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

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,

At the age of thirteen I was diagnosed with major depression and anxiety, I have spent the past five years in and out of doctor’s offices, counselor appointments, and therapy sessions. Throughout all of my experiences I have tried to prove to doctors, my parents, and myself that I don’t need medication to act like a “normal” human being. I would start taking my medication for a few weeks and while I was on a high note I would slowly wean myself of the drug in the hopes that my illness would be cured.

I am a Nursing student from Glenburn, Maine and before this course, I had a strong passion for writing poetry and also writing short stories about my life. In my high school English class, each Tuesday would be designated in writing for twenty minutes constantly about a given topic. I found that as a writer, I write the best about topics relating to me personally. However, in Rhetoric and Composition, I was able to learn new skills that allowed me to improve as a writer.  In Rhetoric and Composition, I composed essays about my own subculture, a unique place of importance, and a subculture with little to none previous knowledge of. All of these essays taught me at least one skill that allowed me to grow as a writer throughout this course.

When I write, I believe one of my strengths is that I am able to generate logical perspectives and strong conclusions. I am able to analyze the literature and relate to it in many different ways. In the compare and contrast essay I wrote, "Oliver conveys a tone of remembrance by juxtaposing 'the old burn-dump this waste place' and 'this secret garden'". I am able to apply literary terms and analyze how the author uses them to enhance their writing. In the same essay, I stated, "By using short, concise sentences, Oliver is more direct in her delivery and showing her lamentations for what has happened to the earth around her". I am able to analyze what the author is doing and the effect that it has on the reader.

The huge clouds passed over the sun creating a dull depressing mood that was only made worse by the almost sickening dark maroon interior of the van. As the van continued to glide down the street, my parents began talking about the events of that day. They discussed much information as we drove, but many insignificant topics began to cause my dad to become angry and upset, as he was experiencing extreme anxiety and stress due to our financial situation added onto many other issues at the time. All I remember was the yelling as my dad argued over little, insignificant things that were absolutely irrational. This was the moment I truly realised the that drugs, which were supposed to help my dad’s depression, were causing severe issues that at some times seemed to outweigh the benefits. The antidepressant my dad was taking, had many side effects that can affect the user’s judgement and even create anxiety problems, which is what happened to my dad. Antidepressant drugs can help some people, but not all because of the serious side-effects this type of medication can cause. If medications aren’t the answer, perhaps therapy and counselling could be a better solution.

I have contributed actively to achieve excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service. In the area of teaching, I have successfully taught one of the multi-section core chemistry courses (i.e., CHEM I and CHEM I-lab courses) and an upper-level course, Survey of Instrumentation for non-chemistry majors. As described in faculty plan, engaging and motivating students to promote their learning is one of the important teaching objectives as an educator. I have demonstrated excellence in teaching by active collaborative learning inside the classroom. Students actively involved in collaborative group assignments by working in pairs or small group to find solutions to challenging real-life situation problems. I utilized “Think-Pair-Share”

For my tutoring component for READ class, I had the opportunity of continuing to tutor my student Ryken. Eleven-year-old Ryken is an incredibly intelligent student, possessing a large vocabulary, however, he struggles distinguishing phoneme sounds while encoding and decoding. In addition to the phonological issues, Ryken’s eyes were crossed when he was young until he got glasses to help the issue. Because of his delayed literacy skills, his parent asked me to tutor him for two, forty-five minute sessions a week. Utilizing the Wilson reading program, I have had the opportunity to tutor Ryken for about thirty lessons. Throughout this time, I have been able to administer testing, teach teach letter sounds, digraphs, blends, closed syllable exceptions, and multisyllabic words.

At a young age I was taught that weakness was not something to be seen. Mistakes were not to be addressed, simply ignored and moved on from. As I grew up the idea of hold my emotions inside began to do more harm than good. Through years of growing up and developing, I fell into a hole that happens to run in my family: mental illness. My classmates made jokes, and society had made it seem like it was wrong to struggle, so I refused to say anything to anyone. This was the beginning of a downward spiral.

Prior to the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, I had already decided upon heading to pharmacy school and learning about the profession in detail before eventually graduating with a professional doctorate degree in pharmacy. Taking advantage of the Summer Scholars Advanced College Academy program offered by the local community college, I could participate in secondary dual enrollment while still in high school. Throughout the entire three years from there on out, I would typically attend high school classes in the morning and afternoon and come evening time, I would head over to the college. During my sophomore year, my brother advised to stick with 3- and 4-unit non-science courses to slowly ease myself into this new schedule. Focusing primarily on the relatively lighter breadth requirement courses, I would be endowed with the opportunity to come home, eat a snack, and complete a few homework assignments before heading to class once again but this time, at a different institution.

My world was torn apart when was only 10 when my parents got a divorce it was hard on my brothers and I especially my mom who was married to my father for 10 years she didn't know what it was like to be single but through the years our family went with many difficult trials. One of the recent ones was when my mom left 2 years ago for 4 months for boot camp and my brothers and I lived with our father which was difficult , living in a two bedroom apartment with to hyper boys and having to be the step in mom while your mom is at boot camp it affect me alot so it wasn't a surprise that I had after effects from it but I kept it hidden from my mother to not make her worry. But when I had to move in late October early November it was horrible I just started my Freshman year at South and I finally was getting used to all of it when suddenly I had to move with my two brothers, my mother, and my dog into a 3 bedroom apartment from our mobile house. When I started here at Central it was so different when I went South I had to figure out the layout of the school and the only people I knew were kids from my old church and not all of them like me so it was very difficult. Especially at home both my brothers had ADHD and later diagnosed with autism the youngest one at the time if he didn’t have his meds that if he didn’t get what he wants that he would go into a fit of rage it made it difficult on my mother and I . I have a history of having depression but it didn’t get to serious in the

Mrs. Annette Hovey, a music teacher at New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School, was busy giving an elementary percussionist a private lesson as I waited outside the music room for them to finish. Mrs. Hovey can be described as a woman who simply loves and embodies music and is dedicated to teaching her students and helping them grow through her inspiring classes. She's slightly shorter than average height with shoulder-length brown hair, and that day was sporting a relaxed look of: blue jeans, turquoise Nikes, a NR-S homecoming t-shirt, and a comfortable looking black and white plaid zip up sweater.

Organization is one specific tool I have used throughout my life consistently that has helped me become who I am today. When I was a little kid, my mother use to say, “ okay, now help me clean up.” This stuck with me and as years went by, I eventually did so without her asking. I had a place for all of my things. If it wasn’t there when I went to look for it, I became anxious. Point is, at a very young age, I discovered the need for things around me to be organized and tidy. Throughout the course of one’s life, we adapt many practices that later shape who we are. These practices are called literate repurposing. While gathering my research, I came across many unique findings. This character trait has never diminished, and I've repurposed my organizational skills all throughout my life.

For the last ten years, I have taught third grade. Though mathematics is just one of the many areas of discipline I am responsible for to teach my students, it is definitely the hardest curriculum for my students to both understand and master. With both formative and summative assessments, including the annual state standardized assessments, it seems as if every year my students are struggling more and more with understanding and applying mathematical concepts. This is also evident with an increasing number of mathematic Academic Improvement Plans (AIPs) that my students bring with them from second grade.

That the educational approaches, especially ones related to high school term, play a pivotal role in forming the student’s personality is an axiom. In spite of the most accepted people`s belief, I am of the opinion that collaborating in group activities include sharing ideas with others and involving in accomplishing planned projects is more beneficial for establishing a promising future for students. I will elaborate on my reasons in the following paragraphs.