During my first semester at OSU, I took a class called School & Society, in which we discuss the history of education, the way that philosophies of teaching have evolved over time, and how to teach a diverse classroom. For our final project, we had to write a group paper focused on a specific issue in schooling and propose solutions to mitigate the issue. Because my group members and I were all interested in the connection between home life and the classroom, we looked at how the home environment of students impacted their classroom behavior and academic achievement. To present our research, we wrote a 16-page paper and presented it to the class with a PowerPoint Presentation that outlined the issues and our proposals. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to look into an issue that I’m passionate about and think about how I can adapt my teaching in the future so that the issue is less prevalent. In addition to learning about the subject itself, I gained valuable experience working in a group because there were many aspects of the project that each group member had to compromise on.
In order to continue meeting this goal throughout the rest of my college career, I plan to continue taking classes that will encourage me to learn more about the issues I’m passionate about and how I can work to make those issues better over time. Additionally, I will continue to seek opportunities to learn beyond what is required of me, such as reading extra materials outside of the classroom and networking with people in the field that I’m interested in.