I am an ambitious woman with big dreams and aspirations. I know what I want out of my life and I am not willing to settle for less. I have high expectations for myself, and I achieve whatever goals I set. I have high expectations for the people and events in my life. I get disappointed when my expecations are not met, primarily because the reasons they are not met is always out of my control.
Those are some bold statements, but they definitely describe me. I can easily see the big picture, but I see the tiniest details as well. I think life is basically simple; things are black and white. The grey areas cause confusion. Despite all of this, I have discovered that I am a very complex individual. Yes, I am genuine and straightforward and the tiniest thing makes me happy for days on end. (Example: I went home for fathers day and grabbed the first pillow I found to sleep with. It turned out to be the most perfect pillow I have had in years. This pillow has helped me sleep better, and is so soft and comfortable. It is a simple treasure in life that definitely puts a smile on my face.) Although I am years beyond my numerical age, I have a very wild and child-like, untamed heart. I feel older than I really am and most people agree that I act older too, yet the true desires of my heart are filled with a child-like fantasy. I believe having this child-like optimism for my hopes, dreams and goals is what makes me successful in achieving what I set out to achieve.
It is currently "wedding season" and I am watching many friends walk down the aisle into blissfully happy lives together. Graduation is less than 6 months away. I will have my first "big girl" job in a year. I have experienced true heartache. Life is moving faster these days. I am overcome with the sense that I am growing up, but I refuse to lose my child-like optimism. I like being a complex, beyond-her-years woman with the courage to pursue high goals. That is what makes me the person I am. I am excited for the future and will continue to have my high expectations. I will get to watch those high expectations become realities. I am ready to take on "grown up" responsibilites. I am ready to continue to enhance the person I am while building my independent spirit. Above all of this, I will continue to embrace my deepest passion in life: helping others. This independent, strong-willed yet child-like personality that I have makes me a wonderful motivator and teacher. My purpose in life is to help children and adolescents become successful members of society. I am so fortunate to have such strong personality qualities that allow me to accomplish this purpose.
I think Journey had it right, "Don't stop believin', hold on to that feeling." "That feeling", for me at least, is the independence that grows out of child-like optimism.
-Tracey
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Crash and burn, then from the ashes comes new life...
It's hard sometimes to recognize a good thing when it happens. At this time, things are going amazingly. No, my life is not perfect, but for the first time in a long time, I am thinking of myself and what is best for me. That's not to say I'm not thinking of others as well, because as always, I am. It just means that I have finally gotten closure and have a feeling of my new life beginning.
I am reminded of a scene from Harry Potter, though I can't remember which book it is from. Harry is in Professor Dumbledore's office when suddenly, Dumbledore's precoius pheonix bursts into flames. Harry is immediately distraught at this event, and is terrified to tell Dumbledore what has happened. Harry just knows he will be blamed for the bird's death. When Dumbledore reenters the room, Harry explains what happened, ready for the worst. However, Dumbledore is calm and says that the bird was old and ready to die. Then, as they are talking, a new pheonix emerges from the ashes. :) This event seems to be a metaphor for the past year of my life. I had some great things in my life that I counted on always having, then suddenly, through no fault of my own, they were taken from me. I questioned why and could not seem to come up with an appropriate answer. All I could see was the damage that had been caused and the ashes, but those things were old and Someone much wiser knew I was ready for a new life. Now that new life has emerged in full force, and I couldn't be more excited.
I am slowly but surely finding my place in this world and figuring out what I am supposed to do with my life. I know that I 
am meant for something great and I am meant to help people. I have a passion for living, helping others, education and psychology. I plan to combine these passions and talents into my dream career.
am meant for something great and I am meant to help people. I have a passion for living, helping others, education and psychology. I plan to combine these passions and talents into my dream career.Right now, I am applying to graduate schools and programs in hopes that the right one will accept me and help me pursue my dreams. While all of this is occurring, I find comfort, support and love from my amzaing family. They are behind me no matter what and only want the best for me.
You can definitely say I'm a lucky girl. :)
-Tracey
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
"Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart into it, take yourself out of it."
This quotation has become more meaningful for me in the past year than any other time in my life. I am a passionate person to my core, and if I feel strongly enough about something, I will pursue it with everything I am. I am passionate about community service, teaching and learning; perhaps that is why my main activities from day to day involve studying, reading, teaching and helping others. One thing I wish I could have, but is an impossibility, is more time. I don't like when I have to choose between two activities I have a passion for. I have to ask myself, "Which is more important?" or "Which is more beneficial?" It always hard. This choice has come up many times lately and because of time, I have to leave the best job I have ever had (school's fault).
