Final Reflection

A condition of my admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the completion of my senior year courses. I admit that my grade in Math Techniques was an F. This fact is not what I wish to explain, as there is no way for me to skirt the fact that I received a failing grade in this class.

The way that you talk to yourself is different than the way you talk to others, especially an audience. You may be more confident and ready in front of yourself but less confident in front of others so again, practicing, in front of a group of friends or audience can help you prepare better. It is still one of my goals to be able to perform wonderfully in front of the class one day.

About four years ago, I was just starting my first year of high school. During my previous tenure in middle school, I was basically an average student with multiple C’s and barely passing classes. So when I entered high school, I was not that enthusiastic about it and I continued the trend of not really caring about my grades in the 9th grade. As I became more aware of the opportunities I could get by receiving good grades, I began to actually care more about school and tried to get good grades. I began to do something that I never did before,

Communicating with my peers has been a hefty struggle with me for years. For me to speak with one partner let alone a whole class was challenging enough. Through elementary, I used to speak in quiet stutters that required an ear full to get a word.

I have learned so many things out of this class that would be very useful to me in the future. Also, I don’t think that if I truly want to write about all the things I have learned from this class it would all fill a 2 pages paper. However, the three main things that I have retained from this include how to write a response paper, how to read a book better, and how to better write essays.

As a new student coming into this class we might have wondered what interpersonal communication was. However, I believe by now we all have a better understanding of what it means to communicate amongst ourselves. We all, or at least most of us were strangers at the start of class. However, through exercises and discussions we have become open with each other and learned a little along the way. Something as simple as our shared interests such as superhero movies or Star Wars trivia has opened up discussions we might not have had otherwise as a group. Our perceptions of each other have changed since that first awkward day playing a cheesy board game (Alder, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2013, p. 106-139). As we practiced our communication skills many of us have developed a stronger self-concept as well as boosted our self-esteems (Alder, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2013, p. 66-67). We also used social comparisons in our class intended or not (Alder, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2013, p. 69). We compared our backgrounds, both cultural, ethnic, as well as socio economic standing. Some of these comparisons come from what we learned as children to believe, while others are from what we have learned in life. This is what has intrigued me the most in class. The facts that we as a “civilized” world still have not come that far at all. Women are still for the most part second-class citizens, hate is taught to our children, and language still hasn’t evolved to where there are no

The two units that I felt I could connect the most to were the mental health and the factors affecting wellbeing unit. I think I was able to connect the most to these units because some of the things that are talked about in the units applied to my life. In mental health and factors affecting wellbeing, we discussed the different factors that can affect our mental health. One example that we talked about was stress, and this is one reason why I was able to relate to the unit. I often have felt stressed therefore, I know the effects it has on our mental health. Another thing that we talked about was how our mental health is affected every day by little things, and, I agree with this statement because I too have experienced

School was a challenge for me when I was younger. Not having the right mindset for school at that time was a major problem as it could affect the way I felt about school for the rest of my life. To me, school was all about who looked the best and who was more popular. I was new to middle school and it was totally different from elementary. It felt as if focusing on school wasn’t as important at that time, needless to say I was on the bandwagon train too. Hanging around and trying to keep up with the cool kids took a toll on my grades tremendously. My schoolwork had escaped my mind in a way. I didn’t see it as a priority anymore.

For the final reflection, I have accurately notate the sentence I have spoke depending on how many rhythm are there in that word like basketball are three rhythm so i would draw eighth note of 3. For the every word I have notate it correctly which has made the rythm well and have 4/4 in each bar and there are no more or less for 4/4. The some area that I could have improved are the maybe on writing the reflection since the reflection are long that we need to have 3-4 paragraph which is like an essay and my english is not really good which can cause making the mark go lower.

During week one, my initial definition of learning was listening to an instruction, studying and then rehearsing that information in my mind, or categorizing it in a way so I could remember most of what was taught in the course. The class has opened a new dimension for me in the learning process; from understanding how I process information to deciphering which learning processes I use in intentional learning or metacognition. Understanding my learning patterns form dynamic learning relationship is a key element to my view of how and why I process the learning experience, even relating it to every day life.

Rigorously, I had to force myself to learn discipline, good time management, and hard work, if I did not want my sophomore year to implode on itself. Even though I hated it at the time, pushing myself to be responsible was the best thing I ever did. Toiling through the stressful schedule by myself at a young age burned a crystal clear picture in my mind, of what it takes to be successful, and what can occur if you do not have discipline. Additionally, I gained invaluable life lessons such as not to only work hard, but to be smart and planning ahead with your time and resources. Since then, I have changed my ways of managing my busy schedule, which have proved to pay off in the long run. My GPA saw an increase from my initial sophomore year, and continues to rise even as a senior. Furthermore, I was able to go from not playing and struggling through my first year of varsity basketball, to starting every game my junior year. Although this time in my life was highly tumultuous, I am glad that I worked through it, as it taught me imperative lessons and values that I will use throughout the rest of my academic

This semester in order for me to be successful, I know I have to be discipline in regards to my academic career. In order to be successful, I plan to make sure I set goals for myself. Setting goals will allow me to have something to work towards. By setting goals this will help keep me driven and will act as a record of the advancement I have made. It will also help me to push myself to continue working hard. One of my goals this semester is to achieve all A’s in my classes. In order to achieve this goal, I have to make sure I attend all of my classes. Attending my classes and making sure I am posting on time will keep me in tune with my academics. I also believe it is very important to make sure I know my professor office hours as well and

In my high school years, my attendance is great all throughout. I got an attendance award every four years of high school and I’m proud of that. I went to school every day to not

Another interesting experience that helped me gain confidence was my speech communications class with my professor, Mrs. Larson. I knew I didn't have any trouble with talking to a group of people. I love to tell jokes and stories to many people at one time, but I was nervous and somewhat embarrassed about preparing some boring speech and making everyone else suffer by listening to it. Mrs. Larson explained that we all have problems with this and that it can be overcome. I remember something simple she said that stuck in my mind: "The only way to get over the fear of something is to just do it." She was right. As I had to go up to give the speech, her words constantly kept running through my mind. After the speech, I realized that we were all in the same boat suffering from the same seasickness- nervousness, We all had to give speeches. No one was out to criticize anyone else and we all ended up supporting each other! I learned that I could make a "boring" speech interesting if I have fun with it and feel comfortable as the speaker of the moment.

You’ve got nothing to lose other than the time you’re trying to fill. And it’s worth it: Working on your confidence will help you shine at the next all-hands meeting and in your social life.