Undergraduate / "My dream remains" an extra special essay for applyiing to the university [2]

This is an additional essay that shows some special circumstances for me applying to the university.
Please help me editing and correcting grammar errors. I need feedback! Thanks!

My dream remains

"You are a wonderful professional, what is your degree?" I frequently hear this question. My dream is to be able to answer it by pursuing a higher education. I take the opportunity to write this essay to summarize my cultural background, personal growth and achievements. Besides mentioning my academic goals I will also describe how they shaped my interests.

I was born in Brazil, where many face a reality of violence and hunger, not having resources to attend to their healthcare or education. I consider myself fortunate to come from a socially well-structured family. Surrounded by three siblings and friends in a healthy environment, I had all the privileges to grow up in a very small and calm town. The education that I received was integral and had a great impact in my life.

Even though my parents did not possess university degrees they never stopped encouraging their children to seek a better education for themselves. Unfortunately my family suffered an economic crisis that prevented me from attending college. I started working very young, when I was fourteen. My sister gave me the opportunity to work as assistant teacher at her kindergarten school. After graduating from high school I began working with her fulltime.

Hence, I was introduced to early childhood education and obtained incalculable rewards in following the children's growth. By incalculable rewards I mean the pleasure to see children write their names when I am the one who holds their hands to teach them, to see the results of good learning when children begin reading when I am the one who teaches them their first words, among others. I realized the pleasure of teaching and discovered my real vocation.

As a teacher, my most salient characteristics are to be well organized, persistent, communicative, and be very playful, as my sister used to tell me, "to teach children we need to have a child inside ourselves." Besides possessing qualifications, I am also a perfectionist and a very determinate person.

Overtime I had the opportunity to work with professionals in specific related areas, for example with speech therapists, thus improving my teaching strategies learning about dyslexia and speech problems. I volunteered to help children who suffer this type of deficiency and attained great results. I watched myself diving to a new world of information and my enthusiasm for this field has kept me curious.

I moved to the United States when I married my husband in 2004. Even though I studied English in Brazil it was difficult for me to speak and understand it. I had to improve this language barrier and was pleasantly surprised to be able to take free English classes at a church. Subsequently, I found a job based on my experience. I started working as an infant and toddler teacher at Saint Luke Infant Care Center, and did so for two and a half years.

Looking for new challenges and growth I accepted to work at SafePlace at Austin, my current employment. There, I am exposed to the reality of victims of abuse. This has opened a door to my interest in the study of human ecology. Emotional and psychological effects of abuse influence the way in which these children should be educated. A university degree would prepare me to expand my knowledge in this field.

Living in the United States, I have had the opportunity to work and further develop, learn, and specialize myself in my area. I have attended courses provided by specialists in diverse aspects of early childhood education, and, through SafePlace, I recently attended the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, in Dallas. I became acquainted with some of the most recent progress in education and this reinforced my intentions to return to academic life.

I wish to study human development and family sciences and enter college to build a career for my future and the future of my family. Completing the Human Ecology degree offered by the University of Texas at Austin will allow me to benefit from the various perspectives of its unique program.

I intend to incorporate my personal experience, aspirations, and career goals to this program. Furthermore, I would like to learn as a method I have never experienced, by sitting down on a university's chair, by participating in research activities, taking advantage of the many interdisciplinary opportunities that the University of Texas provides.

My fascination with understanding human development will guarantee my success as a university student. Consequently it propels me to fulfill my dream to pursue a higher education, and I am prepared for this challenge. My dream is to energize with a formal education the experiences that I have gained as an autodidact and be the proud holder of a bachelor degree.

Undergraduate / The importance of the attachment in infancy - Short question... [6]

The prompt for my second essay is: Choose an issue of importance to you, the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope - and write an essay which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

"Children: their present is our future"
I begin this essay quoting Sitting Bull: "Let's put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children". This essay will consider influences that family and environment may cause in children's growth, and will discuss the possible mediating effect of positive parenting and social support, also mentioning the importance of the teacher's role.

I have been teaching children for fourteen years. Overtime I have been able to observe and learn the phases of children's development. By improving my assessment of each factor, and continuing training, I have acquired a better idea of what to expect in regards to a child's behavior based on their family relationships. Parents exercise the greatest influence in a child's development, and the affection and care, or lack of, they provide, will affect their children accordingly. It is possible to determine whether a child is receiving an appropriate education at home by observing their behavior while under care.

I remember when a mother of an infant said to me "I'm jealous of you because you are the one who is really following my daughter's growth... her first smile, her first crawl, her first words, and

her first steps. You are the witness of my daughter's development as a human being." These words made me realize the importance of the attachment between mother and child, and the affinity they share during the baby's first years, and how they are crucial factors for the child's development. These factors positively influence the building of the child's personality, self-stem, autonomy, self-confidence, and their socio-emotional relationships, among others things.

Many children, on the other hand, are exposed to difficult family issues such as poverty, drug use, domestic violence, abuse, and neglect, just to name a few. I have been exposed to some of these issues working at SafePlace of Austin, a shelter for abuse victims. Their mothers' lives are not in order, some are victims of abuse, and this affects the child's behavior. Melancholy, defensiveness, and frailty are signs of the negative impact this has on the child's behavior. Children are more sensitive than adults and they crave the additional attention and love that their mothers cannot provide due to their present condition. Some of the children have experienced some kind of abuse as well. As a teacher, from my perspective I recognize anxiety, fear of different people, difficulty to adapt to a new environment, aggressiveness, quietness, among other behaviors, as well as some development delays.

