Not too long ago my brother and I, being really hungry went to Subway, he likes eating there, and he usually orders the Tuna sandwich, pretty boring if you asked me.
First of all one could fix that at home having the same final product or close enough, and then ordering the same thing each time.
So anyway, we were in line and each person in front of us who got to order took...I don't know maybe 4 minutes to order, and they would order the set menus, so pretty easy. My turn came up and...I started with the bread, picking a healthier one that what the person assumed I’d have, then I ordered the cheese, provolone, and then came the grilled chicken and some more toppings which I carefully picked. As a dressing I picked a combination of both vinaigrette and low fat ranch. Anyway, following me the line ended up being longer, because unlike the rest of the people I took at least twice the time to order. When I was finally done, asking carefully for just enough salt and pepper, my brother commented that I knew exactly what I wanted.
That's when it kind of hit me, I wasn't taking that much longer on purpose, nor was I trying to complicate the Subway person there...I simply knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it. If given the option, why not order exactly what I'm wishing for?!
Similarly to ordering food (and by the way, that was not an unique incident, I usually tend to take longer to order, not because I don't know what I want, but because I know it a little too well sometimes), I compared my behavior to dating. Is not like I like the fact that I am picky about guys, nor do I want to take longer to get one on purpose...I simply know exactly what I like, and since I am given the option of choosing, why rushing!!!
So the question comes...would it be easier or better for one not to know in detail what they want, whether it is in regards to their dinner or the person they'll marry?
I don't know, it may be...it would definitely save some time, as for me, though, that would not fly by. Given my personality, I am damned, one could say, to have high demands on the food I order as well as the guy I'm going to marry.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Teach For America personal letter
Prior to compiling my personal letter for Teach for America I've done some online research, and some of the help I received was actually from individuals' blogs, where they either posted their own letters or shared their experience with the application process.
Today I was just informed that I was selected for a in-class interview, so I get to skip the phone interview, and I thought to return the favor to future Teach for America inquirers and post my own letter.
You should also know the questions they ask, which are:
* Why do you seek to join Teach For America?
* What would you hope to accomplish as a corps member?
* How would you determine your success as a corps member?
Here's my letter
To The Teach for America Selection Committee:
As a first generation immigrant to the United States and as the first college graduate in my family, I can attest to the importance of an education. I want to join Teach for America because I want to make a difference in the lives of the many children of our nation. With a diverse background, a passion for personal realization and a commitment to overcome the injustices in this world, I know I could succeed as a corps member.
Having been born and raised in Romania, and being 50 percent Roma (also known as Gypsies, an underprivileged segment of the population in Romania, who are strongly discriminated against), I learned early on in life that we are not born with equal opportunities, nor do we have equal access to resources. In spite of my scarce beginnings and due to encouraging, hard-working parents, I have been able to overcome many obstacles and pursue higher education in the United States. Improving the quality of teachers in this country is the most important ingredient in creating better students. As opposed to countries such as Romania, America has superior resources for creating an effective learning environment. For example the use of technology, quality textbooks and other materials provide instructors with the tools necessary to thrive. Teach for America is committed to producing quality teachers, a commitment which I would be privileged to help materialize.
As a corps member, I envision myself becoming not just a good teacher for my students, but also a source of direction, inspiration, and stability in a world that hasn’t been too responsive to their needs. Moving a person to action is probably one of the most difficult things to accomplish; moving 30 kids to action is even more difficult. However, as their instructor, I will take the time to get to know them individually, their weaknesses and strengths. I will praise them for their accomplishments and also help them turn their weaknesses into strengths by being patient and supportive. Outside of class I will continue working with the students’ families and seek ways to help them connect the classroom materials with the outside world. I know that it takes hard work, perseverance and mutual respect to succeed in this world, and I intend to emphasize these and other positive characteristics in the classroom.
The measure of my success in the classroom will be both an improved academic performance, as well as a development of personal character. True success will especially be measured in the years to come and in the choices my students will be making. I would hope that as a result of our interaction, my students would choose to be honest and hard-working individuals, who are committed to success.
I look forward to hearing back from you, and to further discussing how I can contribute to the Teach for America team and make a difference in the lives of children.
I decided to also include some details of the in-person interview, as some people have asked me about it. And although I wasn't selected as a Corps Member, this may still be helpful.
So here's my response to one such inquiry:
Today I was just informed that I was selected for a in-class interview, so I get to skip the phone interview, and I thought to return the favor to future Teach for America inquirers and post my own letter.
You should also know the questions they ask, which are:
* Why do you seek to join Teach For America?
* What would you hope to accomplish as a corps member?
* How would you determine your success as a corps member?
