Excellence

KaZoua Vang
Grammar for College
Excellence paper
Block 4




Lorne A. Adrian quoted, “I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.” Most people see the word excellence as a word to describe perfection, but to me excellence has a different meaning and is the closest us humans will ever get to perfection.
Excellence to me is going beyond and achieving the impossible, which means setting a goal that is difficult and accomplishing it with commitment. To achieve excellence you must work hard and persevere. Excellence is not achieved by sitting around and hoping for it to somehow hit you in the face. To achieve the impossible we need to make it possible by having confident in ourselves and motivation.
In Reading Between the Lies, it talks about a young man by the name of Jayson Blair who was a journalist stealing peoples stories and making it his own. He even went further by making up stories about people he didn’t know just to get a good report. Some may say that he was a good journalist not knowing what he had done and praised the New York Times for having such an excellent journalist. In my opinion Blair was no where near excellence. He let people think it was his stories when it wasn’t. He lied and stole others stories, which does not show hard work and achieving a goal. He stole others achievements and took the praise and glory all for himself. People these day do not see stealing and cheating as something wrong because they see excellence as an impossible task to achieve.
I believe that cheating is the result from pressure to achieve excellence. For example in the article called, Student Cheating it talks about how students in schools these days admit that they didn’t know that cheating or plagiarizing was wrong. Students are so caught up in trying to be the best or pressured by parents to do well in school that they forget what is right from wrong. The fear of getting into trouble slips away from their minds once they realize all the pressure that is put on them. They become way too focus on getting things done and if they run out of time they try to find an easier way out to make life easier for them. This is no way to achieve excellence because without doing your own work and realizing how hard work is truly done excellence can never be achieved.
As you can see Excellence cannot be perfected, but achieved because without mistakes we can never achieve excellence. Perfection is flawless and exact and we as human beings are not perfect, which means we should leave perfection up to God. Then that leaves us with excellence and to achieve we must be our true selves. Excellence can be who we are if we achieve it the right way.






Reference

Adrian, A. Lorne. Quotes. Excellence.

Gibbs, N. (2003, May 19). Reading Between the Lies: A young reporter
who stole and made up stories forces the New York Times to
take stock. Time, pp. 1-2.

Puka, B. (2005). Student Cheating. Liberal Education, pp. 32-35.

Works Cited

The Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke. DVD. Touchstone Pictures, 1989.

Eiseley, Loren. "The Hidden Teacher." Seeing Metaphors: 167-169.

Dictionary. 18 Apr. 2008 .

Education Essay

KaZoua Vang
Grammar for College
Education Essay
Block 4

What is education?

What is the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the word, “education?” In most occasion people would think of the word, “teacher.” Loren Eiseley stated in her essay, “The Hidden Teacher,” “we think we learn from teachers, and we sometimes do, but teachers are not always to be found in schools or in great laboratories.” If this is true, then what is education to me?
According to “Dictionary.com,” “education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life." Education to me is not all about doing homework, taking testes, and being smart. It is the method of teaching people how to survive the real world. Once we get older we will no longer be living with our parents, instead we will be on our own ready to take on the world one little step at a time. Education is the building block to everything we learn and do in life.
Growing up with parents who were immigrants and didn’t know English very well taught me a lot. I learned how to be independent by teaching myself how to read, do math, and write. It wasn’t just school or school work that I had to learn on my own. I had learn how to speak English on my own. When my parents needed an interpreter they relied on their children to help them out and I was there to help .By interpreting for my parents at such a young age has taught me to speak up for myself and not be afraid. My parents always expressed and encouraged education, so any education that I could get my hands on I took it. Also growing up I had three older sisters whom I would fight and argue with. Thanks to them I learned discipline, respect, and obedience.
In The Dead Poets Society, the boys had their whole lives planned out for them. Every decision was made by their parents and they didn’t even get the chance to speak for themselves. They didn’t get the chance to be who they wanted to be or experience the life of a typical teenager. Everything changed when Mr. Keets, an English teacher, showed them how to express themselves through poetry, which gave them hope and encouragement. He showed them through his teaching that there was more to life than being what their parents wanted them to be. He didn’t just teach them literature or poetry he let the boys think for themselves. They were able to teach each other in many ways.
Teaching to me is the main description of education, but teachers are not just people who have a teaching degree and work in schools. Everywhere or everyone around us is a teacher in different ways. We learn from our own surroundings and we become educated by opening ourselves to new things.

