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,

Coming into Drexel this year, a necessity, I learned was to have a clear understanding of the mechanics for literature composition. I learned that it would mature my writing to a higher level of thinking. This is seen as past experiences in my writing through high school English teacher feedback indicated my writing to be full of flaws. I often would receive feedback on my writing being awkwardly worded or lacking fluidity. The one valuable skill I learned from English 101,102 and 103 was the idea that exposure to different readings, formulas and informal writings give practice, for me to find my own voice in writing.

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.

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 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.

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)

When I was a child, I was a real menace. My mother told me my behavior could clear out a playground. Obviously changes have happened since my playground days and today I’m going to tell you a story prior to my metamorphosis. This is a story that I am not proud to say happened. My parents think it’s funny; however, at the time of the incident they did not. This happened about ten years ago, so I can now look back on it and laugh about what happened with them.

Tight turns of hatred, steep slopes of everlasting joy, ups and downs and all arounds, my expedition in learning the writing process, writing my first short story and flipping my table over in agony have been nothing short of a never-ending roller coaster ride. There’s a fine line between love and hate and writing sits right on top it covered in chaotic sprinkles and a nice, big, juicy manic cherry on top. My first memory of writing had been in the first grade where I took a writing class and learned about the writing process. It was done in a silly way to help us remember, “brain drain/jot list, sloppy copy, neat sheet, goof proof, last pass” accompanied by goofy dances as well as playful gestures. It was my first exposure to actual writing and it did not appeal much to me at the time due to the excessive steps. To a six-year-old having to make a list of what I wanted to write about, have relevant ideas for each topic in the list, make a rough draft, revise and rewrite said rough draft, proofread the rough draft and final rewrite it once more into my final copy, was just too much to handle. Walking into my writing class each day left me with the sudden plop feeling you get when the roller coaster takes its first fall down the tracks. I recall handing cramps, complaints, and whines about a one paragraph essay. It was agonizing torture to a little kid, yet I would have complained a lot less if I knew what type of writing was in store for me at the age of eight.

Early in my second year at Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture, I was dealing with a very severe illness. Along with navigating the everyday stress of my second-year program I was also dealing with severe anxiety and depression. I was unable to attend any classes due to anxiety attacks and a constant fear of them hitting me at anytime. This was my third year spent away from home and due to my constant fear of an attack I didn’t feel safe anywhere I went. Thanks to the help of my professors and friends I was able to start to get back on track towards bettering myself. The previous Director of my program, Terrance Gavin, allowed me to withdraw from the program to finally seek medical aid. He gave me the opportunity to better my health before returning to school. Thanks to his support I started to seek counselling along with working on making my own health better. I made a routine for myself, I started to eat healthier and go for daily walks. Since the year ended I believe I have made a dramatic improvement towards my health. I am able to wake up early in the morning and successfully accomplish my daily tasks without feeling anxious and depressed. I also try to visit home on a bi-weekly basis as living so far from my home has also effected my health. I have attached a doctor’s note to this document for verification.

Upon my enrollment in high school, I joined multiple student organizations. I have been a member of my High School’s marching band, the Sound of Pride (SOP), since the eighth grade and have continued to participate every season. I marched both trombone and euphonium before becoming the Assistant Drum Major as a sophomore in the 2016 season. This past season, I was named the band’s Drum Major, becoming the school’s first junior to ever hold the title. After the conclusion of the marching band season, I perform with the TCHS Symphonic Wind Ensemble for both a winter and spring concert. During the spring, I also perform with the TCHS High Tide Steel Pan Band. I have been a member of both bands since freshman year. At the start of my junior year, I became the pianist for the TCHS Chorus. This year, I also joined the TCHS Drama Club and participated in the club-sponsored One-Act Play titled, “The Great American Talent Show.” Finally, the my sophomore year, I was chosen to be one of the six members of the Georgia Secretary of State Student Ambassadors to represent my high school and Tattnall County. Through this program, my team and I educate our community about how our government works and volunteer at local voting polls and municipalities. I was chosen to be a part of this team again at the start of this semester.

For the past three and a half years I have participated in the school band. In that time I’ve taken part in concert band, marching band, and jazz band. Setting up my schedule in sixth grade kicked off the adventure.

I believe that existence is dependent on connections. Life only exists in ecosystems where energies are undoubtedly interrelated but I think as humans we often overlook the significant beauty of our ecosystem. I’ve learned that the three most important types of connections we make are relationships with other beings, the understanding of ourselves, and deep ties to our natural surroundings. Without these connections, life cannot be. In my experience, I’ve seen how art and creativity develop a language through which connections can be made.

As I sit here and write this literacy narrative, I reflect on a time in eighth grade when I read a book regrading civil injustice. Back then I wouldn’t have thought to use such fancy words. Instead, something along the lines of “a black boy my age got killed for whistling at a woman! And the murderers didn’t even get in trouble.” So much confusion was attached with my not so politically correct summary of the book. In fact, we read this book in the upmost politically correct way as possible. Derogatory terms such as negro, nigger, and colored was to be renamed and replaced by the word African American. Simple. Nothing too hard to do in eighth grade just switch a word or two around. But how ironic we didn’t go over any set “rules” for the white character’s. No negative connotation related to the word “white” at all. In fact, when we had class discussions for this book it was normal to say “Hiram the white boy went to visit his grandfather in Mississippi.” But if I was to talk about Emmett Till, African American would always be attached to his name. I can admit just like any other person in that class it was weird but we never put too much thought behind it. Just abided by the rules and read.

The first thing that I learned from this class was by The Dominican Charism “The Dominican passion for truth presumes a confidence in the intellect’s capacity for discerning truth and for reaching a level of clarity that enables both teacher and student to distinguish truth from error, and distortions and half-truths from the truth” (Charism) It made me more motivated and confident in what am doing today. Having a connection between the student and the teacher is nice, especially when the teacher understands how each student thinks. However, for my short-term goal, is to get a bachelor’s in business administration. My graduation will be next May of 2018; I am hoping that I can attend my graduation because this is the goal that I have

Tune in and listen without judging the other individual or rationally condemning the things she lets you know. In the event that what she says alerts you, simply stay quiet, yet don't state to yourself, "Well, that was a dumb move." As soon as you enjoy judgmental bemusements, you've traded off your adequacy as an audience. Tune in without forming a hasty opinion. Keep in mind that the speaker is utilizing dialect to speak to the contemplations and sentiments inside her cerebrum. You don't recognize what those musings and emotions are and the main way you'll discover is by tuning in. Try not to be a sentence-grabber (Wolvin, 1985).