on to telling time. She still needs

to count by 5 whenever telling time, but I believe if we keep reviewing it will eventually become

more natural to her. She picks up on things quickly.

When we moved on to a math worksheet where she was counting by 2s, she had slouched over

her paper a little bit and I had difficulty seeing how she was doing. I leaned above her slightly

and asked how she was doing. She told me I was too close and I “needed to move back, please.”

I immediately apologized and stepped back. That is when it became clear to me that she works

with her elbows bent and spread across the table. She values her elbow room and does not like

when it is invaded. This made me think of why that is. It was only my second day working with

her so maybe she is not completely comfortable with me yet. Maybe something had happened

earlier in the day and she wanted her space. She finished her worksheet with no trouble at all.

After the worksheet, it was time for me to go. I told her I was thankful for her hard work today

and I would see her again on Wednesday!

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Journal Entry 3

Wednesday, March 29- 2:00-3:00

Today when I walked in the classroom, she came right up to me and said, “Do you want to know

why I was mad earlier?” Mrs. Robinson then interrupted and said, “If it was taken care of earlier,

and we’re not mad anymore I don’t think we need to talk about it.” She asked me again if I

wanted to know why she was mad, so I told her the same thing Mrs. Robinson had said. She

grew upset over this, so I told her that everything was okay and we did not need to be upset

anymore. I asked her if we could try and have a better day and work on math together. She

seemed to calm down and grabbed her math packet from her cubby. I understand that she wanted

to tell me about her day, but if the teacher had asked her to stop talking about it then I felt as if I

needed to abide by that too. I know that she wanted me to listen to her conflict, but I also need to

draw that line between friend and instructor.

We transitioned into math without any issues. We worked on her usual math packet. We

practiced more with when to borrow and when to simply subtract. She is starting to get a little

faster on seeing when we need to borrow. After we finished with subtraction, Mrs. Robinson

joined us and introduced her to division. She grabbed a whiteboard, dry erase marker, and cubes

for demonstration. She would give her a certain number of cubes, draw circles on the

whiteboard, and have her distribute the cubes equally in the circles. She was using the idea of

equal sharing to introduce division, and I thought it was a neat way to put the concept into action.

I know that I have always been a visual learner, and I loved his visual and hands on activity. I

also thought this would be a great way to understand the concept of remainders, however, we did

not make it that far in our lesson today. We started with 20 cubes and we drew 4 circles. She
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placed one cube in each circle until she ran out of cubes, then we would write out the problem

using division.

She quickly took over and wanted to do everything herself. She is independent and likes to do

things herself. I am not sure if this is because she is a hands-on learner, or if she needs to have a

sense of control on her situations. Mrs. Robinson warned me on that first day that she can be a

little bossy and to not let her try to take over while I am working with her. I do not think that

“bossy” is the term I would use for describing her. She is self-assured and knows what helps her

learn. If you are doing something that she does not like or understand, she vocalizes that and asks

for a change. For example, today one of the other students in the resource room was playing a

game on the iPad. He did not have his headphones on it was becoming a distraction. She made

him a deal that if he put the headphones in now, he could take them back out after she was

through with her work. She takes care of situations and is a strong negotiator. I must remember

this as I continue to work with her this semester.

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Journal Entry 4

Monday, April 3- 2:00-3:00

I was warned as I walked into the classroom today that my student was having a rough day. She

did not go into detail, but simply said that it had been a bad day. This made me feel a little bit

nervous. We had not had a bad day yet, so I was anxious to see how the day was going to go. I

think I was nervous because I want to do handle these kinds of days properly. I want to show my

cooperating teacher that I can do this job, but I am still new and not entirely sure of what to

expect. She walked in and was genuinely happy to see me! She smiled big and said, “You’re

here!” This made me smile! This was not what I was expecting after hearing that my student was

having a bit of a rough day, but made me happy. I felt like she was excited to see that I was here

and that made me feel like maybe I am doing something right. She grabbed her notebook and we

started in on math.

I will not lie and say that today was incredibly productive. She seemed to be hyperactive and had

difficulty staying on task today. It took everything in me to not laugh when she belched and

proceeded with, “Man! That stunk!” I simply said, “Well, I hope we don’t do that again then.

