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Bianca Cendejas

Mr. Shkorupa

EDU 210

20 October 2019

Philosophical Portrait of Myself

My name is Bianca Cendejas I am a recent high school graduate Class of 2019. I come

from a big family, my parents wanted the best for every one of us. They wanted us to do our best

in school and it was very important in our household. Every night when we had homework we

would all sit at the dining table and help each other out and before my dad would leave for the

night shift, he would make sure all our homework was done. We brushed our teeth and said

goodbye to him. My parents would check our grades on a regular bases they didn't mind so much

if we didn’t have all A’s in every class but it was nice if we did. They didn’t put pressure on us

to overwork ourselves at a young age, they wanted us to enjoy our childhood, but to make sure

school was a main priority.

Throughout my years of schooling, I have always enjoyed the more hands-on activities

we did whether it be a science experiment, using the number cubes in math, doing artwork, or

presenting a project with a poster board. It was my favorite part being able to put a personal

touch on my work. I attended a project-based middle and high school so you can only imagine

how many projects I had to do in my 7 years there, nonetheless being a kinesthetic learner just

made me love it more. My school wasn’t sit down and take notes, but of an interactive activity

based setting where we were challenged, with a general idea of topics you can choose from and
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teach the class about. We had a variety of ways to teach like lectures, videos, games, and

projects.

I find that for me and many others that being more hands-on and interactive with the class

keeps them entertained and wanting to participate and learn more because it is fun and exciting. I

was a student aid back at my high school and given the fact that it was a K-12 school, I had the

opportunity to aid elementary teachers; at one point I was even teaching my speech group of 3

kids. Having observed the different classrooms and grade levels, seeing how each teacher went

about their classroom structure none of them seemed boring. All the kids seemed to be partaking

in some sort of activity. I noticed that 1st and 2nd graders were always busy with different

stations and activities because they have so much energy the only way for teachers to tame them

was to keep them busy. The upper grades weren’t as busy as the rest, but that doesn’t mean they

weren't doing engaging activities, they just happened to be more advanced because they are older

so they took more time to complete. Kinesthetic learning works the most when working with

younger children that is why I want to gear my teaching towards that.

This all ties into what I believe the purpose of learning is. Students should be able to

express their creativity along with understanding the curriculum for the state. I want the

classroom to be a safe environment for the students' and not be afraid to speak out when they

need help, behave themselves, and be able to follow the directions within the classroom along.

Along with that, I feel that schools need to add real-life situations into the teaching curriculum

not so much in the younger kids, but middle school and high definitely should be opening their

eyes to some of the problems we face as a society. As for the younger kids, teaching them what

is right from wrong should be integrated into the classroom, for example, bullying and what to
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do when meeting strangers. The classroom to me should be teaching children the basics of math,

English, reading, and science but also things for their safety.

Schools should take a different approach and have guest speakers come up and do

activities with the children rather than briefly go over a topic like bullying. Show the students

example, using their peers to perform skits to help them better understand coming from their

peers.

I feel that the role of the teacher is to be as close to a perfect example for the students to

look up to, especially in elementary. They are just learning right from wrong, they need someone

aside from their parents to help form them into the best they can be. Teachers should be someone

the students can turn to for help, whether its school or home related. Students, however, should

respect their teachers because they are dedicating their lives to teach the youth of society, it is

one of the hardest jobs because school is such a big part of most people's lives and it is what they

remember the most. Generally, you want to look back on your schooling years and list all the

good times you've had and all the teachers that have impacted you in a life-changing way.

I feel that school shouldn’t be a place where students take notes all day while listening to

their teachers spue out a bunch of facts; expect their kids are engaged the entire time and then

quiz them on how much they remember. Not letting them used the notes they were told to take.

School shouldn’t be how much information can you retain while a teacher is talking and not be

allowed to use their resources such as notes on a test. School should be a place for students to

learn and be able to use whatever fits their learning needs if they need the notes they spent hours

on taking they should be able to use them. Why, because that is how they learn not by
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memorizing. Everyone learns in different ways and have different needs school shouldn’t be

taught in one specific way, yeah, it might work for some but some is not all.