I have had the fantastic experience of working at Sylvan Learning Center for the past year. This job has helped me improve my teaching skills in a remarkable way. I got to teach so many different subjects (Math, Reading, Study Skills, Spanish, ACT/SAT prep, TAKS, and Writing) and got to work with every age-level, from 6-year-olds to college students. This experience helped reinforce that I definitely want to work with older students, mainly middle and high school. Don't get me wrong, the little ones are absolutely precious and always make me laugh, but frankly, they just wear me out! While I love teaching the students, helping them build their confidence and skills, my favorite times are just sitting and talking to them. At Sylvan, we have ten-minute breaks every fifty minutes (psychology shows that this improves retention). I always have several students that will use that break time to come talk to me about school or life, and I love it. One day, I walked into work and three students that I had never taught saw me and ran over yelling "Miss Tracey!" to give me hugs. :)
One day, I came to Sylvan and was informed that I would be teaching a new writing student, let's call him John Doe. Now, John had been coming to Sylvan for math help already, and I often watched him with his teachers and thanked God that I didn't have a student like him. Haha. He wasn't a bad student by any means, for the most part. He finished his work and was polite; however, he let me know very quickly that he was in charge and he was right. My silly grammar rules and writing techniques (that have worked for centuries) were not correct. How do you explain dangling modifiers to a student who refuses to take your word for it? "Well, dangling modifiers are modifiers that have no subject attached to them. For example, in the sentence 'Slamming on the breaks, the car lurched forward' there is a dangling modifier. Who slammed on the breaks? The car didn't. Therefore, we need to add a subject after the comma to get rid of the dangling modifier. So, a correct sentence might say 'Slamming on the breaks, Bob lurched the car forward. Does that make sense?" John then proceeded to tell me that that wasn't how he saw it. The sentence was correct. No dangling modifier, just like he said. I sighed. He was by far one of my most difficult students, not to mention, he was only three months younger than me, but I may have led him to believe that I had been teaching high school for several years. He never looked at my Aggie Ring to confirm the '09 graduation date. Now, while John was slightly difficult to work with (cough, cough, REALLY difficult to work with), I could not have been more proud when I found out that he had done well enough on his writing sample to get into the school he wanted. Yes!
I could tell stories galore about my experiences with these students, and I'm sure I will tell more. I know each of them has the ability to be successful. I have had some very difficult students, some disobiedient students and some perfect angels, but each one has a special place in my heart. I can't wait until I have my six class periods of bright and shining faces with eager minds for me to mold. Again, in that experience, I will have numerous personalities, achievement levels and behavior problems to deal with, but I don't foresee having a student that doesn't touch my heart.
I can't help but sit here and smile and laugh a little. I am picturing my classroom right now, and each student walking through my door on August XX, 2010. :)
-Tracey
I have had the fantastic experience of working at Sylvan Learning Center for the past year. This job has helped me improve my teaching skills in a remarkable way. I got to teach so many different subjects (Math, Reading, Study Skills, Spanish, ACT/SAT prep, TAKS, and Writing) and got to work with every age-level, from 6-year-olds to college students. This experience helped reinforce that I definitely want to work with older students, mainly middle and high school. Don't get me wrong, the little ones are absolutely precious and always make me laugh, but frankly, they just wear me out! While I love teaching the students, helping them build their confidence and skills, my favorite times are just sitting and talking to them. At Sylvan, we have ten-minute breaks every fifty minutes (psychology shows that this improves retention). I always have several students that will use that break time to come talk to me about school or life, and I love it. One day, I walked into work and three students that I had never taught saw me and ran over yelling "Miss Tracey!" to give me hugs. :)
One day, I came to Sylvan and was informed that I would be teaching a new writing student, let's call him John Doe. Now, John had been coming to Sylvan for math help already, and I often watched him with his teachers and thanked God that I didn't have a student like him. Haha. He wasn't a bad student by any means, for the most part. He finished his work and was polite; however, he let me know very quickly that he was in charge and he was right. My silly grammar rules and writing techniques (that have worked for centuries) were not correct. How do you explain dangling modifiers to a student who refuses to take your word for it? "Well, dangling modifiers are modifiers that have no subject attached to them. For example, in the sentence 'Slamming on the breaks, the car lurched forward' there is a dangling modifier. Who slammed on the breaks? The car didn't. Therefore, we need to add a subject after the comma to get rid of the dangling modifier. So, a correct sentence might say 'Slamming on the breaks, Bob lurched the car forward. Does that make sense?" John then proceeded to tell me that that wasn't how he saw it. The sentence was correct. No dangling modifier, just like he said. I sighed. He was by far one of my most difficult students, not to mention, he was only three months younger than me, but I may have led him to believe that I had been teaching high school for several years. He never looked at my Aggie Ring to confirm the '09 graduation date. Now, while John was slightly difficult to work with (cough, cough, REALLY difficult to work with), I could not have been more proud when I found out that he had done well enough on his writing sample to get into the school he wanted. Yes!
I could tell stories galore about my experiences with these students, and I'm sure I will tell more. I know each of them has the ability to be successful. I have had some very difficult students, some disobiedient students and some perfect angels, but each one has a special place in my heart. I can't wait until I have my six class periods of bright and shining faces with eager minds for me to mold. Again, in that experience, I will have numerous personalities, achievement levels and behavior problems to deal with, but I don't foresee having a student that doesn't touch my heart.
I can't help but sit here and smile and laugh a little. I am picturing my classroom right now, and each student walking through my door on August XX, 2010. :)
-Tracey
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