Personal Statement

My interest in tutoring began in high school when I started to teach Sunday school and Children’s church. I saw the struggle that students went through and wanted to do something about it. I thought since I do well in school, I love to work with people and I find joy in helping others why not give it a try. As I continued to teach I began to have a passion for kids in general and that’s when it hit me that I wanted to be a teacher someday and tutoring would be a great experience that would help me to achieve my goal.

I’ve been a teacher for VBS (Vacation Bible School), Sunday school and Children’s church. I have also led bible study and devotions for my church’s youth group. All of these responsibilities that I’ve held have taught me leadership, communication, problem solving, and responsibility. I believe I would make a great tutor because I ardor kids, I love the presence of children and of course babies. I am an honest and reliable person, which shows that I have integrity. Also I have humility because I’m not embarrass to teach kids who are my height or taller than me. I will not allow my pride to get in the way of teaching.

My career goal is to be a teacher and go overseas. I want to someday open a school overseas for orphans and those who can’t afford an education. I believe that money shouldn't play a factor in who should and shouldn’t have an education. Every child has a right to learn and be educated.

I should be chosen because I have the heart for children and the passion to teach. I am a responsible person and have a willingness to learn. I am trustworthy and dedicated to helping children discover what this world has to offer.

Cover Letter

KaZoua Vang
623 Soucy Drive
Marshall, MN 56258
Phone: (507) 929-0679
Email: zookie_20@hotmail.com



April 7, 2008



Mr. Willert
Superintendent
District Office
401 South Saratoga Street
Marshall, MN 56258


Dear Mr. Willert:


I am enclosing my resume in response to the advertisement in the Independent, February 19, for a tutoring position at the Marshall Public Schools. I am currently a senior at the Marshall Senior High School with a GPA of 3.7. I feel that I have the abilities and the experiences for this job.

As a Sunday school and Children’s Church teacher at my church I have gained knowledge, and experience from being with and around children. I am currently a peer helper and a tutor too, which has helped me to develop communication skills and an understanding of children’s needs. I am also bilingual, which gives me an understanding of how to work with diversity.

From being around children I have learned how to be patient and responsible. I feel that my experiences and skill will benefit your schools and the lives of every student that I’m with. I hope that I have an opportunity to meet with you in person as soon as possible.

Sincerely,



KaZoua Vang

Resume

KaZoua Vang
623 Soucy Drive
Marshall, MN 56258
Phone: (507) 929-0679
Email: zookie_20@hotmail.com


Objective:
The opportunity to work with and mentor children.

Education:
Currently a senior at the Marshall Senior High School
GPA of 3.7
Marshall High School Honor Roll

Activities:
BPA (Business Professionals of America)
Tutor (one year)
Jr. Rotarians (one year)
Peer helping (one year)
Ambassadors (two years)
-Team Leader
Choir (four years)
Church Choir (one year)
Youth Council (two years)
-Head chairman
-Secretary
-Treasurer

Skills:
-Communication
-Hard worker
-Bilingual
-Good Listener

Work Experience:
Sunday School Teacher (three years)
Children’s Church Teacher (three years)
VBS teacher (summer of 2007)
Camp Counselor (summer of 2004)

page 96 critical thinking question

1. The difference between the model resume and the model cover letter is that the cover letter is explaining why you want the job and your experiences. The resume is more in depth giving details about what experience or skills that the person has. The format is also different between the two because a cover letter is written more like a letter and the resume you would list the different experiences.
2. The resume is divided into six different parts depending on how much experience you have. First you have the address. Next you have the objective and then the education. After that it's Activities and skills. Then after activities and skills comes work and experience. Finally last but not least References. The cover letter is divided into 4-5 parts. The address, the person who will be hiring address , salutaion followed by the body. Then the closing and signature is last.
3. I think Thomas's objective was kind of plain. He should've gone more into detail and explained his objective a bit more. The objective is where you explain what kind of job/work your looking to do.
4. If I was the director of the day camp I would invite Thomas in for an interview because on his cover letter he does a very good job explaining his experiences with children and swimming. He makes it sound like he knows what he's doing and he's good at it.