Let’s get back to our problem.” I will say that I do not know if this was a tactic to get out of

working on her math, but it was hilarious. I will never say that to her though, she would use it

again in a heartbeat! When we arrived back to math she would read the problem, think about it

for a second, then raise her voice and ask if I wanted to know the answer. She was acting

extremely upbeat and giddy, so I was not sure what my teacher meant by having a bad day.

It is possible that she meant that she was not having a good day focusing on her work. She

seemed to be in a good mood while I was there. She was a little silly and off task, but we

managed to get through her work. As long as we completed the work, I was okay with her being
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a little goofy. I felt like it was a good way for her to work off some steam if she was having a bad

day before I had arrived.

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Journal Entry 5

Wednesday, April 5- 2:00-3:00

Today we had a bit of a rough day. My student could not seem to stay on task and became

frustrated with me at one point. I felt like a failure today. I could not get through to her. I felt like

a deer in the headlights today, and that is something I did not expect walking into the classroom

today. I will have to take it as a lesson learned of what to expect in the future.

We were working on our regular math packet today and things around the room kept distracting

my student. She could not seem to focus when someone started coming through the teacher’s

walkie talkie. She was distracted because other students were working on the computers. I was

having to ask over and over for us to get back on task. We finally made it out of the subtraction

portion, and moved on to telling time. She was looking at a clock that had the “little hand” close

to four and the “big hand” on eleven. She told me that the clock read 4:55. I had asked her to

explain to me why she thought so. She said that if the little hand was close to 4, then it was 4

o’clock. I asked her if it was not quite to the 4 yet, would it still be 3 o’clock. She told me no and

that since it was close to the 4, it was 4 o’clock. I said okay, and asked if we could look it again

together so I could show her. She became upset with me over this. She raised her voice and said

that she was right because her teacher had taught her that. I said that I believed her, but that I was

hoping she might let me show her again. She told me no and started raising her voice again

saying she was right.

Mrs. Robinson came over and asked what was going on. My student looked at her and said that

she was right, and since the little hand was close to the 4 that it was 4 o’clock. Mrs. Robinson

then told her to look at the clock and asked if it was touching the 4 yet. My student said that it

was not touching the 4, but almost. That is when she told , my student to listen to her own words.
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If it was almost to the 4, then it was not there yet. This is when it clicked in my student’s brain

that it was in fact still 3 o’clock.

Mrs. Robinson came up to me later and told me that I had handled it well. She said that I

remained calm, I did not get upset or yell, and that she thought I did an excellent job. I do not

feel as if I handled it well though. I felt as if I could have done something better. If I had moved

my student to another area, or put up dividers so she would not be so easily distracted earlier,

could I have avoided the outburst from my student? There must have been something I could

have done better for her to not become so upset with me. I will take it as a lesson learned.
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Journal Entry 6

Monday, April 10- 2:00-3:00

Today when I walked into the resource room, I noticed a student that I see in there every day was

having a hard time working with one of the paras. He was becoming upset with her, but I thought

she was doing a great job at keeping calm. I started working with my student on her math, as

usual. My student was having a hard time staying on task because the other student in the room

began yelling. My student asked me why he was being so mean, and I told her that I was not sure

and perhaps he was having a bad day. I told her that the teacher would take care of it, and asked

if we could get back to our math packet.

The situation escalated quickly from there. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my cooperating

teacher and paraeducator carrying the boy from the computers to the far corner of the room

behind the file cabinet. He began screaming, “I hate you! I’m going to go get my knife and cut

you open!” His was the only voice I could hear, but he was screaming this over and over. My

student and I removed ourselves from the situation and relocated to the classroom next door.

I did not have the chance to see how the situation was handled, and I am not quite sure how I

would have handled it either. I do not know how the situation escalated to that level either. It

seemed to me that one moment he was upset, and the next he was making violent threats. It could

be that the bad attitude started at home, then grew worse as the day went on at school. If there

was a fight at home with a parent or sibling in the morning, and then things did not go his way at

school either, which led him to this situation.

