Reflection Paper On Reflection

Throughout the course of this semester, I have continuously grown as a writer. Prior to taking this course, I had little experience or knowledge when it came to writing. I used to struggle with forming my thoughts into writing, let alone a paper. I was never confident with what I wrote. My writing had no greater purpose other than the assignment. My writing process included: writing my paper, proofreading it, and turning it in. Once the paper left my hands, it also left my mind. Throughout this course we worked with others, visited the writing lab, wrote critiques, and we were able to revise our papers. I believe that all of this is has caused me to grow greatly as a writer.

On September 6, 2017, I were documented for an incident that involved a University Housing policy violation. I was charged with violating the University Housing Alcohol 1.2 policy. With my violation, came consequences. I met with The Residence Conduct Coordinator to discuss my actions and came to the conclusion that I would have to schedule a meeting with The Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center (CADEC) and with that, a reflection paper.

Wow, I made it through the second hardest class I am taking my sophomore year, this being a close second to College Prep Writing (next semester’s class). This class has truly changed me in the most interesting ways possible. I actually have found some maturity in writing, something that I didn’t even know I needed until I learned it. This essay compared to my intro essay will most likely look like a Harvard paper versus a community college course high school student’s paper. But that is because this essay has changed me in the most positive way possible. Thank you very much for the opportunity to take this course, and I do strongly suggest it to other students.

When I first signed up for the class last year, I was expecting an extremely hard class dedicated to solely writing essays. In a sense, I was not wrong in that it was hard class and most of the assignments included writing. At that time, I had little confidence in my writing abilities. I dreaded every moment I had to spend on writing assignments. Even though I hated writing, I decided to challenge myself to take the class to improve my writing capabilities. At the

The first student to perform for the fundraiser was Candy Tsai. She performed Arabeske, Op.18. Candy tends to use more of her arm muscles when playing rather than wrists. She sets a great example of pedal use throughout her piece. Although she uses pedal, she distinguishes her articulation correctly. Overall, she was fantastic but could use more dynamic contrast. The next student to perform for the fundraiser was Joshua Tessler. As a performer, he did not start until he made adjustments to the seat. Once he was comfortable, one could see how graceful he was. He was constantly moving throughout his piece and at one point, he crosses his hands to perform.

Over the years, writing has been my safe place. It has been a security blanket of sorts; an outlet that I can use knowing I will not receive criticism in the same was I do when I speak. Although my writing experience has not consisted of much, I have been able to grow steadily and learn how to engage with an audience. I can identify my strengths, take advantage of them, and work on the areas I find to be the weakest. It has fueled my passion for world change, even though I am still unaware of how it will tie in with my future career path. Writing has given me a voice that I do not have the courage to speak from my mouth.

Over the course of the semester, I have been fortunate enough to work with a student who is having difficulties when it comes to reading. My student does not have difficulties when it comes to hearing a word, but rather when he sees a word. My student has definitely benefited from one on one work with me as well as the additional help he’s getting from the reading specialist during their WIN (what I need) time. My student does not like to read because he knows that he is struggling and he is embarrassed about it. When my student goes to his WIN time, he does really well because the instruction is at his level and there are only two other students who are also on the same level there as well. Besides the current intervention, programs I would recommend are Direct Instruction: Reading Mastery, Letter Spacing, Wilson Reading System and the Lindamood program (LiPS).

Growing up in a small town in Northeast Vermont, there isn’t much of anything. The economy is poor, there isn’t many jobs, and it’s cold. My hometown is similar to the made up town of Catamount in the novel, Continental Drift, by Russell Banks. I saw my family in likeness to the Dubois’s. My mom stayed home with us kids until we needed extra cash so she began to waitress. My dad got one of the better jobs at the new correctional facility a town over.

It’s an ambiguous concept. It’s got a scale range from getting a new bed to losing a loved one. Sometimes it’s asked for and other times, it’s not. Sometimes you’re a little girl waiting to get a haircut only for the final result to be disastrous and other times you’re walking out of the salon feeling like royalty. Sometimes you’re simply changing the color of your walls and other times you’re moving to a new house. Sometimes you’re meeting new people and other times you’re losing your best friends.

