AMY

BOROWIAK

BOROWI AM16@BONAVENTU [Link]

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Dr. Lisa Buenaventura

Dear Dr. Buenavenura,

When I began my college search I always heard good things about St. Bonaventure

but had never visited or really knew what to base my final decision on. To this day I couldnt

be prouder to call myself a Bonnie. Throughout my time at St. Bonaventure I feel as if the

education department has provided me with experiences that no one other school could

provide for me. Competence, experience, and social justice play large roles in these

experiences that I have been able to have. Receiving professional knowledge from highly

qualified professionals provides me with the competence to create a learner-centered

environment for my students in the future. (SBU Conceptual Framework) Having first hand

practice with this in many classes, especially SPED 440 with professor Hauser in creating a UDL

toolkit, provided me with the ability to make a universal curriculum plan for a variety of

students needs. As John Dewey said, We always live at the time we live and not at some

other time, and only by extracting at each present time the full meaning of each present

experience are we prepared for doing the same thing in the future. (John

Dewey) Experience is everything and really prepares teachers so much more. I believe that

the experiences in the classroom that I am receiving at St. Bonaventure couldnt be better.

Throughout Field Block one I feel like I have not only grown as a teacher but also a person

and have been able to become more myself. With the guidance of Professor Zimmer, I feel as
if my ability to plan lessons and teach in front of the class has greatly improved; when in front

of the class I feel as if I am my best self. The feeling of social justice at St. Bonaventure is

beyond imaginable; individuality means a lot to me and being able to talk to my professors

and feel important is amazing. Being able to walk down the hall at school and have

professors say hi and call me by name is also very important. To this day is still run into

professors from my first semester at St. Bonaventure and they are able to call me by name. It

just really makes me proud to say that I go to St. Bonaventure. Providing all three of these

things, competence, experience, and social justice, to future educators is really allowing for

the success of students which will in turn be best for the future of everyone.

With the new Common Core State Standards, many students are set up to become

highly educated throughout their school career. The Common Core focuses on developing

the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills students will need to be successful.

(Common Core Standards Initiatives: What Parents Should Know Article, 2017). The common

core provides a base line to ensure that all students learning abilities and skills are met in a

number of ways and the education that we receive as teachers allows us to help the students

to reach their highest potential. The content and professional knowledge that competence

brings to this program allows teachers to incorporate these standards into the classroom for

all students across many states to receive the same information but taught in a number of

ways. With 42 states adopting the common core, this allows for children who are moving

across the country from state to state to be able to succeed (Common Core Standards

Initiatives, 2017). Nowadays, throughout the United States, there are a number of nationalities

that bring many different cultures into classrooms. To many teachers this may be very difficult

to deal with but with the experience that we receive throughout the education field at St.

Bonaventure I personally believe that we are well prepared to include a number of different

cultures and make these students feel welcomed into our classrooms. Now that there is a very

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diverse population in schools this also is recently bringing about the feud of saying the Pledge

of Allegiance in many classrooms; this has been a tradition in schools for a number of years.

As a future teacher ensuring that this issue of social justice is handled the right way is going to

make all the difference in the classroom in order to make sure that all children are able to

follow their own customs and cultural traditions. With the recent challenges going on with the

NFL football players not standing for the National Anthem my classroom teacher has become

very upset with this and is encouraging all of the students to say the pledge. I personally find

this to be a very interesting topic and look forward to ensuring that it is handled correctly in

my future classroom.

Overall, I couldnt be happier with my decision to attend St. Bonaventure and become

a bonnie for the rest of my life. I believe that the St. Bonaventure School of Education

Conceptual Framework and the professors in the education department of St. Bonaventure

are really helping me to become a professional educator and the ability to provide my future

students with a high-quality education.

Sincerely,

Amy Borowiak

Education Major

St. Bonaventure University 19

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Citation:

John Dewey. Quote. We always live at the time we live and not at some other time, and

only by extracting at each present time the full meaning of each present experience
are we prepared for doing the same thing in the future

SBU Conceptual Framework. School of Education at St. Bonaventure.

(2017). What parents should know. Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved from:
[Link]