I was named Rebecca Elizabeth Orr, but who I am is Becky. I don’t feel as if the name Rebecca intertwines well with my personality and the person that I am. I’m definitely more or a Becky, concise and to the point, differing from Rebecca in it’s distinguish and elaboration. I am a much laid back person who attempts to take everything day by day one step at a time. This can occasionally get me into trouble when it comes to issues of planning ahead of time, but my thought process is that if I can get through this moment, I can definitely get through the next. My laid back personality often makes people perceive me as bored or uninterested. In reality it’s quite the contrary. I am rarely bored or bothered about what is going on around me; I just feel that if I have nothing of decent value to add to a conversation then I’ll just listen. As I discovered in exercise 1, I believe that in a way being on the quieter side and not having a desire to talk all that often in new situations makes me seem unapproachable and may inhibit my ability to make friends. This is something I have been trying to take steps to improve upon. Most people that come in contact with me enjoy my company, but a lot of them feel as if they don’t actually know who I am because I don’t often give my input. I think the main reason I am liked by those around me is my sense of humor.
I’m a pretty sarcastic person, quick-witted, and a fast thinker when it comes to social engagements. I’m usually the person to make everyone laugh by presenting a point to a group that is subtle or obvious but accompanying it with a sarcastic undertone that makes people stop for a minute before they understand why I said what I said. I actually really like this about myself, and when I’m around a few of my good friends who possess the same gifts we react to one another and can talk for hours on end about absolutely nothing. Being around people who are similar to me is fun for me personally, but I also enjoy watching how people who haven’t interacted with me before react to my sarcasm. I always tell my friends I like socializing with new people because they still think I’m funny. Besides my interactions with other people the majority of what makes me happy comes from my spiritual life, I explored this through exercise 1.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, the son of God. I believe that he is my personal savior, and the savior for all those who allow Him into their lives and hearts. I live each day for Him, I would be nothing without Him, and I believe that when I die my faith in Jesus Christ will be the only thing that allows me to enter through the gates of heaven. I have attended Christ Church of the Valley for four years and can’t image there being a better place to really come to understand who Christ is and begin to comprehend the bible. My current favorite bible verse is 1 Corinthians 15:10 of the message translation of the bible which states, “But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste”. I try to live out these words every day, and do everything in my power to honor God and not waste the days that He has given me here on earth. A lot of the friends I have made in college are from the student ministry I’m involved in on campus known as the Navigators. I participate in a co-ed bible study every Wednesday night that was formed through the Navigators, where we cook dinner for one another, spend time together, and read, interpret, and study the bible. I look forward to Wednesdays and there is very little that would keep me away from being with those people every Wednesday night.
Besides participating in events and activities with the Navigators I enjoy watching television, being around children, and being on stage. The two places that I feel completely content and in control of myself are when I’m in a classroom and when I’m performing. I’ve been in choir since I was in 5th grade and have been singing on stage ever since. I was also was a highly active member of my school’s drama club in high school. I was the head of both the props crew and the front house team for the fall plays, as well as acting and singing in all of the school musicals. My senior year I was an officer for the drama club. I honestly believe that I will never find a group of people more accepting, understanding, and loving then the Centennial High School drama club. When a large group of people work together toward an end result you can’t help but to learn to trust and care about each other. Every member of that club worked tremendously hard to put together a quality show, and whether we succeeded or not we were elated at the end of each performance. While the drama club at my high school was a big influence on the person that I am today there’s another organization and group of people that I have been a part of for a much longer time and still am to this day.
I have worked for the City of Peoria Tiny Tot recreation program since I was 14. Tiny Tots is a drop-in program for four and five year old children that participate in a variety of activities six hours a day, five days a week. We provide a daily field trip, a morning snack, and a plethora of classroom events for the children to take part in. I just finished my sixth summer working for the city and it’s hard to image spending my summer any other way. Not only do I love being with the kids, but I have met some extraordinary people working for the program who like myself continue to come back year after year. Exercise 2 began my thinking about how Randy Proch who just finished his 9th summer, Liz Levardo her 8th and Matt Tozzi who recently completed his 6th have influenced my life. These three people have watched me grow up with this program. They’ve seen me improve, they’ve helped me tough situations, and I know that I can trust all of them with any aspect of my life. Liz is now my supervisor, and has asked me to be her second in command next summer should I choose to go back. Randy and I have been dating now for over a year, he plays a huge role in my life, and Matt and I get along incredibly well, and will always be great friends.
