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Inspiring
 
Future
 
Educator 

The purpose of this portfolio is to show the work that I am currently completing and my future aspirations to be a 7-12 Social Studies Teacher.  

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My Portfolio

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My Time at Dayton Public School: (Current)


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When looking back at my experience living and working in Dayton, Ohio, one can see that a lot residents are in need as most of the location experiences poverty. In fact, according to Data USA, "27.5% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in Dayton, OH (34.5k out of 125k people) live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 12.5%". I say this because the students that I worked with some had history of family violence which poverty can make amplified, especially when looking at the drug issues that big city's have historically faced. This is why I think working in inner-city schools is so important. Even if they are not every teacher's first choice, one has the largest chance to make the most difference in a population that is in need such as in Dayton. I worked as a paraprofessional helping special needs kids including a blind child which was a very big eye opener and a great experience that made me feel like I was making active change in the world, which makes the job rewarding and continues to inspire me to be a educator. 
 

Inspiring Futures: My Teaching and Lifeguarding Journey (Current)

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In the world of education and safety, I try to go above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of others. I aspire to be a dedicated teacher and have been a certified lifeguard who has experience working with kids and teaching them through swim lessons I have taught in the past. I truly like to see children's learning grow and get more advanced through instruction.

From a swim lesson perspective, I always made my students self-reflect on what they have improved upon since the start of the class. I believe self-reflection is critical to learning!

As a teacher, I strive to create a nurturing and inclusive learning environment where every child has the opportunity to thrive, and students foster a love for learning. I want all students to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.

 

As a lifeguard, I had to remain calm under pressure, which, in turn, prepared me for unexpected situations. I want to impact the lives of those around me positively. In a world where safety and education are paramount, I stand out as a good example of dedication, compassion, and excellence.

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      Resume (Downloadable)

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 ​​         Degree Reflection Paper  

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          Below Is a Reflection from what I learned

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          Kent State University School of 

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          COMMUNICATION 

 

 

 

Looking back on my time at Kent State University, it has been a long and tiresome journey but also very rewarding. Now that my time at the school is coming to an end, I will use my GPS on Flash Line to look back at my past courses and reflect on what I learned from them.

            One of my favorite classes I have ever taken at Kent State, which was also a communication class, was Communication and Terrorism, taught by Professor Smith and Haridakis. The class is totally unique for a COMM class. It is interesting from the get-go as Professor Smith, who has worked in secret and selective government positions, taught us the history of violence going way beyond the typical 9-11 presentation, as I remember we had a lesson going all the way back to the pirate days, as they are one of the first examples of a terrorist. Professor Smith has a way of teaching a slideshow that makes it so intriguing that I really miss taking the class and hearing her speak.

            Another class that surprised me because I thought it was going to be boring going in was Criticism of Public Discourse, mainly because when I think about speech class, it does not sound like the most exciting topic, though Professor Davis taught it in a way that was easy to understand and me being a history buff it was actually really cool to look at actual speeches from presidents in colonial America because the way they talked was so different.

            Another class I thought was compelling was Media, Power, and Culture, taught by Professor Canfora; like Professor Smith, she had a captivating way of doing her slideshows and was very passionate about Kent State and its history regarding the Kent State shootings. I felt that her passion for that helped flowed the rest of class as she taught me how the media could be biased and how to look for media bias using the media bias chart which shows different news stations and where they land regarding right, left or middle politics.

            Going back to Professor Smith again, I liked her class Communication in a Global Society. We talked and read about issues such as women’s rights in Afghanistan and other issues that can be solved using communication skills worldwide. I also really enjoyed this class because sometimes it seems like, as Americans, we can become blind and not realize that there are so many more issues in the world than just the ones in the 50 United States and its territories.

            Finally, the last class that really made me think about media in a new light was Media, Use, and Effects. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the media as I grew up with it, but as it turned out, there was a lot that I did not know. For example, I always thought that educational shows for toddlers and young children were good for helping them prepare for school. However, studies suggest that young children do not get the same out of educational TV as older children and learn more about the world through real-life interaction. This means that if someone puts on TV for their kid, thinking it will teach them everything, they need to realize how much learning is lost by not interacting with them.

            I also learned about issues such as desensitization when it comes to violent video games, as my little brother has been playing violent video games since he was around 10. I have noticed that ever since then, he is not as affected by bloody or gory content as he used to be because he is so used to seeing it in his video games. This concerns me because I want him to realize how serious violence is and that it is something that nobody should get used to seeing regularly.

             All these classes helped prepare me for the next stage in my career because most of them talked about their careers, such as Professor Smith in government, Professor Canfora in journalism and news, and Professor Davis also in journalism. They would often, while teaching, talk about their past careers and what they learned from them to later pass on to us for our future careers, and I think that was very insightful for these women to do.

            When discussing my degree in general, most people get confused when I tell them I am graduating with a bachelor’s in communication because they often ask me why I need four years to study talking. I have to say to them that communication is so much more than that. For example, I would tell them how I have learned so much about the world and how it works through classes such as intercultural communication, where I learned how communication and marketing differ across the globe. Like for example, I remember learning that Kit-Kat has many different flavors in Asian countries that they do not have in America because Kit-Kat is more popular there. Through social media strategies, I learned how to use media to grow a business or work in a marketing position.

