Reflection Paper

“Writing an essay is not difficult! I am actually great at it.” This is a common statement that I would formally say, and even believe. In the past, I had never felt the need to thoroughly revise my essays before. In all my past essays, I would work intensely on my first draft and then just turn the essay in. I never spent too much time re-evaluating my writing decisions before turning it in. This process had worked well for myself in the past, and as a result, each essay I turned it would be an easy “A”. When I signed up for EN100 I figured that it would be just like the other easy English class that I have taken. I assumed that I would work on an essay, turn it in, and then earn an A on it, but this was not the case. When I signed up for EN100 I figured that I could continue my previous essay writing methods, but that was quickly disproven. When I received my first graded essay, I was unsure why I earned anything but an “A” on it. It soon became clear to me that I was going to be required to change the way I formerly wrote my essays and spend more time with correcting them.

Reading and writing is a fundamental part of our learning experience. Reading allows you to enter worlds and experience things you wouldn’t be able to experience anywhere else and writing expands your knowledge not only on a specific topic but you learn more about yourself, you’ll be surprised how far your imagination can take you as soon as your pen hits the paper.

Why is a question I often asked and never got the answer too. Being that I was and still am in a state of my life where all I can do is ask questions, I turned to philosophy. With getting my general education in mind I chose this class out of curiosity. Though it was not my intention to actually find meaning in the class, I did. It opened a light that I didn’t think shined as bright as it did. I’ve always let society and my past experiences determine my outlook on life and how I chose to present myself. Dealing with a lot of mental hindrances, like depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, I was nearing my breaking point. Asking questions every day on what the good life was and whether I’d be happy I felt stuck. Now looking back through the semester, I’ve answered a lot of the questions I didn’t know I wanted to ask. Keeping my curiosity alive as well as, the question “Is this the life I want to live?”

Over the summer I started to take as many shifts as I could at work. I've been working as a bagger on the base commissary since last October. Although we work only for tips, we can easily make good tax-free money. After I got my license I started driving myself to work and back home.

I spoke at length with Mr. Rife on 7/5/17. He reports that his pain level remains at a 7. He reports taking his narcotic pain medication twice a day. He said he is going to physical therapy. They are working on Isometric exercises and also heat and ice. He has a home program to follow. He reports he was able to attend his son’s wedding out west. I explained to Mr. Rife that my co-worker Chris Callahan would be meeting him at his next appointment on 7/10/17. The following is the update from Ms. Callahan:

It’s hard to believe that it is time to turn in one of these again. It feels like I was just getting back from vacation. During the past two weeks, I participated in my final FTIC orientation session. The session went incredibly well and there were no hiccups throughout the two-day period. I was surprised because we just had two weeks off, but my students adapted and came back ready to roll. I was proud of the team! After spending a summer working in the field, I could see myself pursing orientation in some capacity after graduation. It’s such a fun job. While I’m not sure that I would want to run orientation at Ole Miss – I could see myself working closely with the department or overseeing the whole thing at a smaller school. My type A personality goes well with the position, as there is a lot of small details that need to be worried about. However, there are also moments where I get to relax and enjoy my team and I value those as well. I’m sad that I won’t be able to participate in USFSP’s final FTIC of the summer but I know that my services are needed back in Boone.

It is easy to underestimate how much effort is required to complete a goal. A common struggle for college students in particular is finding a perfect balance between giving too much effort and too little. Time management is critical and giving too much effort wastes precious time while giving too little results in a poor grade. I have personally found that when it comes to achieving goals either academic or personal, you can never give too much effort. In fact, the amount of effort you put into your work not only determines whether or not you reach your goal, but also defines you as a person. Knowing this fact, I took steps this semester to ensure that I achieved my goal of straight A’s, not just for the class but for the assignments as well.

As a preschooler, you won’t remember much of the things you were doing. In that time your brain and your fine motor skills are still being developed and you were just learning to speak as well. It is also a vital part of our lives, where you start to learn how to read, write, and be more self-aware as you continue aging.

This summer has been quiet a busy time to say the least. Since I recently started a new job, I was unable to partner with an organization for my community engagement project. Instead, I worked with my neighbor, Betty, who is 78 years old woman who has recently transitioned home from a six week stay in a rehabilitation center due to a severe fall that prompted her stay. Betty was discharged after Medicare would no longer cover her stay at the rehabilitation center. When she returned home, she returned to home where her grandson stayed but could not relyed on. Betty was basically on her own at home, unable to walk, care for herself the way she was used to, and felt that her needs were not being met upon her return. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how my personal involvement has been service oriented, helped her achieve her goal, and ¬¬¬to critically reflect on the integration this course has provided in carrying out this assignment.

The process to become an effective teacher passes through knowing how to develop a course syllabus, while placing my students at the center. As a future instructor at a university, I have to think through what makes class interesting, clear, and understood by the students. My primary concern and focus are my students. After reading through most of this week’s assigned topics and carrying out my research on the internet and the Walden library, I am convinced that as a future instructor my approach, theories of teaching, and those who I will teach are the core when preparing a course description.

In our everyday lives, we tend to categorize people because of their race, culture, their socioeconomic status, and judge people by their looks, age, ability, and gender. When I was working at a daycare past summer of grade 9, I met one Chinese girl who was around 4-5 years old. One time I witness her classmates making fun of her because she has a asian accent when she talks in English, her eyes are small, her mom works at a restaurant with low pay. Even during break, I would always see her sitting in a corner all alone, while others were having fun. Therefore, I took the courage to talk to her. Throughout the conversation, I realized that she was mad at herself because she has a different race from others, language barrier between her and her classmates and she was ashamed of her mother working at a restaurant because other parents work at a higher pay occupation.

Unlike Paul, I've always gone to church. I grew up in a Christian household that held strong Biblical values. As a kid, I read the courageous acts of Esther, the perseverance of Noah, the obedience of Abraham, the desire to follow God in King David. I have always thought that they're great stories. I would sit in services on Sunday listening to the songs sung, the scriptures read, the three-point sermon preached. But in all of it, there was no personal connection. Here is the story of how I came into an intimate relationship with Jesus.

The greatest lessons and the greatest teachers I have had in life have not been in school. I believe the greatest learning takes place when you are exposed the suffering of humanity. I gained insight, compassion, and empathy.

I remember, when I was in 4th grade, I used to try to write books or stories. When I was younger, I loved to read with my mom. After we would read something, would try to write something similar to the book we had finished. My mom would help me read books like The Magic Tree House by simplifying and slowing everything down for me so I could better understand what was going on and why. Nina Sankovitch, a reader who blogs about what she reads, captures my feelings when she talks about how “I discovered new wells of resilience and joy, empathy and beauty” (Sankovitch). When I was younger, I did not always know how to capture these emotions, but my goal was always to make a story and try to recreate those feelings. It was a real accomplishment for me because, while this was happening, I struggled with reading in class. When I first started reading, I would dread being called upon, though I liked to write stories of what I read on my own. Now, I do not enjoy to reading anymore.

I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. Having had grown up in the south, I was always around people who are more traditional in viewpoints, especially when surrounding the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/Transgender, Questioning, and more community. I received my education at a high school where no one hesitated to throw around extremely derogatory terms. Throughout my schooling I had found close friends who had expressed their feelings of not fitting into their biological sex. Every time I heard them talk about their feelings I felt my heart sinking. I knew it was not fair. I found myself constantly feeling their pain. Feeling all their fear, anger, and sadness along with them because I knew that they lived in fear of people finding out who they really were and what their reactions might be. It broke my heart that they were forced into constantly fearing for their safety.