Running head: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Autobiographical Essay

Stephanie Larsen

Instructor: Bevin Etheridge

EDCU 120

Fall 2018
Running head: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Educational Background

Growing up in a military family meant moving around relatively often. I went to three

different elementary schools in North Carolina, Germany, and Alaska. While all three schools

had all the typical aspects of grade school, they were all very different from each other. In North

Carolina, I was surrounded by a lot of racial diversity that wasn't as prevalent in my other two

elementary schools and in Germany and Alaska, we focused a lot on the local culture we were

surrounded by. I also went to two middle schools; the first half was in Alaska and the second was

here in Idaho. The curriculum was very different and I ended up taking some classes I had

already taken the year prior, Spanish 1 for example. In Alaska, you could take Spanish 1 in 7th

grade and move on to Spanish 2 in 8th grade, but in my school in Idaho Spanish 1 was only

offered for 8th-grade students. I had to do a bit of backtracking which was frustrating and

unfortunate. I also attended high school in Idaho because this is where my father retired from the

military. After high school, I moved on to The University of Idaho where I originally wanted to

become an elementary school teacher. I hit some bumps along the road and ended up changing

my major to advertising and continuing with that for the next four years. It took me coming to

the end of my degree to realize teaching was the one thing I really wanted to do, which is what

brought me to The College of Western Idaho.

When I was younger I was a very prudent student. I always received good grades and was

in advanced classes for reading and writing. Once I hit high school that all started to change. I

realized I could do the bare minimum and still pass my classes and I developed bad habits. I did

not have anyone pushing me to do better and I took full advantage of being the kid who blended

into the background in class. This set me up for failure once I started college the first time
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around. I really struggled in my classes when I realized I needed to do more than just show up to

pass like I had been doing for the previous few years in high school. I made a lot of mistakes my

first time around and it took me a long time to curb old habits. My previous experiences have

influenced me to want to be the kind of teacher who pushes their students and really prepares

them for their futures. I want to make being lazy not an option by emphasizing participation as a

part of my students grade. I think my strengths as a teacher are my previous failures as a student.

I know just how bad the consequences of not being prepared can be and I want to let that

motivate how I teach in the future.

Work History/ Extracurricular Activities

I have worked a lot of different jobs in my life. I got my first job when I was 16, I worked

as a server in a small restaurant. Like most people, I hated my first job. Looking at the

experience in a positive light, it helped reinforce my decision to go to college and get a degree so

I wouldn't have to wait tables my whole life. After that job, I decided to move away from the

food industry and tried out working retail. I enjoyed being able to talk to people and help them

find things they liked, but again I quickly figured out selling shoes wasn't my end goal for a

career path. While I attended college the first time, I worked in between school years at various

places doing different things, but one thing that was always constant was having to interact with

many different types of people. Not only in regards to my work history but my extracurricular

history as well. I played hockey and lacrosse when I was younger and then in college I joined a

sorority.

I think having been exposed to so many different types of people will help me become a

tolerant educator. I also think my experience being in a sorority helped prepare me in regards to
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planning lessons and other various activities for my future students to do. In my sorority, we

were often given projects to help plan and execute to educate the general public for our

philanthropy, which promoted literacy. We helped run an event with a local charity to get

children excited about reading. Having been an avid reader myself I really enjoyed when we did

events like that. I know I am going to take some of the things my sorority did into consideration

when planning lessons about reading for my students in the future.

Ethical Reasoning in Education

It is the beginning of a new school year and for the first time, a fifth-grade teacher has a

transgender girl in their classroom. As the school year progresses along a group of a few parents

begin to make complaints about the transgendered student using the girl's bathroom instead of

the boy's bathroom and demand something be done to "protect" their children. The teacher is

aware that the transgender student does not feel comfortable nor safe using the boy's bathroom

and being forced to use it would cause the student a lot of distress. There have also been zero

complaints from the other students at the school. The principal takes the side of the parents and is

telling the teacher to enforce that the transgendered student does not use the girl's bathroom.

What should the teacher do?

The two ethical orientations I am going to be using are Utilitarianism and Deontological.

Utilitarianism ethics is a collective pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain for society while

deontological ethics focuses on goodwill, or in other words a person's intention behind their

actions. There are many different outcomes that could happen in the above ethical dilemma I

outlined in my first paragraph.

