Running head: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY 1

Autobiographical Essay

Karen Hernandez

Professor Carol Billing

EDUC 201 Foundations of Education

Fall 2016
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Introduction

Since I was a young girl at school, I would always have an appreciation and a special

respect for teachers. I always thought they were people with a special career with multiple

responsibilities. However, I never thought of becoming one in the future, but it was until I was in

high school when I considered myself to become a teacher. Some aspects that have influenced

me to keep going with my education and to study to become an educator are my educational

background, extracurricular activities, ethical reasoning in education, reasons for choosing

education, and my professional goals.

Educational Background

As I was born and raised in El Salvador, and attended elementary school from

kindergarten from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Before I finish the school year in 2011

my family and I moved to the United States. Here I attended all of my four years of high school

in Caldwell High School in Caldwell Idaho. I graduated from high school in May 2015 and

immediately started attending at the College of Western Idaho the next fall. I am currently in my

second year of college at CWI. I plan to graduate by the spring of 2018 and transfer to Boise

State University to finish and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Education.

One unique educational experience I had was when I came to the United States and

attended high school. I had to adapt to a very different educational environment. The biggest

challenge was not speaking English. I went to school without knowing English but I was placed

in a program to learn the new language. It was very hard at the beginning but little by little, I

learned English. After two years of learning English, I exited the program because my scores

were high and showed that I was proficient in English. However, still today, I have some

difficulty when speaking in English, often I get nervous.

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My high school years inspired me to become a professional educator. During high school

as I was learning English, I experienced how hard it is to learn a new language. From that

experience, I began to consider becoming a teacher. I think if I become a Spanish teacher I will

be, able to help students who do not speak Spanish learn the language. Given my experience, I

know that it is hard at the beginning when trying to learn the new language.

Work History Service and/or Extracurricular Activities

Throughout my high school, I was a dedicated student that liked to work hard and earn

good grades. At the end of my junior year, I received an invitation letter from the National Honor

Society club at my school. The letter was delivered to about 60 juniors in my whole school. The

students who received this letter had good grades and an outstanding GPA. After receiving the

letter, we completed several writings stating what were some community/volunteering work we

have done, what were some leadership positions we have participated in before, and some other

aspects that we needed to address. Several community members, school stuff, and the

community’s mayor reviewed our letters. Only 30 students were selected to become part of the

National Honor Society in the school year of 2014-2015 (senior year).

In my senior year, I was an official member of the club. As a member, we had

responsibilities and tasks that we needed to accomplish. We would sell baked goods and other

foods on parent teachers’ conferences to raise money and donate it to the Relay for Life

organization, stay after schools to do some recycling activities, collect canned food on

Thanksgiving and Christmas to donate them to the Caldwell local places like the Salvation

Army. This great opportunity of being in the National Honor Society club contributed to my

development as a professional educator in the way that it me think that it “feels” good to help

others.
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Ethical Reasoning in Education

During my senior year in high school, my English teacher was the one that helped me the

most to continue with my education after high school. I appreciated everything she did for me.

However, there was one thing I dislike about her. The thing I did not like was that she was

always mentioning stuff about her religion. She was a Catholic member and she always talked

good about the people and stuffed she did with her religion. It bothered me not that she talked

about her stuff but that she generalized as if all the students were Catholic (I was not). Each time

she said something about generalizing and stuff I wanted to get out from the class because I was

not comfortable being there. I never told her anything but yet in my opinion, she was applying

the egoism theory because she consider herself first instead of the classroom’s

perspective/environment.

Reasons for Choosing Education

In my last year of high school was when I considered education as a career. When I did

my senior project, I chose to do it in education and went to observe in summer a middle school

teacher. I also taught/delivered some lessons to the students. This great experience of working

with a teacher gave me the idea to become a teacher. From then on, was when I decided to study

to become a teacher. In addition, I want to become a teacher because I want others to be educated

so our community can be composed of educated citizens. In addition, teachers are an essential

part of society. In my opinion, there would always be the need of teachers. Meaning that a job in

education it is more likely to be available, as well, I can have holidays and spent time with my

family. I have considered working as a teacher or also as a social worker. I want to have a job

that helps our community. My main goal for getting a career is to be the first in my family with a

degree and to give back to my community. As a teacher, I see myself being recognize as an
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individual with good qualities and as a person that cares for others. One reward from this career I

can have are good benefits and vacations.

Professional Goals

My long-term goals are to graduate from college by the spring of 2018 and then transfer

to Boise State University to complete my bachelor’s degree with Elementary Education as my

major and Spanish as a minor. In about four years from now on, I see myself with a bachelor’s

degree. After obtaining this degree, I plan to volunteer and observe more in an elementary school

maybe in a second grade classroom before I start working as an elementary teacher.

Some of my short-term goals are to pass my current classes with acceptable grades. For

example passing English 102 with at least a B due that it is my second time taking this course.

After completing this term, for the coming spring of 2017 I want to take at least 15 credits and

obtain passing grades as well. By doing this I will be able to achieve my long-goal of graduating

from CWI by the spring term of 2018.

In order to achieve my long-term goals I need to be successful achieving my short-term

goals. My plan to achieve my short-term goals is to focus more in school. Meaning, to complete

each assignment on time for each class and obtain good grades on them.

In conclusion, the above situations and experiences are just some of the reasons why I

want to get a career in education. These experiences have influenced me to make the choice to

become a teacher. Therefore, in a few more years I see myself as an educator. Hoping that I will

be a helpful and influential teacher.

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