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,

Reading over the outcomes and objectives, how will the skills developed in this class apply to your chosen career or field of study? If you are “undecided,” how will these skills help you in your future in college and in general?

Prior to attending this class, I thought that it was going to be a very boring one with long frustrating lectures. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying this class because it had to do with an area I have interest, which is, working in the community. Some of the challenges I encountered in this class was conducting a needs assessment, identifying advocacy article, and the elevator pitch. I can say honestly say that I learned how to conduct an actual needs assessment, although when I was doing my paper I did not quite grasp it at the time. It was not until the presentations I understood how it is done based on the information presented and the comments and explanation given by the professor. It was very important that I learned how to conduct the needs assessment, because my interest is working with low income individuals in different communities. Now that learned how to conduct a needs assessment I am excited to go out and gain some practical knowledge with a team. The lecture and the advocacy piece assignment helped me to understand what advocacy is all about; I now able to write, research and recognize and any advocacy document. The elevator pitch was novel to me and I had a hard time understanding how someone can give all that information in a minute. After the different scenarios that were role played during the presentations I got knowledge on how it is done. I also

I liked everything about this course. The seminars, study plans, and the weekly discussions help

On Wednesday, January 25 at 10: 30, I interviewed Stephanie Moret, a graduate student at Northern Arizona University. Ms. Moret is an English major, with her specific graduate program being Rhetoric, Writing and Digital Media. Her thesis focuses on how using social media could solve problems with understaffing, specifically in her hometown. Hopefully in a few months she will be able to put her thesis to the test back home, where she hopes to get a job with the city. She will help with their social media and marketing department, as well as overseeing their aquatics department. I met Ms. Moret my first semester at NAU in English 105, where she instructed me on how to write a wide variety of essays both individually and collaboratively. I chose to interview Ms. Moret because I am currently unaware as to what I want to do career wise, however, I know that I will be

I worked with Sally Joe over the course of the semester and it was a wonderful time, at the beginning she did not really want to open up to me but towards the end I could not get her to quit talking. She is a remarkable young lady and I am so happy I got to work with her over the course of the semester.

Today in class Melinda Laprade came to discuss how our resume should be, and how we should prepare for an interview. Melinda Laprade gave us some helpful insight on how we would go about getting a job and they tools we can use. She went over what to wear and what not to wear to an interview. Also, how you to uphold yourself. A helpful tip that I will be using is creating a mock interview with a friend before the interview. Another one is getting to know the company beforehand so that you can know what they are looking for. I really enjoyed her presentation and there was a lot I didn’t know that she cover. I am glad that she came.

What are your plans for after high school? How can this class help in your future plans?

She demonstrated her oral articulateness in the presentations she created and executed, both within class and in outside trainings. As a Youth Leadership Development complimentary major Hannah, along with a group of her peers, developed presentations and engaged different community groups by teaching youth interpersonal skills, such as how to assertively say no and disarming anger. As a member of this group Hannah has been proven to be a well disciplined, industrious student with a pleasant personality. She went well beyond the course requirements in the quantity and quality of her projects by attending and participating in all of the training meetings and being open and receptive to critiques of her presentations. Throughout the course, Hannah demonstrated great perseverance and initiative, volunteering whenever a role-play needed an extra helper or when another group member needed some assistance with a troublesome student. Not only was she interested in and motivated by the groups presentations, but she also put great work into creating presentations that will serve as an aid when she becomes a

Danielle: 3 because she seemed too needy. I found myself being too repetitive with instructions and suggestions that were self-explanatory. I am not discrediting her intellectual ability in anyway but she seemed too disoriented than I would have liked to be. I will commend her for taking the initiative to meeting with me outside of the classroom because I initially approach this assignment with an independent mindset.

In this course I learned a lot of new things, and got refreshers on things I had learned in the past. It was designed to introduce us to Blackboard, and understand online learning. We were taught our learning styles, figure out our goals, develop critical thinking skills, and learn about APA styling. Discovering my learning style will help me with the future of my courses, I will know what direction I need to take when completing my assignments.

The conference presented many opportunities to expand my network. Personally, I shared many experiences over the lunch tables. It was so great to met girls with great expertise in their areas. Many does not seem to be aware before, how brave they are. That is why the conference is so important. We saw

She told me that I only had a few minor grammar mistakes and that I was in the final stages of finishing my paper. I was surprised when she told me that because I was prepared to fix a lot of mistakes. So, I feel like this class has helped prepare me to write my paper. Plus, when I do other assignments for class or if I need to make a document for other events I can use Publisher to make them because I learned how to use it and I love it.

Our next speaker was Linda White. Our previously arranged speaker could not make it, but Linda happily jumped at the opportunity to speak to us HSI students again. Linda was very interested in what some of our favorite experiences