Reflection Essay

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.

Frederick Douglass, an African-American writer that I look up to, once said,"We have to do with the past, only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” This quote was meaningful to me during my 8th-grade-year. In my early years of school, When I was born, I had my tongue attach to the bottom of my mouth. My parents did not fix the problem until I was three years old. Because they waited so long, I developed a speech impediment that hinders my ability to pronounce certain words. Central York School District made me take a Reading test that determines where I would be placed in English. The tests were against me every time I take the test. I hate being in the remediation course, because of the course I was restricted to have the freedoms that my other classmates had. My 8th-grade-year change how I see English today.

As life becomes hectic and challenging, being able to manage my time is increasingly difficult. Additionally, being involved in online education adds a layer that requires time, that can be hard to find. Personally, through the use of a planner, eliminating distractions and studying at a coffee shop, has helped me find a way to balance my life.

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,

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

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.

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.

It was the first day of the new semester. Dr. Razzaque, the professor giving the introductory lecture of his fluid mechanics course, decided to start with an audacious statement. “If you think mechanical engineering is too broad in scope for your liking, remember, you have seen nothing yet.” Aware that he had the class’s attention, he went on, “Think about what you have learned so far. You have taken courses in physics, multivariable calculus, electric circuits, computer programming and so on. It will be some time before you will properly understand how all these elements come together, but when you do, you will probably be surprised by your own understanding of the world.” He then went on to explain, citing Formula One, computational fluid dynamics and biomimetics, how mechanical engineering brings very diverse skill sets together. Those words felt, at the time, like a key to making sense of the plethora of courses that was my college life. Dr. Razzaque had suddenly made me realize the relevance of what I was learning. It would prove to be a pivotal point in my academic life. That lecture, and the following course, renewed my passion for mechanical engineering. I joined Dr. Hasan’s lab a year later as an undergraduate researcher and now I aspire to pursue graduate studies in mechanical engineering. All of these can be traced back to that quiet spring morning more than two years ago.

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.

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”

I have acquired so many new skills and habits this school year in Ms. Dibernardo's English class. After discussing and analyzing all of the topics we read and learned about, I have developed an understanding for new concepts that I didn't even know were important. This class has helped me grow in various ways that will help me in future classes and high school. Some examples of what we went over are To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gathering Blue.

Throughout life, we learn things; this can be practical things such as how to tie shoes or the fastest way to do dishes. These are simple things in life that do help, but these lessons do not help in developing as a person. I believe in the lessons we learn about how people work, and how we work, matter more than simple tasks. In The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, a man who is dying of cancer capitalizes on these life lessons that contribute to our development as people, he introspects himself. I would like to look into myself and explain what life lessons I have learned and why they matter to me.

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.

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.

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