Here's my letter
To The Teach for America Selection Committee:
As a first generation immigrant to the United States and as the first college graduate in my family, I can attest to the importance of an education. I want to join Teach for America because I want to make a difference in the lives of the many children of our nation. With a diverse background, a passion for personal realization and a commitment to overcome the injustices in this world, I know I could succeed as a corps member.
Having been born and raised in Romania, and being 50 percent Roma (also known as Gypsies, an underprivileged segment of the population in Romania, who are strongly discriminated against), I learned early on in life that we are not born with equal opportunities, nor do we have equal access to resources. In spite of my scarce beginnings and due to encouraging, hard-working parents, I have been able to overcome many obstacles and pursue higher education in the United States. Improving the quality of teachers in this country is the most important ingredient in creating better students. As opposed to countries such as Romania, America has superior resources for creating an effective learning environment. For example the use of technology, quality textbooks and other materials provide instructors with the tools necessary to thrive. Teach for America is committed to producing quality teachers, a commitment which I would be privileged to help materialize.
As a corps member, I envision myself becoming not just a good teacher for my students, but also a source of direction, inspiration, and stability in a world that hasn’t been too responsive to their needs. Moving a person to action is probably one of the most difficult things to accomplish; moving 30 kids to action is even more difficult. However, as their instructor, I will take the time to get to know them individually, their weaknesses and strengths. I will praise them for their accomplishments and also help them turn their weaknesses into strengths by being patient and supportive. Outside of class I will continue working with the students’ families and seek ways to help them connect the classroom materials with the outside world. I know that it takes hard work, perseverance and mutual respect to succeed in this world, and I intend to emphasize these and other positive characteristics in the classroom.
The measure of my success in the classroom will be both an improved academic performance, as well as a development of personal character. True success will especially be measured in the years to come and in the choices my students will be making. I would hope that as a result of our interaction, my students would choose to be honest and hard-working individuals, who are committed to success.
I look forward to hearing back from you, and to further discussing how I can contribute to the Teach for America team and make a difference in the lives of children.
I decided to also include some details of the in-person interview, as some people have asked me about it. And although I wasn't selected as a Corps Member, this may still be helpful.
So here's my response to one such inquiry:
So I ended up skipping the phone interview, as you saw on my blog, but the in-person interview was in San Francisco, there were about 6 or 7 of us candidates.
They briefed us a bit on the format of the interview, we filled out some forms, and then each person taught the lesson in front of everyone else. You have a time limit, so try to stay within that. Also be nice and friendly with everyone else, don't view them as competition. You should also spend some time into finding the right thing you wanna teach, some were very unprepared and didn't come across as very impressive.
And even my lesson, I think it was too simplistic, I was teaching an elementary class a method to
remember how long words are spelled.
If you prepare a Science lesson it may be smarter, as I think that's an area they are in greater need,
that's just my guess though.
Following the lesson given to everyone, there is a one-on-one interview where they ask you why you wanna do this, and what would make you a good teacher. It's been a while so I may have left some important details out, but that's the gest of it.
Hope it helped you some, if you have further questions, let me know.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Family Traditions
I am finally getting it. I've never quite understood what's going on with all these families who are trying to follow certain patterns every Christmas, Easter, Thanks Giving Day and any other occasions they find fit to follow a family tradition. I thought they did so to give them a sense of comfort and of predictability, two of some of the basic human needs.
Ironically enough, what has helped me actually get the whole tradition thing it's the Vampires Diaries....yes indeed, and although I am Romanian and Transilvania is part of Romania, this has nothing to do with that. Vampire Diaries is a TV show, I'm not even sure on what channel, which caught both my brother David and my attention about three weeks ago. We both agreed on watching that first episode all the way (we normally argue what channel to watch, he wants his MTV cribs shows, and I usually demand the news station). We both ended up liking the show, and because it ends on a climax each time, we were anticipating watching the show the following week.
Following Thursday, without even mentioning the intent of watching the show again, around 8pm David was in front of the TV letting me know the show was starting.
Now, maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, I mean any typical 15-year-old may react just like that, but knowing my brother, he is more aloof and wants to do his own thing, and since I have been gone out of the house for some time now (and the fact that I'm 10 yrs older than him), we don't have many things that we do together.
Third week of watching the show, it hit me! We have actually developed a family tradition of watching the Vampires Diaries every Thursday night. And as much as I dislike wasting time watching TV, I realized the greater thing which is behind watching the show. My brother and I are bonding...it has become our thing that we do together. This is more important to me than anything else I could be doing during that hour.
I know this is not the best example of a family tradition, but through this experience I got a little bit of the vision of what family traditions can do for us. I am committed to set my own family traditions when the time will come. I am not sure if one should sit down and decide what they should do periodically or if we should experience different activities and based on how much the family has enjoyed it to decide on making it a tradition.
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