Fizzy provides an autobiographical summary of her educational experiences from elementary school through college. Some key points: 1. She struggled with reading in elementary school but had teachers like Mrs. Walter who helped her catch up. 2. In middle school she struggled in math but had supportive teachers like Mr. Schmidt. 3. In high school she found passion and support through her computer science teacher, Mrs. Bachrach, who encouraged her photography and continued to mentor her. 4. She attended multiple colleges - New School University, Montclair State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and is now at Bloomfield College pursuing education. She learned from setbacks at previous schools.

1. Education Autobiography
AKA my successes, failures and mentors in education.
By Fazeena (Fizzy) Mohamed

2. Forest Avenue School
Grades k-2
 This is the first school I have
actual memories of. Before
attending kindergarten at
Forest, I had gone to a Catholic
school in Bloomfield and to
Linden Avenue School in Glen
Ridge for preschool.
 When I was in first grade, I had
trouble reading well. I was lucky
enough to be in Mrs. Walter’s
first grade class. She was a big
fan of poets such as Shel
Silverstein and had the patience
to help me catch up to other
students. I believe that her early
influence on me is one of the
reasons I love to read and have
the taste in literature that I do.

3. Ridgewood Avenue School
Grades 3-6
 In third grade I was placed in Ms. Kozik’s
class. I struggled through math the entire
year and had to go after school for help.
To this day, I’m still pretty terrible with the
subject. The only other memorable thing
about this woman was her love of
manatees. When I become a teacher, I
really hope I have better patience than
my 3rd grade teacher did.
 When fourth grade began I found myself
in Mr. Schmidt’s classroom. He cared a
lot about his students, knowing that was
the year I’d found out I needed glasses
and had been refusing to wear them, he
made a point of wearing his own. This
doesn’t sound like a big deal to most
people, but when you’re ten years old it
means a lot.

4. Glen Ridge High School
Grades 7-12
 I spent so much time in GRHS. Looking
back, everything is kind of a blur- I had
some of the worst teachers ever in my
time there, but at the same time I was
also taught by one of the best people I
know.
 These were the years where I had made
up my mind to go to school for
Photography. A lot of my time here was
defined by extracurricular activities and
by photographing those activities.
 Glen Ridge has one of the smallest
school systems around, I believe this has
shaped the way I learn. I think I would be
very different, had I gone to somewhere
larger such as Bloomfield High. Having
been in college for three years and
having gone to huge schools like RIT and
MSU, I’ve noticed that I do much better in
places like New School and Bloomfield
College.

5. Mrs. Bachrach
 Mrs. Bachrach is the person that I want to be
when I’m teaching my class. She’s quirky,
funny, smart, a teeny bit crazy, and in love with
her subject matter (computer science). She is
genuinely nice and thoughtful enough to bring
bagels for every test her APCS course has.
(except for Doug, who got a muffin, because in the all
the years she knew him, she thought he hated muffins.
Not wanting her to feel bad, he never pointed out that
he likes bagels more.) In 2009 she got the
yearbook dedication, even kids who never have
her in class love her.
 She was my teacher for five of the six years that I spent at Glen Ridge High
 I spent countless hours in her classroom after school studying for Java, Visual Basic,
Web Design, Independent Study Computer Club, and just because I wanted to. In the
weeks leading up to the AP exam two of my friends and I would stay there for hours after
school let out.
 Having taken AP Computer Science junior year, a new subject was created so her
seniors could remain in her class.
 I never intended to go to school for anything having to do with computer coding.
 I still go to her for advice, particularly about school.
Mrs. Bachrach’s Java Ring has a little
piece of java chip inside of it. This ring has
the power to *zap* you full of good
thoughts so you can do well on anything
you try.

6. The New School University
First year of college…
 Living in New York was one of the
best experiences of my life.
 I attended New School for a dual
degree, majoring in Photography
and Liberal Arts
 I was provided with opportunities
that most people aren’t.
 Some days I do regret leaving, but
now I’m on a completely different
path and a completely different My
freshman
person than I would have thought I self-portrait
would be three years ago. assignment
 What did I learn?
– Sometimes things need to change,
whether you want them to or not. It
may seem like the end of the world
at the time, but usually it’s not.
Lily, Devin and Brenna
were my best friends at
New School, they helped
with some of the worst
times.

7. Montclair State University
1.5 year of college…?
 This was when my journey got
complicated…I left New School not
entirely willfully, I was depressed
and at the time being on my own
was not good for my wellbeing.
 I went to Montclair twice. For one
semester after New School and for
one year after RIT.
 In my time there I was suspended,
appealed, and academically
dismissed. Overall, my time there
was disastrous. In retrospect, if I
had taken a semester off after New
School things would have been
much smoother.
 What did I learn?
– School is too expensive and too
time consuming to not put thought
into my actions.

8. Rochester Institute of Technology
Second year of college….
 This is the third school I didn’t succeed
in.
 Living in upstate New York on a college
campus is very different than living in the
West Village in NYC in a city campus.
 Here I majored in Computer Science,
once again I made the mistake of acting
before thinking. At the time, all I wanted
to do was to get away from living in the
area I had grown up in.
 Having taken computer courses with Mrs.
Bachrach, she knew my thought
processes and warned me against going
for a major in coding. According to her,
I’m more wired for visual fields such as
web design as opposed to theoretical
aspects of hardcore coding for languages
such as Python.
 Of course, I didn’t listen to her, failed out,
and returned to MSU on probationary
Above: RIT’s infamous Quarter Mile, an above-ground walk way
status. which separates the dorms from campus.

9. Bloomfield College
Now.
 Now, I’m at Bloomfield College. This
is my fresh start.
 Unlike Montclair State, here I don’t
have a past GPA to compete
against, I’m starting from scratch in
a better mindset.
 Unlike RIT, it’s a smaller school.
Having been raised in a small
school system, the teacher-student
ratio here makes it easier to keep up
and easier to ask questions when I
need to. (versus RIT’s classes of
200+ in big lecture halls)
 I’ve changed majors several times.
After all the hit and misses, I think
I’ve found the major that suits me
best. And with all the time I’ve spent
attending schools, it seems fitting to
end up in education.

10. To be continued.