Mr. Abedi then introduced me to Miriam, one of the woman volunteering at Open Mosque Day. Miriam was working behind one of the tables educating people on Islam. She gave me a Qur’an , a short biography on Muhammad and lots of other information to take home. She was very interesting to talk as she was raised Catholic and converted to Islam. She spoke about how Islam is a lot like Catholicism and that Mary is mentioned repeatedly in the Qur’an more than any other woman. I asked her if she believes Mary is the mother of God and she replied no. Miriam told me she was mentioned seventy times and that she is recognized as devoting herself to God. She explained to me that Allah wants us to pray and that God is great! God is absolute, perfect and unique. I asked her if she believes in God and she replied she believes in Allah and that Allah means God in Arabic. Up until she explained this I thought of God and Allah as two separate people. Miriam was not comfortable taking a picture with me so she found Mr. Abedi and we took a picture together. I thanked them both for their time. Syed commented that he thought it was great that I was open to learning about other religions.

This semester has been busy, I have written four papers. Scoring better than I thought I was capable of. St. Edward’s University was not my first choice, because I knew that St. Edward’s focuses on their student’s writing skills. The only reason I applied was because my mom wanted me to. I got waitlisted at my first choice and then my mom thought my second choice was to far, so here I am at a University that requires more writing from a person than anyone has ever done in my life. Reading and writing are not my strongest subjects, I am better at math, chemistry, anything with numbers.I set foot at this school with the thought that I was going to fail or just barely pass Rhetoric and Composition. I was going to take it in the a university that its goal is to improve the student’s reading and writing skills. The truth was, I expected to dread the class. On the first day of class, a man in his early 40s started screaming at the 14 kids in the room. He is different than the teachers I had before which is refreshing, his name is Professor Braun. It’s November and this is the fifth paper he has us writing, it is a reflection on my writing from the beginning of September to now. From Untitled Paper #1 to Are you Certain of Your Own Truth Paper #4, I am able to see a big improvement such as there are less careless mistakes, my ideas are more developed and carried throughout my papers, and there is a more concise support and analysis in my papers.

The policies I was found in violation of are Use/Possession Drug, Allowing a Guest to Violate Visitation Policy, and Failure to Comply.

In this course, one of the things I learned that stood out to me cognitively that prompted an internal cognitive reaction was bereavement experiences. On the first day of class, I learned that there are different beliefs about what happens after death. For example, some people think that reincarnation happens after death. However, I believe you either go to heaven or hell. I almost second guessed myself when reincarnation was brought up. Second, seeing the video of the mom discussing the story of her daughter committing suicide prompted an internal cognitive reaction in me. I was thinking to myself, how couldn’t anyone prevent this from happening? I wish that she knew what she was experiencing was only temporarily and not permanently. I was angry that she had to endure so much pain and obstacles in her life. Third, hearing the story of Prof. Windsor life and how she still grew to be strong, successful, and leading groups to help others with similar stories to hers. I was motivated to work on being a better social worker.

For my second observation, I choose to focus on making a lesson that would benefit the students with their upcoming paper. I knew from their last paper (they analyzed a cartoon) that students struggled with two things: they either said too much or too little in their summaries and they had a tendency to use quotes when they meant to paraphrase. Therefore, I designed a lesson using picture books that would have students collecting information from a variety of sources, which they would have to do for their final paper, and summarize in their own words what they found.

Though my father is Black, I was born into a middle class White family in considerably rural West Virginia. The community in which I grew up in was largely White and conservative, however, I have experienced many different cultures and styles of living in my lifetime. Based on my experience in these various settings, I cannot help but think that the way in which others view me often depends on the person on the other end. I suppose gender is rather obvious to the majority, but I feel as though my socioeconomic status and race are largely subjective. Especially with regard to race, people have perceived me as Black, Dominican, Polynesian, and even White-- almost anything than what I actually am. I have noticed that these various perceptions often depend on who I am with and who I am surrounded by. This, of course, bothers me to a certain degree. As Ropeik (2012) points out, people are tribal in that we stick to those who are culturally and ethnically similar, related or not. I have often felt as though being mixed race in America means being largely tribe-less, resulting in identity ambiguity and confusion.