Personal Reflective Essay: Moving To Arizona

I have been intellectually challenged my entire life. I entered into the gate program in third grade when I moved to Arizona, and since then I have been excelling academically. One of my favorite traits is that I love to help people in need. I am constantly helping people in my classes who don’t understand the material. One of my least favorite traits is that I can get impatient. My aunt is in her late thirties, and decided to go back to school to increase her availability to work. Her toughest class is college Algebra, and she is constantly asking for my help. The summer of 2014 and during my Junior year of high school, I was tutoring my aunt in her math classes. I was taking Calculus A at the time, so the algebra came fairly easy to me. I would explain the information and formulas to my aunt numerous times, but she never understood. It was usually on the fourth explanation that I would become impatient. The first time I tutored her, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that she just couldn’t understand. Unintentionally, the tone of my voice became condescending as I grew increasingly bitter. I didn’t realize how insensitive I was being to her situation, until one day she began to cry. Over the phone I could hear the tears, and with …show more content…
I knew passing this class was important to her, and I wanted to help as much as I could. Realizing that her experiences were different than mine, allowed me to focus on using the tools I had accumulated in school to help her. Instead of getting frustrated when she didn’t understand, I changed and became more patient with her. I learned new techniques that were easier for her to understand, and I adapted my tutoring style to what she needed. I’ve always loved helping people, and being able to recognize other’s dispositional attributions allowed me to help more