Another question that sprang to mind is if you take his words seriously. I know that I grew up in

a small town, and when I was in high school it was common for the guys to keep their knives in

their glovebox. However, this is an elementary level student. Does he actually have a knife on
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him in this moment? Has the student brought a weapon to school before? I have heard stories on

the news of young children bringing guns or knives to school because they want to show their

friends or they thing they are cool toys. If a student makes these threats, do you have authority to

do a backpack check? Do you call a school resource officer to come and take control of the

situation? What are you supposed to do when your student threatens your life?

It makes you wonder if this is what he sees at home. Children often mimic the things they see at

home. I know this is not always the case, but it does happen. If there is violence in the home, this

could be why there is violence at school. It could be that he sees his father or male figure in his

life act like this and that is what he thinks a man is supposed to act like. He could be seeing that

member of his family become violent when they do not get their way, so he could believe this is

how you are to act when instances like this arise in his life. It could be that his family is in

trouble and when he feels threatened this is his response when he feels threatened.

There are so many things that make you think in these situations. I did not have the chance to

follow up on the situation today, because it was still being handled when it was time for me to

leave for work. My student went with a paraeducator when it was time for me to leave. There are

so many questions that I have about today. I will need to sit down and talk with Mrs. Robinson

about them all.

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Journal Entry 7

Wednesday, April 12- 2:00-3:00

I did not get an opportunity to speak with Mrs. Robinson today about last week’s event.

She was busy working with a group of students at one of her tables, so I began working with my

student. The student seemed to be in a great mood today and we moved quickly through our

math packet. She has improved significantly on knowing when to borrow from the tens place in

subtraction.

We played a math game afterwards that I had never seen before. You use a penny as your

game piece, roll a die, and whatever two numbers you land between you must add them together.

It was a fun game and good one-on-one time with my student. For each turn, we would write our

answers independently, then add them once more together to ensure our answers were correct.

We had so much fun today! She won the game we played because she ended up

answering the most questions. When the game was over, we still had a little bit of time left in our

day and I took this opportunity to get to know my student a little better. I have discovered that

her favorite color is all of them and she believes she is not good at drawing. I drew her a puppy

and an elephant, mainly because that is the extent of my artistic ability, but she loved it! She

asked me to draw her a kitty and it did not look quite like a kitty, but she laughed and said it was

better than hers.

I believe that moments like these with your students are important. It is essential to bond

with your students and learn about their interests. Your students need to see that you are a person

as well as their instructor. From my personal high school experience, I felt as if I excelled in the

classes in which the teacher joked around with us or took time to get to know each of us better. I
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felt more inclined to listen to what a teacher had to say when they came across as an individual

as well as my teacher.
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Journal Entry 8

Wednesday, April 19- 2:00-3:00

Today was the first day that I have felt annoyed in the resource room. Mrs. Robinson was

not there, so the classroom was full of paraeducators. One of the paras was continuously teasing

my student. It started as what seemed to be joking with m student, but the behavior from the para

continued to escalate. The para would say something knowing it would get a reaction from my

student, and when my student would scowl at her, she would say “If you keep making that face,

it’ll freeze that way.” The para was distracting my student while we were trying to work on our

math packet to the point where we were unable to complete it.

My student’s homeroom teacher had asked that we have my student back in the

classroom around 2:40 to celebrate another student’s birthday. When the time came, my student

and I were trying to leave the room but the para was outside holding her weight on the door so

my student would have to try to open it with all her strength. When she finally backed away from

the door, she began walking closer to my student who was almost walking against the wall of the

hallway. When we arrived back in the resource room, Mrs. Robinson was back. The para at this

point thought it was hilarious how she had been teasing my student and began telling the story of

my student’s face freezing up whenever she scowls.

It was around this point in time that my student’s behavior began to escalate. Mrs.

Robinson attempted to calm her down by letting her know that the para was only joking with her

and she did not mean it. I do not blame my student for becoming so upset. This para had

provoked her to the point where it upset her. You cannot be upset with a student if their behavior

escalates because an adult provokes them. I thought the behavior of that paraeducator was out of

line today. She acted unprofessional and immature.

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Journal Entry 9

Monday, April 24- 2:00-3:00

Today was another successful day working with my student. Like usual, we went through our

math packet without any trouble. I believe that she is becoming more comfortable with me every

day we work together. She allows me to lean in closer when I cannot see well and will lean in

when speaking to me. She works well on her math packets and says thank you when I double

check her work. I believe that I have made a connection with my student over the last month. She

is more comfortable with me as each day passes. It makes me feel as if I have accomplished

something out of this project. If nothing else, I have made a connection with my student.