As I explored the concepts illustrated in exercise 2, I began to ponder what material object holds the most significance to me. After much consideration I decided that that artifact is my stuffed teddy bear that I received for my fourth birthday. He was given to me by my grandmother who traveled from Michigan to Ohio for my fourth birthday party. I believe he became my preferred stuffed animal when I was young because he’s larger then the average teddy bear and easier to hug, in addition to the fact that he was a gift. As a child I named him Robert Bear after my little brother, but that name was quickly adapted to Bear Bear which I affectionately call him to this day. I picked Bear Bear as my artifact of choice because he’s probably the one thing I own that I can see myself being physically and emotionally distraught about if he were to disappear and or perish in some way. There’s no way to replace him because he’s been a part of my life for sixteen years now and I guarantee there’s no other teddy bear that can replicate the emotion I feel towards this inanimate object. To this day when I’m feeling lonely, had a bad day, or feel like things are out of my control, I give Bear Bear a hug until I feel as if I can face the world again. Disregarding the fact that he is a stuffed animal I believe Bear Bear has played a role in my development because he’s been something constant and reliable in my life that I can turn to for comfort and refuge. This can relate to the predictability within an environment that was discussed by Hyson (Hyson, 2004). Bear Bear was a part of my environment that never changed, and thus I knew that when new situations arose he would be something I could turn to that I was not inexperienced with and feel comforted and confident.
I felt that the results of exercise 3 were pretty concise as to how I view myself. According to this test I am harmony-production driven. As I read the personal objective/personality components chart I came to the realization that I do posses many of the traits listed in both of these areas simultaneously. For example, while I do become emotional at times through crying, it is not always because of a friendship dilemma or something to that effect. Often it is because I feel I have failed, let someone down, or have not completed what I feel needs to be completed. In this way I feel I meld the two personality components together quite nicely.
I believe my current social and emotional profile will influence my relationship with children in a positive way. To begin my laid back personality is quite perceptible and accommodating to working with and creating relationships with children. While I do feel that I can illicit a certain amount of control within a classroom to accomplish what is desired for the day I also can allow children to be themselves, and act as they want to as long as it’s within the parameters that are expected at that moment and enable a child’s safety. I don’t think it’s necessary to control every action of a child when they are in my care, and I believe that children can pick up on that and respect it, creating a respectful yet friendly relationship between teacher and student. My sense of humor will also allow me to joke around with the kids I work with which contributes to a friendly relationship because children discover that my goal is not to tell them what to do but to encourage them to grasp concepts that are necessary while keeping in mind that each student is different and has the right to express that. Being a laid back person with a sense of humor will allow children that I come in contact with to be themselves without fear or judgment and learn that a person in authority can also be a trustworthy friend. The personality components of harmony-productive driven person that I posses also allows me to empathize with children while at the same time encouraging them to accomplish what is expected of them.
My philosophy statement about how children develop socially and emotionally is that;
Every child is different and deserves to be accepted and celebrated because of those differences. Development in a social and emotional sense occurs in a positive way when individuals put in a leadership or role model role support this and illustrate it to children. From these illustrations children begin to trust those individuals who support them and feel free to show emotion to their teachers and peers thus growing in a social and emotional context at the same time.
I believe my philosophy statement is lead by the idea of accepting differences because I have been fortunate enough in my life to find organizations and people such as my high school drama club and Tiny Tots, where I have been accepted for just who I am and have grown a great deal socially and emotionally from it. I believe that if I had felt judged or pressured to alter who I was by either of these groups my self-esteem would have plummeted, and I would have developed in a negative matter both emotionally and socially even at an older age. I feel blessed to have always have had people in my life who took me as I was and allowed for growth, I believe every child should receive the same treatment.
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