Bio

My name is Jennifer Tejeda and I am twenty years old. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. I live with my mother, father, older brother, sister, and twin sister. I am Cuban American and I grew up in a bilingual home. I learned how to read and write in both English and Spanish when I was in Elementary school. Since I was about six years old I swore that I would be an artist when I’d grow up. I used to love painting and drawing and it was more than a hobby of mine. My art teacher in the fourth grade noticed that and gave me an opportunity to have one of my painting in a museum in the University of Miami. I won an award for it and received some cash as well. It was one of my best accomplishments at that time and I actually felt like a professional artist. I continued pursuing my dream of being an artist until I got to my freshmen year of high school. Then I realized that painting and drawing wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started volunteering at Ernest Graham Elementary and I was an aid to the After Care leader. It was a kindergarten class, and I just fully enjoyed the experience because it felt like I was making a difference helping the children learn. I also realized that I worked very well the kids. In my senior year of high school, I took my second year in an early education class. In that class the students were teamed up into groups and we’d design lesson plans for the days we were assigned to teach the three, four and five years old and that were in that day care. I learned a lot from that class, like how to make lesson plans, how to work well with a group, and the experience of how it’ll be to actually be a teacher. It was definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be. I graduated in the spring of 2007 and I started that fall in Miami Dade College. I saw that they provided a BA in Exceptional Student Education and that intrigued me. I’ve worked in the past with kids that had autism and other learning disabilities, and surprisingly I had more patience with those children rather than the pre-k kids. So I decided that I would major in ESE and I’ve been working towards ever since. I hope to accomplish in the future, by not only passing this class but the rest of them that I need to complete my major. My dream is to have my own classroom and teach kids that really would benefit from my skills and knowledge.