Using a Deontological way of thinking, the teacher should consider what to do by

thinking about the student’s individual rights. Some questions they should ask are “Am I

infringing on anyone’s rights by enforcing the rules laid out by my Principal?” “Am I showing

mutual respect for the people involved?”. If the teacher does as they are told and enforces the

rule not allowing the transgender girl to use the girl’s bathroom even though the teacher knows

the student will feel unsafe, this is casting aside respect for the student’s feelings and safety. Not

enforcing the rule would be morally good, because the teacher is making the decision with the

good intention of prioritizing a student’s safety, and no one is being harmed because the other

students don’t mind the transgender girl using the girl’s bathroom.

Using a utilitarianism point of view, collective happiness is the base for moral decisions.

If the teacher does not enforce the rule, the parents and the principal will be unhappy and most

likely will cause an even bigger deal out of the situation, escalating everyone's stress levels.

While at the same time if they do enforce the rule then the child will be very unhappy. A solution

to the ethical dilemma could be allowing the transgendered girl to use a faculty bathroom, or if

available a single handicap bathroom. That way the parents and the principal will be appeased

and the student will not feel unsafe when they use the bathroom. While the student may still feel

uncomfortable about using a different bathroom than everyone else, they at least aren’t being

forced to use the boy’s bathroom. This is the most practical solution to make everyone happy in

this particular situation.

Considerations for Choosing Education as a Career

Being a teacher involves providing students with the necessary skills to continue on in

their lives and become contributing members of our society, as well as serving as a positive role
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model. I think I should be a teacher because I want to be a positive role model for those who do

not have one in other areas of their lives. Even when I was young, my teachers would place

problem students next to me in class because I was always well behaved and got my work done.

They thought having me sit next to them would help encourage them to change their bad

behavior.

I wasn’t always the most patient person, but over the years I have worked on my patience

and now I can confidently say that now I am one. I think having patience is a very important skill

to possess when working with children, especially when you are trying to teach them something

new. I am also the type of person who can get along with most types of personalities. I have been

forced to work and live with so many different types of people that and that has made me very

tolerant, which I believe is important when you are constantly meeting new sets of students and

parents. I also am creative, and when you are working with children, especially young children,

creativity is a good trait to possess. Presenting exciting and new activities when learning can help

kids become more involved in the classroom and that can lead to higher rates of academic

success. I am also good at multitasking. When you are in charge of so many different children

and are trying to make sure everyone is doing what needs to be done, teaching lessons, helping

individual students, it can all be a lot to handle. Being good at multitasking can help get things

done in an efficient and effective manner.

When thinking about other jobs in the education field beside teaching, I honestly can't see

myself doing any of them. I am not the best at budgeting or having to deal with the business side

of things. I don't think I possess the skills needed to be a superintendent or someone else on the

school board. I don't really get into politics either, and those types of positions have to deal with
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issues of funding and other legislature involving schools. I think with the skills I have now and

my attitudes about education, my best fit for a career is in teaching.

Professional Goals

When I think about my long-term goals I have a loosely set timeline made up in my head.

After completing my Associate’s degree at the College of Western Idaho, I plan to complete my

Bachelors of Elementary Education at Boise State University. Once I have my degree and

teaching license, I want to teach in a local elementary school for a few years and then move on to

teaching in a middle school. I would eventually like to teach secondary education as well as

maybe becoming a college professor somewhere down the line.

To achieve those goals, I would like to further my education and obtain my Master’s

degree in Education. I’m not sure where I would get my Master’s degree, it depends on where I

am living when I make my decision, but if I am still located in Idaho I would most likely go back

to Boise State University.

My short-term goal is to finish my Associate’s degree at CWI. If everything goes

according to plan, by this time next year I will be almost done with my last semester at CWI and

getting ready to move on to Boise State. Achieving my short-term goal is the first step in creating

the future I have planned out in my head. It lays down the foundation for my future career. While

I still have a long way to go, I feel confident in my abilities to complete what I have set out to do.

This semester has shown me that I am more than capable of working towards a goal and

finishing what I started. I am excited to continue on in the field of education and hopefully make

a difference in the lives of others in the future.