My MEL Experiences

• Student /Teacher relationships:  In high school, I was the kid that was allowed to sit with the librarians behind the circulation desk. Both of the librarians are still to this day my friends and mentors: one is an ivy-league graduate and published author, the other an intelligent, experienced, and passionate woman. Over the course of my high school experience both women fostered my love of English and writing and helped me cater my passions to my school work. Additionally, on applying to colleges they were integral to my eventual admittance; I would dare to say that without their support my personal life would have gotten in the way of me attending college period. 
• Helping students succeed: Another teacher that means the world to me was my high school visual arts teacher, “Stan”. Stan was amazing and cared so deeply for all of her students. During my senior year, three students were in A.P Studio Art; none of which could have been if not for Stan; she had offered to combine two classes so that we could have the chance to run the first ever A.P Studio Art in our school. Throughout the year she balanced two different classes combined into one period- all to provide for the three of us that adored the visual arts. 
• Hands-on: The final product for Physics was to design and build a bridge for a class contest. The contest was judged on many factors including aesthetics and maximum capacity held. The project gave us all a chance to put our gained skills into action. 
• Interest: In my high school, during your sophomore year the students are required to learn how to write an extensive research paper that spans the entire year (extensive equals about one-hundred pages). Luckily, the teachers were reasonable and understood that if they wanted the students to cooperate they had to provide options; because of which we were all allowed to choose the topic of our choice, as well as sub-topics to be researched within each. 
• Context: One of my favorite projects in high school- I had to create a digital presentation of "my future lifestyle". In the class we had worked on investigating the career we wanted and how to attain it, where we wanted to live, what type of car we wanted, etc.  Using all of this information we had to conduct research on insurances, and other factors, as to see whether our desired lifestyles were realistic within the contexts of our desired careers. Every student in the class was given the opportunity to understand exactly why they were working so hard.