Class Reflection Essay

When I first got accepted into Stuyvesant High School, I heard countless of rumors stating: “Oh the workload is terrible”, “The competition is so fierce” or “Out of schoolwork, extracurriculars, or sleep: you can only pick two.” I found it hard to let it faze me, since I graduated from one of the most prestigious middle schools. However, the rumors transformed into reality when I stepped into Mr. Nieves’ Freshman Composition Class. The workload at the beginning of the year was brutal, coupled with assignments from other core classes that seem unaware of the workload of other teachers. Reading assignments were a regular, and there were journal entries and occasional quizzes to keep us in line. What made it bearable was the friends I made in that class; everyone had their own opinion about the topic we were talking about, and listening to other perspectives really broadened my horizon and enriched my learning experience in Stuy. Another thing that this class has taught me is the importance of time management, a skill that I will carry on for the rest of my high school career and life. When I choose to sign up for Mr. Nieves’ AP American Literature class in my Junior Year, I was hoping to relive the discussion-based lesson plans and meet more outstanding peers. I was not disappointed, to say the least, reflecting through all the experiences at the end of the course. The lesson plans he laid out for us were an interesting mix between small lectures and class output, and what I

My decision on a major field of study at Western Michigan University was a process that took much thought and reflection. With my high school teachers’ strong leadership, they inspired me to possibly pursue anything as a career. The long process of finding out what I want to do with my life started in the summer when I was trying to figure out what career would best suit me for the future. Im that kind of person where I need entertainment in my life, so I narrowed it down to some jobs I can't do, such as being a business major and sitting in a office my whole life, and accounting, because I despise math. During my thinking process, I utilized what subjects I enjoyed in high school that I’d like to learn more about in college. I came to a

“Extrapolation is bad.” Well, that’s great Mr. Gould. The moment I stepped into AP Statistics, I was hit with boredom and a tinge of confusion. I thought my teacher was an absolute dork. Who finds data and graphs interesting? However, as I progressed further into the depths of the statistical universe, I started to change. I began to find the research studies in my book fascinating; I thought constructing tree diagrams and box plots was thrilling. Until one day it hit me. “Oh gosh, I think I’m falling in love,” I told myself. There wasn’t an instant moment where I developed my passion for numbers. It was a slow and gradual journey in my statistics class. Listening and taking notes is what I ordinarily do in AP classes. Yet, this one was different.

As a writer, my skills have improved through taking this course. I have developed the ability to organize and plan the specifics of my novel by breaking each aspect into parts. I learned more about the importance of writing with the reader in mind, and how to do so. The most significant skill I developed through this class, though, is making realistic characters with quirks and unique personalities.

When I began this course and I completed the first writing assignment and the first observation, I was not sure what I was supposed to achieve and what I was supposed to observe. After the third essay and the third observation, which are linked down below, I was able to understand more what the purpose of the class was. Through the observations, I was able to take what I learned about biological, cognitive, and psychosocial development and see them in the children that I currently work with. Before this class, I believed children misbehaved because they wanted attention. After this course and through the observations and essays I was better able to understand that people, specifically children, are more complex than I

When it came to picking classes, for the most part I just looked to see what goal areas I needed to cover for my generals and found a class under the goal areas that sounded, somewhat interesting to me. After narrowing it down to a few classes under each goal area this class, for me in particular sounded not only the most interesting but, it sounded like a good class to take for my future occupation of wanting to become a Social Worker.

During my time at Iowa State, I have not had very many classes that I have been able to say helped me develop as a person. I learn a lot from my classes and am able to use what I have learned – but very few classes actually change who I am. Because of this class, I have learned about racism and bias in the history of education and I am able to recognize that I did not incorporate diversity into my life prior to this class. It is not something that often crossed my mind because it has never been something I had to worry about as someone who is Caucasian. This class brought to my attention the issues that still surround race. It is especially apparent how it affects students who are simply trying to get an education. This class inspires me to learn more about diversity and what I can do to be an ally as well as what I can do in my future classroom.

