Course Reflection Essay

It is still so surreal to reflect back on my first semester as an incoming college student in the ENC1101 course, analyzing at my progression as a reader and writer in literacy. Since the first day of class I set in stone my goals for this class: receive a 4.0 GPA, develop my connecting theories skills in writing, and become more aware of objectives for each Unit throughout the course. All of these goals became achievements that not only make others proud but most importantly give me self pride. In order to earn the grades and achieve these goals, I went after every opportunity that I was given as an incoming college student, such as office hours and extra credit. By taking this course I have gained confidence with the utilization of literacy, and made an addition to my group of impactful literacy sponsors. Once students are finished with high school they assume that there is nothing else to learn beyond the stereotypical five paragraph essay, but they are so wrong. I was able to obtain so much knowledge about numerous course concepts from Writing about Writing, articles, and my professor. These concepts will carry on with me throughout a bright future of writing courses, job interviews, and any other skills that require literacy. The four outcomes listed below will help illuminate how I improved as a writer, by being a driven college student and going out of the way to earn my achievements in this course. In the first outcome I improved comprehending scholar texts,

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.

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.

The first smart goals I chose are to learn to become a leader and to have better time management skills. I chose these because I work on a small unit with no assigned charge nurse. Any day you go in to work it could be your day to be charge nurse so everyone on the unit needs to be able to step up and be a leader. Time management is a skill that every nurse needs to learn. In my opinion, if you have good time management skills it can decrease your stress level and make your workday more organized and enjoyable.

I went to Ning’s informational speech section. The classroom is located room 209 at Williams Building (WMS). It took me a while to find this building because I seldom go to the area around Westcott Fountain. Williams is large compound building that served as lecture halls and classrooms for undergraduate’s general education courses. Room 209 is where the public speech class took place. It is a middle-size classroom in the corner and next to a lounge area. I saw some of the students rehearsal their informative speech at the lounge when I arrived early and wait for Ning to come. Ning’s class has 15 students with varying major background. On the day I visited, most of the students came to class on time. Three students arrived about 5 minutes late, and Ning said she would mark them as “late.” Ning told me that too many “late” marks would negatively affect the student’s participation final grade.

Mmm, you were right the rates are not very generous. I am going to be completely honest; it does put me off a little, from experience how much work will be needed to make this first course a success, which is crucial to ensuring that people feel it's worth signing up for the whole series. I would only want to do this if I can offer something meaningful and valuable. Having spent three days last week rewriting an advanced specialist course for Pilates teachers, I know just how much time these things take as I am sure you do.

Inclusion: Means the action or state of including or of included within a group or structure. In education this means everyone has the same opportunity, there should be no boundaries to stop a learner reaching their full potential in the learning enviroment. (wikipedia)

I have participated in Acts of Random Kindness club, whose purpose has been to spread positivity in the school environment. High school students encounter a variety of emotions such as anxiety, stress, and drama. Hence, we have done uplifting projects such as putting nice complements inside books. We have also reached out to teachers by delivering messages of appreciation to their mailboxes. Furthermore, I have partaken in Colts for Animals, whose motive was to spread student awareness in regards to animal cruelty. We invited guest a few times speakers to talk about issues relating to animal abuse. Moreover, as a member of Garden club, I have helped in beautifying our campus from watering plants to picking out the weeds to digging up for new plants.

Every person on this earth has a past that shapes them and makes them into a unique individual. I am a 19-year-old student who has a life that may seem to have little flaws from the view of an outsider, but in all honesty been a journey of difficult ups and downs. I have found that many of the readings we are required to do in university will not personally touch us or make us reflect deeply on our own lives. This certainly was not the cas e when I read the personal essay titled Ghosts and Voices: Writing from Obsession by Sarah Cisneros’, because I found that I connected on a deeply personal level to three principal aspects of this piece of writing. First of all, I was also ostracised as a younger child, but in a school setting not at home. In those difficult years when I felt like I had no one, I escaped into the worlds created in books and through trying to write my own stories. Secondly, like Cisneros’, I found myself deeply connecting with some of the books I was reading and in them found the girl that I wanted to become. Lastly, this entire piece was how Cisneros’ discovered her voice as a writer. She found that the best way was to write what you know best, basically using your own experiences to draw your readers/audience in, which is also something I am well versed in not only as a writer but also a performing musician. I truly connected with this piece by Cisneros and was able to find many key parallels between our personal lives that really struck a chord with me.

