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What Is Your Goal/dream?


Tyler

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I was just curious as to how many of you have a goal or a dream you are trying to achieve? I, personally, ultimately hope to end up a professor in the history of religion and in Islamic Studies. To achieve this goal is not simple, for me, as money become a big hindrance in school and living accommodations. I have found another stepping stone towards reaching this goal and that is applying to Teach For America. This program will place me in public schools in varying cities around the country and pay for me to get a MAT degree -- all while accruing teaching experience and getting a fair wage. We were asked as part of the application to write a short (less than 500 word) response to a question, this was my response:I hope to join Teach For America for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it has always been my dream to be a teacher, in any capacity. Expanding on that idea is my desire to teach students who have a desire to learn and a passion for knowledge -- a trait I find often in the mind of young students who dream of going to college, many as the first in their family to do so. Teach For America affords me the opportunity to achieve my dream of being a teacher while also allowing me the privilege of being an educator of young minds across America. While working with Teach for America I would be building a powerful resume while holding a respectful job that is both practical and fulfilling personally and financially. As a corps member I hope to accomplish the simple, yet also complex, task of being a successful educator. This means that I have to be willing and able to expand my mind and be open to new ideas regardless of my previous ideas of what a teacher might be or experiences I have personally had with my own teachers. To be a successful teacher I would hope to be able to reach my students on a level that not only stimulates their mind but also ignites a passion for knowledge in whichever field they might be interested in. I have seen the movies such as Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers and while they are Hollywood glorifications I think to myself often that the capacity for such an impact exists in every classroom, in every subject, in every student, and every teacher can be that catalyst for change. I think that success as a corps member can be measured in many capacities. If I try my hardest, if I bring students closer to understanding a subject, if I light the flame of passion for knowledge within my students, I would consider that a success. Nevertheless, there are also the tangible means of measuring, if my students show growth in their studies, if their grades and academic habits improve that could also be used to measure success. Ultimately, Teach For America provides me a way to realize my dream of being a teacher while also allowing me to have a lasting impact on my students' lives. Also, accruing teaching experience and getting a fair wage also makes the position appealing and rewarding. Who knows -- maybe one day my teaching story will be made into the next Hollywood blockbuster, but in the end, I believe every teacher deserves the reverence, respect, and recognition so seldom granted by such a medium. The goal, ultimately remains the same: teach, not just books and facts, but passion -- teach passion for learning.
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Really my dream is to work as a music tech on one of the coasts, i want to be a part of the thing that has helped me so many times (even if atm the industry has been bastardized and turned into a money monster). Plus to be honest i just enjoy technology and i understand and love music so yeah, eventually i want to work for some independent label that doesn't force musicians to pump out music right now, even though their amazing first album took five years. Also it would be my dream to be proficient enough at guitar to actually record my own stuff at one point.....anyway yeah, might be a 19 year old college students dream but thats mine.
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Travel the world entirely as far as I can including miles under the sea to the moon. And after all that, just have a piece of land this is mine and be happy with my friends and family... Or and Island.
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I just want to open a kosher bbq joint. I want beef ribs, dammit!

Tyler, shut up. You might feel crushed now and I understand why, but come on, man! You've got an awesome set of skills but you got let down. Fuck the haters, keep on!
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There's some shady shit going on. I'm not trying to imply anything but the heat comes from the fire. Here's the situation. I applied, along with a small group of my friends and their friends and we all were in conversation. 6 people had the exact same degree from the same school, they grew up together all hoping to work with Teach For America. They all did the same volunteer jobs, all had the same experiences on their resume. Essentially there were 6 of the same person applying. The only difference? The three black men got accepted. The three white men did not. On another front, I know 2 white girls who were accepted but 2 black girls who were not, basically the same application as well. After doing some digging around, this turns out to be common place. The two lowest accepted demographics to this program: white men and black women. Zero people who claimed to be Muslim got accepted. These findings are consistent over the past 5 years of the program. Just saying....
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No but they do ask any volunteer work you have done and I put that I worked with the Islamic Center of Cincinnati on multiple occasions -- figured running a volunteer English program would have looked good on my application, apparently it had the opposite of the desired effect
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Hang in there, Tyler. Everything happens for a reason. Later on you'll understand why you weren't accepted. Whatever-god-you-believe-in has a plan for all of us. Just keep working on it and it'll all fall into place.
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Working on trying to stay positive. I just registered for the Praxis II exams for History and English in an attempt to be proactive about my situation. Also will be retaking the GRE in the coming weeks.
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