Another situation that has a negative effect on the child's behavior is the lack of parenting in regards to adolescent mothers. In my experience, teenager moms who did not receive a sexual education at home are less prepared to grow and educate a child. I know of cases of very young women who have three or more children and live at a shelter due to domestic violence. They have no emotional support to dedicate their lives to their children, or to themselves. Working with children of adolescent parents allows me to realize they lack parenting as a concept. I really feel these children are unfortunate because I believe this family situation will have negative implications on their emotional and social development. One can identify the signs in their temperaments, such as whining, lack of attachment, attention, and love, leaning to aggressiveness, and isolation.

My role as a teacher is to foster an environment in which children experience love, respect, and hope. To be an appropriate role model for the children, I have to know their condition, what they are experiencing in their lives, and the way they live. A good education is based on effort, devotion, perseverance, and patience. My role as a teacher is also to enhance the child's feelings of self-confidence, self-esteem, and prepare them to live in society. But I also believe that no one can substitute the parent's role in educating a child. The parent must provide a good moral, emotional, intellectual, and cultural formation, so the child can learn by example, but if they cannot provide such example, the child will be influenced in a manner that will reflect that child's family and environment conditions, whatever they are. I do believe that a teacher can have a strong impact in a child's life, but the teacher has to be prepared to take on the challenges related to the child's education at home. There are conflicts related to rules between home and school and if these cannot have a common sense it will be very difficult to manage the child's education.

The education a child receives at home plays a very crucial role in their life, while school complements this education with an academic formation, corroborating and confirming those values. Therefore, a child's successful development will depend on a marriage of educational roles. Education takes time, it does not occur from one day to the next, it is a process. We are not programmable machines, but people who need development and maturity to become the best in life.

In conclusion, in the early development stages a child experiences many phases and situations that will influence their personality. Children need to feel safe, loved and well cared, feelings mainly provided by parents, family and educators. This appropriate support children experience during their first years builds and invigorates their condition to become a person who is able to learn with emotional balance, and to be an autonomous, supportive, and participative member of society, collaborating for its improvement.

Undergraduate / "Catia - My role model" - Opinion... Admission Essay [6]

Please give your opinion about my essay, Thank you so much.
Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you:

Catia - My role model

In our lives, some people make an impact. People constantly influence each other in a good or bad way, and those influences affect their lives. Likewise, our actions and words also influence the people with whom we interact. Some will, however, exercise greater influence than others. A person who has had a profound influence in my life is my older sister Catia.

Catia is ten years older than me, and she is my inspiration. She is a trained pedagogue, owns a kindergarten school where she teaches, and she is also a first grade teacher in a public school. I was seven years old when she opened her kindergarten school and I enjoyed spending my free time there, playing with other children. Looking back I now realize I indirectly did part of my growing up at her school as a student, and as a family member I could also appreciate her progress in improving her school and her own education as well.

As I was growing up I was able to observe her and learn the process of educating, and by the time I was 14 years old I was working as her assistant teacher in the pre k room. I had an interest in teaching small children and I really liked both the comfort of having my older sister as teacher, and the opportunity to learn with her as a professional. My sister taught me the methods of the alphabetization process and she made me realize I possessed a vocation for teaching, which was blossoming in me.

My sister is a dedicated teacher, she loves what she does best: to educate children. Working with her I was able to learn a great deal about how to educate, both empirically and theoretically. Catia introduced me to influential pedagogues, Jean Piaget and Emilia Ferreiro among others, who had an enormous impact in the field of education. Through our daily work she showed me how children develop and learn. By the time I was 16 years old I knew I would follow her profession.

I did not have an opportunity to go to college. I grew up in Brazil, and there is no university in my hometown, but it was impossible for me to attend a university at a nearby city like is customary and as Catia did due to my family's economic situation. After I graduated from high school I had to work full time. But through the years, my vocation in life became more and more evident: everybody in my family and all the parents at the school realized I had a great capacity to teach. I believe it was my sister's mentoring and encouragement what opened this door for me and for my personal success.

Not only did Catia teach me about education and pedagogy, she also taught me the practical aspects of managing a school. She taught me how to effectively communicate with parents, and different ways to work collaboratively and creatively with them. I always participated in parent meetings and gradually I noticed I was being more confident in assuming major responsibilities. During her pregnancy, I was in charge of the school. For one full year I worked as substitute director, if not as director, while she took her maternity leave. I had to take care of all administrative duties, calendar responsibilities, schedule meetings, and plan lessons. That experience enhanced my teaching knowledge.

Four years ago, when I married and moved to the United States, I was worried about finding a job. I remember never feeling ready to schedule an interview. On the one hand I felt less confident because I did not have a college degree, and I had never worked with anybody other than my sister at her school. On the other hand, I was confident about my knowledge and my experience in teaching children. So I scheduled my first interview at Saint Luke Infant Day Care Center, and it went very well. I received training for one week and afterward I began working in the infant room as assistant teacher. After five months of having started, the lead teacher in the classroom decided to leave his position to return to college, and I was invited to become the associate teacher. I was very proud of myself for having done only one interview, and for advancing my position in only a few months. I mostly have Catia and her experience to thank.

I am very happy to be a teacher and take pride in what I do. I love to educate, working with children is my passion. My sister taught me that educating represents infinite knowledge, and it is priceless. Educating is infinite because those who educate not only teach, but also learn, permanently. I am certain that I do not always know the answer, and that there will always be more to learn. Educating is priceless because it is enormously gratifying to see the results of helping to build a child's knowledge.

As the saying goes, "If you wish to make an impact for one year, plant corn; if you wish to make an impact for a generation, plant a tree; if you wish to make an impact for an eternity, educate a child." Teachers are role models for the children who are learning with them, I believe I can make a positive impact on somebody else's life as my sister made in my life. I am pleased to have a sister like her, and I will be forever grateful for all she has done for me.