Khadeejah Griffin

EDU 202
October 23, 2017
Roster #08
Philosophical Portrait of Myself

Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? I am someone. You are someone. We are

someone. Education is the key to finding who you are as a person. Education

allows you to be yourself, rather than hide behind what others want you to be.

Before I begin discussing the importance of education, I want to inform you all of

who I am. At some point I used to classify myself as being normal, doing normal

things, and living a normal life. But, over the years i’ve realized that I am far from

normal, I am unusual. In school I was looked upon as being the “smart kid”, the

one who was persistent at any and everything i’d do. I was the person people

would look to as an “inspiration” but it was ironic because I never really inspired

myself. I was always publicized as being self confident but truth be told I wasn’t.

Throughout high school, everyone came to me for advice on the topic of self-love,

wondering how I always managed to keep a smile on my face. I would always

respond to anyone asking for my advice with one word: prayer. It was not until my

junior year that I found self love. An argument during winter break, between my
aunt and I, made me realize that something was not right with myself; I was

mentally lost. I started to shut down. I started having emotional breakdowns and no

one could help me because it was something that I had to determine for myself. On

December 31, 2015, I found myself on the floor in the corner crying because my

mind and soul was not right. The first thing I did was cry, because that’s all I could

do. Once the tears stopped falling, I remembered what my parents would always

tell me, which was to pray to God and leave it up to him, knowing that he would

reassure me that everything would be alright. Rather than dwell on the past; from

that day forward, I decided to write all my feelings and emotions down on paper. I

would re-read the things i’d write just to see if I had improved myself in that

particular area. It was not until the summer of 2016 in which I knew I fell in love

with writing! Writing seemed to be my only escape from the pressure of being who

I really didn’t want to be. I expressed who I really was through my writing and no

one ever seemed to want to know the real me, because no one ever seemed to be

interested in reading my papers. Senior year, had to be my best year in school

overall! I was finally given a teacher who honestly wanted to know more about the

real me. It was quite odd in the beginning that a teacher finally knew that I was not

the person I had seemed to be, but I was happy someone had finally noticed. One

day she stopped me in the middle of a passing period and she told me to stop by
her room when I got a chance. Later on that day, I came into her classroom and she

told me to have a seat. The first thing she had said to me was, “BE WHO YOU

WANT TO BE”.She continued to repeat it over and over again until I broke down,

dramatically crying. She said, “I am not here to judge you Khadeejah, I am here to

help you. You express yourself so well through your writing, why can’t you just be

who you want to be. I explained to her that it is hard to be yourself especially when

you have individuals looking up to you. She says, “The first thing you must

understand is that you are human. You make mistakes, you fall, you grieve, but

that should not stop you from being YOU. Do what you want to do, be who you

want to be. As long as you take pride in yourself, then that is all that matters.” And

that my friends was the day I decided that I wanted to become an english teacher.

Although English is based on literature, vocabulary, and writing skills, it can also

increase your communication skills. ​A student can gain a lot from an English class

by taking it serious, because it emphasizes on reading, writing and grammar. This

will allow them to become a better communicator.​ I strongly believe that reading

helps to develop the mind. Overall, English is extremely important in one's life

because it is virtually relevant to all subjects. I want to be that English teacher that

aids students to establish some type of self-confidence in oneself and makes them

become stronger in communicating with others.Ten years from now, I would like
to have contributed to the development of knowledge in the minds of others,

helping them to grow as a result of my assistance. I make a promise to my future

students that I will never make it seem like I do not care. A child can be crying out

for help, but can be overlooked because the teacher is not engaged in their students

affairs. But, i’ve been there, and I completely understand how you feel as a student.

Never will I ever make a student feel unwelcomed, I will always be here to assist

you. I am young but I know what I want and I know what it takes to get what I

want. By God’s grace, I hope to contribute something to the world that will be able

to change our nation's outlook on their mind. My contributions can be seen as a

small step, but my father has always told me, “Small steps can only be seen as

blessings to come and some are to blind to see them.” I am extremely dedicated to

fulfilling all of my goals and I will do whatever it takes to accomplish them!