User:Jleon014

About Me

Hello everyone, my name is Jennifer Leonard. I am a Norfolk native, born and raised, and am currently a senior at Old Dominion University. I attended Catholic school for 1st through 12th grade and graduated from Catholic High School in Virginia Beach in 2003. Since, I have achieved my Associates in Applied Science from Tidewater Community College and just transferred to this university spring of last year. I have decided to pursue my major in Interdisciplinary Studies (Pre-K through 6) and minor in Special Education. I greatly enjoy this university in comparison to the community college and look forward to achieving my Bachelors, hopefully, within the next year or so.

On another note, I am 23 years old and come from an awesome family. I am fortunate to still have a very tight-knit family that traditionally brings in every holiday together. I have only one sibling, my 25 year old brother Artie, who is more like my best friend rather than brother. I am most encouraged by my family and boyfriend of five years, Josh. A day doesn’t go by where he’s not asking about my homework or how school went. I am blessed to have such motivation coming from so many different directions. My family doesn’t end with people as my heart also extends to eleven animals at my parent’s house and five at my boyfriend’s house. Combined we have six cats, four dogs, three lizards, two birds, and a snake. I can go on forever about all of my babies but I will leave that for another time.

My Philosophy

As mentioned before, I am pursuing a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Special Education. I have always felt that every child deserves the right to an equal education regardless of their location in the world. Growing up, I observed the many different styles of teaching and have come to believe that the educators who find that way to pull you in to the subject are more effective than the “memorize this” teachers. I have been surrounded by children my entire life and thrive to help them understand the world around them. Each child is so unique that there can never be just one way to teach them anything. The goal, I feel, should be creativity. Without creativity, the child will learn nothing more than what is coming out of the text book; they will not be able to relate to any information or build on it. If Bill Gates only learned what his teachers told him without accessing his creativity, technology alone would not be as advanced; the same goes with all students. The world they are being brought up in is very complex and diverse. Teachers should not be only teaching the students but learning from them as well. By acting as a guide and informative, children will be able to explore their creativity and relate personal experiences to the subjects they are trying to learn.