The Best Years

fairly small, they’re probably between 1,200 to 2,800 square feet. I have a wide variety of people in my neighborhood. The neighbors across the street are a middle aged couple, I think the guy owns a plumbing company. My next door neighbor is a 30-40 year old single guy, who travels the globe. I’m not sure what his position is but I know he works for Chrysler. As mentioned above, I live in Rochester, MI. My larger community is filled with much entertainment, from shopping, to eating, parks,…

Knowledge of Students Varied Approaches to Learning: Students in the class are mostly social, auditory, and visual (spatial) learners. The students do well when the teacher goes through the book or lesson with the whole class. The students need a variety of examples and cues for comprehension. Writing examples on the board as well as prepared visuals put on the board help the visual learners. Group work and games help many of the students in the class understand the content. These students do…

Humanity’s insatiable quest for immortality, to escape the cold clutches of death, roots itself in our oldest tales. The mythical Fountain of Youth, first fabled by Herodotus’ writings in the 5th century BCE, and actively searched for by the Spanish explorer Ponce De León in the 16th century CE, idealizes our infatuation with cheating death. The opportunities generated by society’s incredible ameliorations of science and medicine yields a world ever-closer to achieving perpetual life. Fueled by…

Back in middle school, I was a part of National Junior Honor Society (NJHS). We were the largest class to be inducted into NJHS. Being such a large class meant we would have to raise a lot of money if we expected to reach our goal. Our goal was to raise enough money for our trip to the Lead Conference at Washington, D.C. Only one NJHS chapter before us had raised enough money to go all the way to Washington, D.C. We were determined to reach that same goal, but things don't always go as planned.…

During the interest inventory information was gathered about Nadia’s personality, what she likes to do, and what her favorite things are. While responding to some of the questions Nadia would pause to think about what she was going to say and use the term “um” and “stuff” a lot. Nadia’s favorite T.V. shows are Girl Meets World and Austin and Ally. She likes these shows because they exhibit friendship and the importance of being honest with them.) Nadia shows an interest in math and reading…

Anyone can go to seventh grade but, first you must finish sixth grade. I think that I should be able to move up to seventh grade since I have gotten amazing grade through out this whole school year. In social studies, E.L.A, and, math I have learned many new things. Some of the new things that I have learned are algebra, perfect paragraph form, and about the economy. I think that I am eligible to go to seventh grade. I think that in Social Studies I have excelled greatly since the first marking…

The piano, as beautiful as it sounds, needs practice before it can sound lovely. Professional pianists study the piano for years upon years before they are able to perform in concert. I have played the piano since second grade and I have played other instruments since that time, but have always returned to the piano because I believe it to be one of the most challenging instruments…

I was leaving Franklin Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois for good. Sadness and anger enveloped me and I nearly had a fit right there on the spot. I would miss all of my teachers, my friends, and most of all, living in the city. On the car ride to our new house in Highland Park, I thought about Franklin. Franklin Fine Arts school is a magnet school in the Old Town neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. A magnet school is not a public school, but not a private one either. The only way to…

My administrative project goal focused on collaboration and working on our curriculum with my English department 9-12. Personally, this has been an area that I wanted to focus on for years because I felt that each ELA teacher was not able to move forward when it came to developing a viable curriculum. As teachers, we were planning on an individual grade level, but we were not specifically aware of what our colleagues were doing. For example, questions like: How much research was being done…

As I walked into the local barber shop for my weekly shave, I walked in on the barber sharpening his his razors. Per my usual routine, I hung up my bullet studded belt together with my military hat, and said “It’s hot as hell, give me a shave.” Slightly inclined in the barbers chair, I explained that several other troops of mine would have the same length beard as I. As I continued to talk, the barber enveloped a sheet around my redden neck and I shut my eyes out of fatigue. He began to apply…