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,

Many people experience exclusion in their lives; yet, when they feel included, they experience the process of healing. In the memoir Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Power of Adversity, Dw Brees’ journey to healing is explored. This experience of exclusion to inclusion is also discussed in Becoming Human by Jean Vanier. The New Orleans Saints accepted Drew, a severely injured quarterback at the time, just as Jean Vanier accepted people with intellectual disabilities into L’Arche. Withal, Drew is given the opportunity to motivate and inspire his team, and those people included in the L’Arche community are given the opportunity to develop new, meaningful relationships. For Drew, having this opportunity results in a milestone for the whole team that represents hope for New Orleans, while the people with intellectual disabilities being able to be in an inclusive community result in the maturity of the heart. Both works suggest that being inclusive towards other people, especially those excluded in society, by welcoming them into a particular community result in a person’s internal and external healing.

Knowing now-a-days, how people compare themselves to others. I feel that it is time that we stop. Although it is much harder than it seems. Comparing one another is something we do, there will always be someone stronger, smarter, more attractive, and wealthier. The key is not to let it affect us. An individual will always have something that no one else will. It will differ from each individual. We need to just look at our own life and see what we can do to make it better. If becoming a helper will fill a hole in your life, as it does mine, then do it. If becoming a parent does then do it. We need to stop looking at other people’s lives and focus on our own. We are on this earth for one reason, to live. So we need to stop dwelling on what we don’t have, and go out there and get it, and live, go out and live life. Life is too short to keep complaining about what other people have. Everyone just needs to live life to its fullest.

The most advantageous learning I had through the process of research and in the time of this class, was when I was presented with the opportunity to teach literacy and foster diversity by becoming a mentor in a local program called Reading Buddies. As a mentor, I assisted elementary students who have fallen behind in mastering literacy, to help improve their skills in English writing and reading comprehension. Many of these students are those of immigrant families, who are currently facing hardships adjusting to schooling because English has been learned as their second language. I have always been passionate about education, so naturally, I took interest in providing help where the structural violence of our non-accommodating American

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

my senior year of high school, I was the FFA president at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School. As president, I tried to make sure everything was done on time, but by the end of the year I was a little worn out. Irritated with having to do everything myself I tried to delegate but still ended up doing mostly everything. My officer team had clocked out for the year and I was upset. Sitting in an officer meeting one day before school, I asked my advisor if there was any chance we could talk to some of the officers about participating more, which was mostly about the officers that never came. Instantly he snapped at me in front of everyone else, including my little sister. In summary he told me I was a bad president and that I blame others for my mistakes. I was so shocked that I didn't even respond. I sat silently crying right next to him avoiding all eye contact. This was when it all started.

When I go into any class, with a weak memory and an developing intuition, I do not orient my success on remembering a lot of pointless information, but learning the art of independent thought. I never imagined, however, I could acquire some of these useful skills through the course Writing 1. Mrs Tocco, you have helped me to develop many of my lacking English skills, such as grammar, punctuation, and how to clearly portray ideas. There is a clear difference in my grammar capabilities. In my first paper, English Nightmare, I had many errors in my paper, from writing to grammar, one of them being, “This is also coming from a Boy Scout who was trained to follow orders and always be honest (for me it's every other situation.)”(Witt 4). This was one of my first quotes and a classical errors in writing. As you well know, I put the period inside the parenthesis, which is incorrect. When I started this course, I was oblivious to things like this and other rules in effective writing like do not use apostrophes, how to block quote, and refrain from using first person in many situations. My editing was my biggest improvement over the semester, but this is broken down into multiple topics.

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.

Throughout the course of my high school career I have primarily been intellectually interested in the evolution of the law and the role of legal institutions in modern society. I was first drawn to the law when I realized that it often goes beyond punishing or compensating individuals and considers, more broadly, the interests and goals of society at large and the community in which we live.

I have completed courses in philosophy, creative writing, community-based cross-cultural experience, cultural psychology, psychology, theology, old and new testament and world history. These courses have helped me to understand human nature with regard to human logic, moral reasoning, and social norms that vary between cultures. Upon completion of these courses I have learned that health outcome is influenced by multiple factors including the environment, level of health literacy, and how one interacts with others and solve problems based on social and cultural norms.

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.

As the first semester of my first year as an undergraduate student has progressed, I have realized how quickly time is passing by. I can easily recall back to the beginning of the semester when it was Frosh week and how nervous and excited I felt as I was about to commence the new chapter in my life that is post-secondary. As the mid-semester quickly sneaks upon us with another five weeks left, I have found myself to be stumbling from morning to morning and from deadline to deadline. I am mentally and physically exhausted as well as overwhelmed with the amount of work I am required to complete; I am burnt out.

When I first started this class I had no idea what to expect, I was nervous since this was my first college English class. After the first couple of classes, I realized I did not have anything to worry about. You were a great teacher that I got along with well. When we had our conference projects mid-semester I was feeling very good about what the second half of the semester.

“Legacy, what is a legacy?” The quote stated before was taken directly from the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” This question runs rampant in Alexander Hamilton’s mind as he is face to metal and gunpowder with Aaron Burr’s bullet propelling from the chamber of a gun like an agitated bull in a rodeo. When confronted by this question I knew I couldn’t evade this question from the inner machinations of my own inquisitive mind. It is as if my very soul yearned for the answer to this very broad question. In short and all you have time for I am sure, I had to know. I decided I would have to self-reflect and answer this to escape the imprisonment that is the fact of never knowing an end to this puzzle of my own definition of what’s to come after, well, me.

There is no clean way to gut a dog shark. I carefully held the sharp scalpel in my right hand with my left hand on the belly of a shark. My professor mentioned that my specimen might be pregnant and she wanted me to find out for the class. The excitement and anticipation were palpable in the room as all eyes were on me and my lady shark. Shortly after the first incision was made, I held up a fetal shark like Simba in The Lion King. Everyone’s eyes sparked with awe as they saw the baby shark. There were five other unborn dog sharks and I gave each group one to explore. This lab was very special to me because I became the unofficial teaching assistant. My classmates would ask me to help identify structures and give them tours of organisms. In this lab, I felt purposeful. It almost felt like I was the professor. I cherished every moment in comparative anatomy because I deeply enjoyed getting my hands dirty, working with real organisms, and teaching my classmates.