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

Don Miguel Ruiz once said, “Let’s stop believing that our differences make us superior or inferior to one another” and that statement couldn’t be truer. For quite some time our society uses stereotype in order to rank a person position of importance. For example, someone who is pretty with over a thousand Instagram followers with no actual goals is seemingly more important than someone who is average looking too busy studying for the SATs to take selfies.

I was unfairly judged when I was a kid and maybe I still am now, despite this, I find myself doing the same exact thing to others by being very shallow which I know I need to

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.

I chose my second life quote because it not only is present in our society but it’s a struggle we all face. We are always judging others as well as ourselves to in certain situations that it drives us to depression, starving our selves, over exercising our bodies or not getting enough sleep because were studying instead. It shouldn’t matter that someone has a nicer nose, has a perfect body or better grades because chances are they are judging themselves the same way an other human being is.

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

I believe that everyone has felt at some point inadequate of deserving great things due to their appearance. Judgement from other people is not a good enough reason to not live your life the way you want. Sometimes it takes going through a difficult realization to learn you are only living for yourself. Everyone goes through rough patches in life that can taint their outlook on everything, but it only takes one change to make the difference. Look beyond the exterior because you will be surprised what you might find out about

Literature has allowed us to explore beyond the limits of this world and also the human psyche. Among that are certain literary works which is capable of posing a social challenge by setting out to explore the pain, suffering and trauma through self narratives, testimonies and flashbacks. My thesis will throw sufficient light on the self narrated traumatic experiences of children under various oppressing situations.

First reason, one shouldn’t compare themselves to others is the case that every person is unique in their own way. According to National Human Genome Research Institute, “all human beings are 99.9 percent identical in their genetic makeup. Individuals are, on average, 0.1 percent different genetically from every other person on the planet.”(2011) Deoxyribanuckic, known as DNA, carries all the information about your physical characteristics, which are essentially determined by proteins. A person DNA structure controls most of the physical features and bodily functions. One shouldn’t compare their height, hair color, eye color, or any physical trait to another person, because human

I believe that there is more to people than what meets the eye. There’s always some sensitivity in the people who act like nothing can break them, or some insecurity in those who act like they are better than everyone, because downgrading others makes them feel better about themselves. Sometimes

Festinger (1954) put forth a theory to the world regarding social comparison processes. Although many researchers discussed social comparison before him, he was the first to put all of their hypotheses together and discuss social comparison in general. He proposed three major hypotheses: (1) self-evaluation is a human’s drive, (2) humans like to evaluate themselves accurately, (3) and a smaller difference in abilities and opinions provides a larger tendency to compare with peers and family. Pertaining to Festinger’s first hypothesis, in order to compare oneself concisely, the evaluation of others must be accurate otherwise, it is fatal to compare according to Festinger (1954). In his second hypothesis, a human only judge behaviors in order

When I write, I believe one of my strengths is that I am able to generate logical perspectives and strong conclusions. I am able to analyze the literature and relate to it in many different ways. In the compare and contrast essay I wrote, "Oliver conveys a tone of remembrance by juxtaposing 'the old burn-dump this waste place' and 'this secret garden'". I am able to apply literary terms and analyze how the author uses them to enhance their writing. In the same essay, I stated, "By using short, concise sentences, Oliver is more direct in her delivery and showing her lamentations for what has happened to the earth around her". I am able to analyze what the author is doing and the effect that it has on the reader.

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.

I have learned a great deal of materials in Dr. Wise AAPS. class, we readied the county and wrote reflections about topics pertaining to literature, technology, and literacies. This allowed me to become a better critical thinker because her course requires us to analyze and reflect on yourself as individuals more than just giving a brief summary on our paper .After taking this course for about 6 months, I have realized that it had made a significant change in my life that i need as a african american man. When I am attending in classes such as political science or nutrition, not only am I understanding the readings better than before but I am also analyzing the information, forming my own thoughts (at times I even present my ideas to the members in class), and incorporating ideas from the past to increase the literacy towards the topic that I would’ve given up in the past. I value the qualities the AAPS course gifts to the students because it has improved me as a student, learner, and as an active member in the society we live in today.