A Personal Reflective Essay (PTP)

While I appreciated that one of my peers provided feedback on my work, I feel that the feedback that was provided did not fulfill the assignment. My peer did not provide detailed feedback on my paper that could be adequately incorporated in my review and revisions. Most of the information that was provided as feedback were simply statements that reiterated what the prompt question was. Please see the below feedback provided to me by my peer.

| |the intellectual conversation of topics that were discussed. I also enjoyed the learning |

Last Friday, I went to the Y at OCC to play basketball for an hour or so with a few of my friends.

In both my personal, professional life I have dealt with the issue of plagiary. As a practitioner I’ve seen the gamut with students. The practice of representing ideas falsely happens often and unintentionally. If writing represents symbolic thought I would be hard pressed to apprirpitatley name and give credit to where all of my thoughts originated. However I have learned to separate the authors voice from my own through the use of citation.

Prior to 6th grade I was quiet,bullied a lot so I had no friends no one liked me I was smart but had trouble with my work because I cared about what people thought.

Throughout the last four weeks of participating in this course, I have not only been revised of things, I have also learned a lot. One of the most important things I have learned would be understanding the clear writing skills and be concise with citing scholarly sources and outside research. Adapting to new ways to develop clear writing material has been an eye opener for me. What I thought I knew about writing wasn't anything compared to what I have learned throughout these last four weeks.

When I am not working at my grocery store, I coach a high school bowling team. I have been bowling for many years and coaching for two. Since I took over the team, we have won back-to- back state championships. However, with any sport comes strategic thinking between the head coach and his assistants. Before every match, I and my assistant coach have to create a line-up that obtains stressful strategic thinking. The way bowling matches work is that we have a team of six bowlers and each bowler is matched up against their opponent on the other team. If that person wins their game, they get a point. The most points at the end of the match wins the match. So, when writing my lineup, I have to determine which players to match up to the other team’s players. I could put my strongest player against their strongest player and maybe get a point, or I can put my strongest player against their weakest players and guarantee a point. Also, I could mix up my lineup and place the bowlers in any lineup.

When it comes to reading for information, I tend to go back and forth to the scuba diver and a guy on a Jet Ski. It depends on what I am reading per say, if I find what I am reading interesting then I read more in depth rather than something I find unappealing. Generally speaking, when I look for information for a given assignment, I tend to ‘treasure hunt’ for information and facts I believe are relevant to the topic I am assigned to. I do not give myself the time to actually dive into readings if I am looking for specific information. The reason to why I do this is because I must find information quickly in order to start the writing process and finish the given assignment. On the other hand, when I read something for pleasure, I take

Over the summer, I traveled nearly 600 miles away from home to work for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. I spent twelve weeks working forty hours with the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PASHPO) and multiple PennDOT offices. During my internship, I updated information on over four hundred metal truss bridges, mapped historic sites using the Geographic Information System (GIS), presented several properties during Determination of Eligibility (DOE) discussions, and attended meetings with other staff members to observe the status of current ongoing projects. These tasks allowed me to experience the daily responsibilities of a CRGIS Coordinator, National Register Reviewer, and Historic Preservation Supervisor, positions that caught my attention and sparked a high level of curiosity. They also showcased how the theories I learned in my coursework can be utilized in real world situations.

Improvement takes time, effort, and often times late nights. Many evenings I have labored overtime to improve myself. Often times staying awake till midnight to ensure that my daybook notes were the definition of perfection or even adding an extra paragraph to my essays to ensure that it would support my thesis. In English class, I explored my ability to read literature, writing essays, collaborating on discussions, and most importantly, learning. Regardless of my extensive background in each of these areas, I recieved the opportunity to expand and develop my skills more in some way as a reader, a writer, a collaborator, and especially a learner. Perfection is not always attainable, yet I should strive for the best adaption of my work.

I am an individual like no other I have ever met, not to be arrogant or boastful, but to explain the extent of my uniqueness. I was born to a foreign-born Serbian mother and a half Italian, half English father. I was born in New York City, but was raised in a suburban town on Long Island. With my paternal grandparents, Pops and Nana, I went on many travels, both around the United States and Atlantic Ocean (they owned a large sail boat). With my maternal grandparents, Baba and Deda, I went on many urban adventures, having probably traversed nearly the whole of New York City on foot, exploring, eating, and playing in playgrounds with new found friends. Also from my maternal grandparents, I became fluent in my understanding of the Serbian

I landed in the beautiful city of London on June 30th. As I left the plane, I immediately took note of the immense amount of diversity in London’s Gatwick Airport. Seven days prior to my arrival, the British people voted, in a historical referendum, to leave the European Union, leaving the entire EU rattled and the world in shock about what is to come in global affairs. Upon arriving at immigration, I immediately took note of the three lines into which travelers were placed – UK passport holders, EU citizens and non-EU Citizens. It excited me to know how historic of a time it was to be in the United Kingdom. Brexit made the exploration of my personal learning goal far deeper, more exciting and more impactful that I would have ever anticipated last spring when selecting my area of focus. In the Spring, I had no idea about Brexit or the influence it would have on my personal learning goal. I feel fortunate for this experience and have enjoyed reflecting on London in light of my learning goal. Thinking about politics and its interactions with the culture, values, geography and history of the UK and the EU has dramatically enhanced the way I view cultures outside of my own, and has given me a heightened appreciation for the world outside of the bubble that I live in, in the United States.

I have established key relationships by partnering and influencing program leadership team by being the first point of contact for Finance & Service for CPS program if they have financial, O2D, contracting etc. queries.

The comments say that I display a growth mindset and also generate good ideas, but that normally I do not put them in the table and also, I do not take initiative when it is necessary.

As I reflect back on the past18 years, I am reminded of the many experiences and various people that have influenced me and helped mold and shape my views on education and learning. Many great teachers and coaches have all helped instill in me a love for learning. Difficult teachers, unfair coaches and challenging relationships with peers have helped me develop the desire to prove myself and to do my best to rise above and to learn in spite of challenges. Instances of cheating, injustice, apathy and school politics could have possibly stolen my desire to learn and grow. Instead these things have driven me to educate myself in order to bring about change and provide opportunities to do something more with my life.