Connecting my experiences with my students and their families can give me a better understanding of how to facilitate their learning, and the topics covered in class are what strengthen these connections. A person's past experiences make up a part of who they are in the present. Reflecting on my past gives me the opportunity to understand who I am now and why I think and act a certain way. As I reflect on events in my life and how they apply to classroom topics, I try to think about those that will directly influence how I interact not only with adults but also with children. My parents' divorce is the first event that comes to mind, and it does so because it is an event that had a positive impact on me. While in most cases divorce can be stressful and difficult for children to handle, my parents' divorce was good and even at a young age I knew it. This is the first event that comes to mind when I think of parenting concepts because I think of my mother as a single parent and her style of discipline. Being a single parent, my mother worked two jobs and didn't have much free time to spend