I learned a lot in my life like math, history, fitness, health, etc. Though I always had one curriculum that catch my interest than others. That subject would be english as the one that caught my eye as one might say. I was always fansticated with the certain techniques and skills you can learn from it. The expressiveness that people can learn from that subject and put what they learn into something big like for example writing an play, movie, skits, etc is truly something special. So as young adult I find myself willing to learn these intrestic skills that many talented writers have master and I have belief that my techniques will be sharpen to mastery. In english 102 I can proudly say that those beliefs did happen as the class went further through days and weeks so did my progression as a researcher and writer that in factly impact my future career. I own to the teacher and support programs in the school that provided me this which I couldn’t thrive without.

I have never been a good student. This comes as an utter surprize to most, for one reason. I’m smart. Or so they tell me. Smart, but not good at school. I mean, ask any kid or millennial adult, and they will tell you school sucks. I just got out of highschool, and can guarantee that it still blows. But as my my theory of knowledge teacher would have posed for us to write last year, why does school have such a bad rep? Why do so many students loathe it? (Use documents from in class,as well as outside readings…. ) For every complaint there is about the school system, someone claims to know the answers. I myself have had an odd education in the places I’ve learned, who I’ve learned with, and the levels I’ve learned at. Add an (un)healthy dose of anxiety and depression, and you’ve got a pretty clear snapshot of my time in the public school system. (I mean, I’m still technically in public school, but it's a college, and I’ll get there later.) Of the dissertations of the school system we have done in class, several have rung true for me, but not always for the right reason.

When i first entered this class I didn't know what to expect because our school’s english teachers are so unique in character. I knew for certain that the class was gonna be challenging just because it is an Ap class, but I never expected it to change how i see the world. I have never experienced the type of environment we had as a class in my thirteen year, pre-kinder to eleven grade, of learning. From forming a cult, to engaging in rigourous conversations, to just having moments where we go on off topic and this has brought us closer. I can't forget to mention the fact that we actually learn a few things. Well a lot of important things actually. The course has elevated my English skill in comprehension, writing, speech, and has shifted the way I interact with the world as i search for a deeper meaning because of the influence of the class’ environment.

“Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.” - Allen Ginsberg

The book describes students overcoming obstacles as, “overcoming obstacles and challenges, in solving problems, and in adapting to organizational change” (Whetten & Cameron p82). I learned the English language abstractly, which I overcame and I managed and organized my time for work, home, and school. When I come to U.S, I could not speak decent English. Also, I had a young child and I was a single mother. I could not take my child to a hospital without having a language translator. I was actually disappointed in myself for the way I needed support from the interpreter every time. I finished high school in my country of Somalia, and during that time I had learned limited English, but it was not sufficient enough for me to talk with others. After six months when I came to Boston and I started working. I used to try to learn excellent English all the time so I can communicate with others, but it was not easy to me. Learning English is tough when you have children and you are an adult. It was not easy going to school when you do not have money to pay for school. For that reason, I used to search for schools that taught adults English for free. It took me couple of years until I could sign up and study at a community college. I received support from my teachers and tutors so I can learn and understand the language. Today I overcome that obstacle and I’m pleased with my hard work and honesty in my life and in university.

Between the summers of 2012 and 2016, I volunteered at the bible school offered by my church. The general goal for leaders was to work with elementary school children and lead discussions and assist the children in learning more about our religion. However, my personal goals were to make connections with my students, maintain a positive attitude, and gain communication skills. The group of students each leader works with alternates each summer, proving it to be difficult to create a relationship with my students; but in 2016, I met a child who despite his own difficulties, always remained positive and was grateful for every opportunity he received. I noticed a change in my attitude that summer, I had become both more positive and gracious. I was a role model and confidant for the student, despite our relationship only lasting the summer. In return for my healthy influence, my student taught me that there is a silver lining in everything and everyone deserves to be happy, regardless of their living situation. By reaching my goal of making a connection with a student, I was able to simultaneously achieve my goal of positivity, ultimately improving my leadership. Due to my work in the program, I became more confident and gradually built up my communication skills that helped me become an effective leader. The adults who ran the program recognized my hard work and dedication to the program and would praise my leadership and compassion. To know that my leadership was making a