This class has taught me many skills that I will use in my future classes. In this communication and information literacy class I have learned about the writing process, citations, peer reviewed articles and more. When researching I should look for more reliable sources and to make sure the resources does not fake information. However, with all of this being said I still have a lot to learn especially when I am to write my essays.

Without a doubt the lessons and exercises on time management were the most meaningful to me. They brought insight into why I seemed to be constantly working yet still never really got anything I wanted to accomplish throughout the day finished. I realized the majority of the activities I had been spending the most time on didn’t reflect my values of hard work and self discipline and long term academic goals to be successful in college. This motivated to completely change the way I managed my time by effectively striking a balance between my maintenance, committed, and free time.

Throughout the time that I was in high-school I have taken many English classes leading up to this Ivy Tech class. During my freshman year I was required to participate in English 9 which required students to do more reading than writing. During my sophomore year I took English 10 that involved more reading. Then last year I took AP Language and Composition for college credits. Reading and writing were split 50/50. We were required to read a new book every nine weeks and be quizzed. We also wrote a total of six MLA formatted essays to prepare for the AP exam at the end of the year. I think my classmates and I were taught well which resulted in a good score on my exam.

I feel as though everyone will come to a point where they can look back and truly discover how they’ve grown from their learning experiences. And in the observing of your past, once can see what has made them who they are to this day. In my schooling, I have worked to the point of my first English collegiate class while still a senior in high school. It’s an achievement that will affect me for the rest of my life. And so far, this class has helped me grow and learn things that weren’t possible in previous classes. Having this class paint a picture I have never observed before, it pointed out the strengths and weaknesses I have developed over the course. And with maturity in play, these lessons and realizations can be applied to my future academics and even beyond. High school English and Dual Enrollment specifically has shown me my progression as a student by revealing my past learning and uncovering ideas I never knew were relevant to me, that can be applied to my future aspirations an pursuits as a college student and forever learning in life.

For this lesson, I attempted to shorten my whole group instructional time and to differentiate the instructions to better engage students in the lesson. Because of this, I learned that it is important to not give students too much information or directions at one time. I saw an improvement in student’s engagement during the whole group instruction. I did not give the students time to lose interest, I kept consistent pacing and made sure to differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of the different types of learners within my class. I also applied a couple different strategies to engage all students during the lesson, even when one student was at the board working through the problem. From this, I learned that learners are going to stay more engaged in the lesson if they have a “task” to complete, rather than waiting for the student at the board to give them the answer.

The classroom was a tall open square filled with around 35 student desks and one large set of desks in the front of the class. The front desks consisted of smaller desks which included a stand-up desk that held a computer and a smaller but longer desk with a chair. Behind the front desks was as whiteboard wall that had a projector pointing towards the wall. All of the student’s desks were scattered throughout the class and faced the whiteboard the room has a lot of space, but the number of desks in the room took up most of the walking space. The first student arrived at 5:52. Afterwards nine others join him, one by one. Two of the students began having a conversation while the others. The discussion between the students stopped shortly after Mrs. Keener arrived.

I was able to teach all three lessons of the curriculum, in whole class with a second-grade group of students primarily because floating and sinking was already a part of the curriculum during the month of November/December at P.S.94. The classroom is Spanish dual language classroom with an enrollment of 27 students. All of the students understand English and there are no newcomers in the class. There are 15 ELLs, 10 of which are transitioning students. One student is assigned a paraprofessional as part of his IEP. There are 3 struggling readers in the class.

I  was part of the crew of a 688 class attack boats (USS Bremerton). When I was first assigned to the Bremerton, my life consisted of learning everything I could about the boat and all of its systems so I could earn my "dolphins" and be a real member of the crew. You were viewed as a non useful body when you first report for duty. you litterly can take the past 1 year of training and throw it out the window. little of what was tought in Sub School really prepared you for what was about to become your reality.