            Through difficult Decisions in Communication, I learned how to use ethics in my daily life, which I still use today. I also learned through Organizational Communication how workplaces work and everyone’s role in them, including having a healthy work environment free of sexual or verbal misconduct. This class also had many good tips on how to be professional and do interviews regarding what to wear and what to say. I also learned in organizational communication how to be a good leader or boss and earn fellow coworkers’ respect.

            Ultimately, I do not regret taking communication because I now see the world completely differently than I did when I first entered the program. The program has helped me with my writing skills so much, as a lot of communication classes require writing papers and getting more familiar with formatting. This will help me in my future job because anywhere one goes, they will be expected to write reports and papers and follow the format that is asked of them so they can make their boss happy and hopefully get a raise.

            The grammar review class, which was required at least when I took it a few years ago, had good intentions but was lacking in execution. I did not really learn anything new in the class due to the coursework’s lack. On top of that, in this day and age, with all the spell checkers and grammar checks such as Grammarly, grammar skills are not as critical as they would have been 40 years ago.

            The last thing that I want to reflect on when reflecting on my time at Kent State is the other Kent core classes that I had to take to get my bachelor’s in communications. The first memorable one was Seven Ideas That Shook the Universe. The professor did a great job explaining science in a way that I understood, as science has never been my strong suit. I also really enjoyed College Writing One and Two because when I took these classes in my first year, they set me up for success later in my Comm core classes. One thing that sticks with me from college writing two was an essay about how when people are at basketball games, they record; when they are at the concert, they record; when they are at the Grand Cannon, they take a picture, etc. We talked about cheap pictures because the same images of the Grand Cannon get taken over and over and have been taken over a million times. Typically, people take photos like this and rarely ever go back actually to look at them, so we learned that it is better to enjoy the moment rather than record it, which is something that I find sad that in 2024, people are watching all their moments behind a screen instead of experiencing them as they use to before smartphones. Since then, I have tried to keep my picture-taking to a minimum.

 

 

 

I am also going to include a short essay from my​ class ITALY: ROME TO RENAISSANCE because it represents my love and interest to understand history to then teach​ it to my students.

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Response Paper

 

How have innovations introduced in Europe after the year 1000 changed the world? Provide examples.

 

         When looking at the innovations introduced in Europe after the year 1000, such as heavy plowing, one could only imagine how much better iron worked versus wood! This led to the transition of Oxen to Horses, which makes sense because horses seem much faster than an ox. I was shocked to find that they tried to put the plow around their neck, and I was glad they found out it worked better in the chest so it would not hurt the animal as much, as well as helping to increase productivity. When learning about the rotation of the crops, I know how important it is to do this as the soil can stop producing if you keep planting the same crops over and over; I am delighted they figured this out as it gives more chance for a better harvest and a lesser chance of people succumbing to hunger and death.  When seeing the image showing the watermill it reminds me of a factory today, harnessing the energy from the machine to get a task done, such as producing flour for bread. To think that peasants could devote their time to other activities because of these inventions is essential because they could go into other industries to progress more in different areas that are less serious, such as fashion. As if one is less worried about the necessities, there is more spare time for other hobbies. With the increase in population, it only makes sense that they needed to produce more food, which was only made easier by these inventions after 1000 and made the quality of life better, which will always have a positive effect on fertility, which makes sense even today because people feel better when they eat better and have balanced diet. It is crazy to think how these inventions that were discovered so long ago are still used today and show just how much they changed the world for the better. One of the interesting things in the reading Technology and invention in the Middle Ages is when it says, “There is, in fact, no proof that any important skills of the Graeco-Roman world were lost during the Dark Ages even in the unenlightened West, much less in the flourishing Byzantine and Saracenic Orient” This was shocking to me because I always thought that all knowledge was lost in the dark ages to come to find out there was some that survived was shocking.

 

Identify how the revival of trade and cities impacted Italian society. Provide examples.

         When looking at the lecture on cities, one of the first shocking things to me was that no more than 15 percent of people near the year 1000 lived in cities, which is so crazy to me that 85 percent of people lived in such isolation compared to the big cities, the number of 50 percent by the fourteenth century sounds much more like modern-day to me. It was very shocking to see how many walls were built around 1150-1200, showing just how vital walls were for protection during this time. The importance of the church is so essential to the city, and it was interesting to me how Iacpo said that nowhere should be considered a city without the presence of a church and bishop, as it shows just how important the church and religion were at this time. When I saw the image of Massa Marittima cathedral, I was stunned because this entire time, when talking about churches, I was picturing a small one-room church, so to see the beautiful massive cathedral, I was shocked at the pure size of it. I thought it was interesting how Dante said what could be worse for a man than to not be a citizen, and upon further thought, I understand because cities give people an identity. Trade affected society at this time because merchants stopped traveling and stayed still in the same place to conduct their business. In other words, Trade made the city a vital way of working and making money, contributing to cities’ rise. I agree that a city is a state of mind, and people are willing to trade with those who belong to the same community and believe in the same values. In the reading The Revival of Commerce, the thing that caught my attention was when it said how “The Netherlands had given evidence of a commercial activity not be found anywhere else. This is easily explained by the great number of rivers which flow through that country and which there unite their waters before emptying into the sea.” I find this passage interesting because it goes to show it does not matter how much money a city has or how many people, if they do not have the natural climate for trade such as rivers it will not succeed as much as those city’s whose natural climate support the transport of commerce and business.

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