For most of my reflection today, I have decided to focus on my cooperating teacher. Today I

witnessed Mrs. Robinson running in and out of the room, talking to people in the halls, and

constantly on her laptop. She appeared to be working on a form on her laptop and mentioned

something about paperwork she had to do. After working with my student on her math packet, I

mentioned to her that in class we had been going over IEPs and the prereferral process. She

mentioned how the IEPs she can fill out easily, but the paperwork that goes with them is another

story. She did not go into any further detail, but you could easily understand that she has work to

catch up on.

With her being in and out of the classroom and meeting with other teachers in the halls, I felt as

if she seemed overwhelmed. I assume her job can be difficult at times due to the amount of

paperwork she is to fill out, the number of meetings she needs to attend, and the students she

needs to assist in the resource room every day. I know that she has a busy job, but she manages it

extremely well.
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I have never seen her raise her voice, become frustrated, or lose her patience with any student.

She is always calm, collected, and flexible in her plans. My student loves being in the resource

room and working with her. I have seen other students in the resource room show her the upmost

respect. I believe she is a strong role model for young teachers.

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Journal Entry 10

Wednesday, April 26- 2:00-3:00

When I walked into the classroom today, my student was sitting in the chair beside Mrs.

Robinson’s desk. She was working with a para on her math packet. They had finished half of it

together, so the only thing we had left to do was the second half of the packet! Mrs. Robinson

was out of the room, so after we had finished the packet, we grabbed an iPad and played a math

game.

My student is competitive and does not like to be wrong or lose in a game. She played a

rocket game where you had to pick out numbers added together to equal 10 for the rocket to stay

in space. If you took too long or picked too many of the wrong equations, your rocket would fall

out of the sky and crash to the ground. She seemed to be frustrated with the game at first, but

once she realized that she had to pick the equations equal to 10 most of her frustrations were

about being quick when choosing them.

When Mrs. Robinson came back, she had all of us play a multiplication game. This game

required a die and playing cards. When it is your turn you roll the die, pick a card, and then you

multiply them together. At the end of the round, whoever had the smallest product won

everyone’s card. At the end of the game, whoever had the most cards was the winner of the

game. My student loved this game! When it was my turn or Mrs. Robinson’s turn, we would turn

to my student and have her help us get the answer. The goal of this game is to help with

multiplication facts. It is a fun way to incorporate quick thinking when it comes to multiplication

facts.

Today was a fun way to end my diversity project. We had no problems with our math

packet, we had fun with our games, and we practiced our multiplication skills in the process!
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Working with my student over the last month has been an incredibly rewarding experience for

me. I was nervous coming into the project due to not knowing what to expect, but I am coming

out of the project feeling as if I worked to the best of my abilities and knowing that I still have

much more to learn in my years to come.

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Final Reflection

This project has opened my eyes to students that I will work with as a teacher. It showed

me how some students absolutely need the time in the resource room for their school work. I saw

firsthand how students that are considered at risk for school failure, can succeed with the proper

help from their school.

I felt as this project has also shown me how to make connections with your students. One

on one time is essential when it comes to building a relationship. The more you work with your

students, the better understanding you will have when it comes to their strengths and where there

is room for improvement. You also have a better understanding of what strategies to use with

your student.

This project has also made me think about how challenging it could be to get to know

each of your students as individuals. It took a couple weeks for my student to finally feel

completely comfortable with me, and that was just one student. Setting aside time in a general

education classroom to meet or work one on one with each student will be time consuming.

Although it will be a challenge, it is essential. I was speaking with a retired teacher the other day,

and she said the best advise she could give was to ensure you know your students as if they lived

across the street from you for years. I will make it a goal of mine to ensure that I have a

relationship with each of my students.

Working on my Diversity Project this semester has been one of the most rewarding

projects I have completed in my time as an education student. With each project I am assigned

to, and with each new challenge I am faced with, it has shown me that this is exactly what I want

to pursue as my career. I have overcome challenges and celebrated triumphs, but my outlook on
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this career has never wavered. I am looking forward to new obstacles, new victories, and to

never stop learning as I continue through this program.