Personal Statement
I have been extremely fortunate to have had such rich experiences working with children and youth in the field of education. I have had the opportunity to work with students from their earliest moments in education as an Early Childhood Educator, and then, as an EA, all the way through the years until they have transitioned to life after high school. I have worked with students from Canada and students from refugee camps in Cambodia. I have worked with gifted students, and students with learning disabilities. I have worked with able-bodied students and those with severe physical and developmental conditions. I have listened to a student with autism recite to me, verbatim, the entire story of “The Paper Bag Princess”, and I have sat with a high school student with a mild intellectual delay struggling to identify and sound out the word “paper” in that very same book title. I have communicated with students using words, picture symbols, and sign language. I have been able to celebrate much success with the students I have had the honour of working with, and I have had to show some grit and try a little harder in order to get others to that same place. I have thought about what one word I would choose to sum up and describe the gamut of my experiences in working with children and youth in education. As it turns out, there are many words that correctly describe them, but the one I have selected as most accurate is “lucky”.
I am lucky to have been exposed to so many different kinds of students, each one of which has taught me something new about teaching, learning, and myself. I have learned that each student who comes into my classroom is an individual and approaches education and learning from a very specific set of circumstances, different from every other student in the room. I am lucky to have had opportunities to work with some of the neediest learners in the system as an Educational Assistant with the HWDSB. This work has challenged me in so many ways, as I have given my best effort to finding the strategies and techniques that will help these students achieve. I am lucky to have a passion for education, a life-long learner myself. I am lucky to have a chance to pass on my love for learning to those impressionable minds that will come my way.
I have worked with several challenging populations in the education field: students with varying disabilities, students new to Canada, students with less than favourable socioeconomic backgrounds, and students with very little love and support in their homes. The lessons I have learned have been tough, yet I have loved every second. I love the feeling I get when I am able to see a student grow beyond the barriers they face and over the finish line of a goal. I am confident that the training I have received and work I have completed to date, towards a teaching career, has presented me with enough knowledge and skill that I will be able to accept any student in my classroom, with any kind of obstacles to learning they bring with them, and see them succeed.
My goal in formal teaching is to one day become the teacher of a Special Needs class of my own. My experiences have prepared me well for such a career, and now is the time for me to take my next set of steps in that direction
I thank you for considering me as a candidate for admission to York University’s Primary/Junior class of 2012.
Christine Elizabeth Pastrak, B.A., E.A., E.C.E.(NOTE: I have no idea why the last two paragraphs suddenly indent, but it won't let me modify it)
No comments:
Post a Comment