Reflection Paper

Growing up church was not a place we “had time” to attend, and God was not a part of our household. It was not until about four years ago, that I began my relationship with Christ. On July 18, 2011, I began to have nine plus seizures a day; I spent a lot of time in the hospital trying to get answers to my over-night attacks. During this time, I fell into a depression because of the lack of answers. I felt that I was just being given drugs to get me discharged. Many would send prayers, and ask me to come to church, but it was not something I wanted to do. At this point in my life, I held anger in my heart; going to church and hearing about a God I did not know didn’t make sense. My mother was my primary care taker, and dealing with my sickness was not easy. In 2013, she was invited to church by a co-worker, and she took me along with her for the “ride”. We attended citylife church, and from the moment worship began, I was in tears. While the Pastor was speaking, it was like he was speaking directly to me, and I thought to myself, “He must know about why I am so depressed.” At the end of the service, the Pastor asked for those who would like to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior to come up, and I could not get there fast enough. This is where my journey with Christ began, and I learned that it was not the Pastor who was speaking to me on this day. God already knew I would be in attendance on this day, and I needed to hear the message that was given through the Pastor. I

As I consider what is in America’s future, I look towards the same ideals and values that formed the foundation of America when it first began. I can foresee the citizens of this nation upholding these principles in high regards and improving upon how they are applied for generations to come. Some of that which makes America the greatest country in the free world would include: the ability to express oneself, the right to be treated the same by all, standing up for what is right, working together for a common goal, and showing pride in our nation.

I stood idle in the waits of a euphoric, broad expanse dressed with the essence of an untainted existence--complete and absolute oxygen coherently ushered by hue-rich grasses. The trees animatedly breathed life, seeming to impart and transmit vibrant frequencies of information. As well, the sun did prove its enlightening, divine omnipresence whilst repairing my DNA. Knowing without experience, seeing without sight, feeling without nerval stimulation. I angled my head up complacently, I knew that I was in total control. Mantras and meditations, “This is perfection, this is eternal, this is my universe. I am God.” Then, I opened my eyes. I opened my eyes to a sudden but weighted sense of guilt. I felt like I was cemented to my bed. I felt more disappointed than shocked by this agitating yet alarming feel of harassment. I’d grown way too familiar to the weird, inscrutable sensation that I address to as, the agent of mortal life. Almost chronologically, I was then brought to the thought of the cessation of life. Prescribed to be just another Earth indigenous anomalistic hominid. Maybe, that candid frame of thinking was the reason I endured such a continual wrapping loop of moral destruction. I understood that the very things I saw on the day-to-day basis persists to be reality and I was also aware that we were born behind the eight ball. But, at 14 years old, the simple concept of managing priorities was hard to grasp. To aid the practical nature of self-reflection, I asked

Ms. Gladson’s future classroom will incorporate a healthy mix of fun and organized. While thinking over the five procedures one should implement in their classroom, it was important that they recognized the organized environment of the classroom, but also allowed for positive interaction among the students. From entering the room to leaving at the end of the day, there are important steps that even seventh graders need to remember in their classroom. Educators should allow one week of training; in which they will learn the procedures, but receive a grace period if not completed correctly. Then, at the start of week two, they can expect the students to complete it on their own. Each procedure teaches a set of expectation that the instructor should hope to see from each student.

Do you remember what your priorities were when you were eight years old? When I was that age (1965), I was in third grade. One of my jobs was to make breakfast on weekday mornings for some of my younger brothers and sisters. At that age, my primary goal was to figure out ways to get out of work around the house, so I could go outside and play with my cousins who lived in the neighborhood.

To most children, the world is seen as a utopian society. Nothing can go wrong, and the concept of death isn’t ingrained in their memory yet. But, what happens when that façade is broken? For me, it was ruined at a much earlier age than most. In this speech, I will detail what effect certain events have had on my life, as well as what they’ve done to change me as person.

I was living in a apartment and had a bedroom in the basement. And so, my room was in the basement. One day, I had pulled 50lbs weight at work and so after I got home, I had issue breathing in my basement. In fact, I couldn't breath or yawn properly. It was weird, but it was getting better and so i went to bed. But I couldn't sleep due to breathing and I kept turning and tossing around. And so I started thinking about if I was rolling my back and crossing my arms the way vampire sleeps in the coffin. I started looking up at the ceiling, trying to sleep and then suddenly i felt like I was frozen still. I can not move my legs or hands. I tried everything to move my arms free but I felt like I was submerged in molasses. I began to panic every time I had those movement.

A week before college move-in day, I had to leave behind my strenuous summer job with a heavy heart, wondering if I would ever see my kids ever again. If you have ever worked with young children, you know how exceptionally hard it is to be the perfect balance of fun and energetic, yet responsible and poised. Even though I was a camp counselor for three years, each summer felt like the first. This past summer was just as exhausting as any other year, but it was more momentous in more ways than one. Going into the summer, I knew that it would be my last- seeing that I was moving to Charlotte and I would never see that same group of kids ever again. In May, before it was 95 degrees consistently, I made a promise to myself to appreciate the experience because I would never get another summer like it.

There have been plenty of times where I found myself asking if what I was doing was truly worth it. I have always been one to struggle with getting things done, because I have this mindset of questioning certain things I do. Why am I in college? Why do I put myself through stress and torture to get good grades when I could just be mediocre? Oh right, I will not give up until I get to where I want to be. Even though it is going to take a lot of time and effort, the thing motivating me the most is knowing that once I walk across that stage to receive my diploma that sense of accomplishment is the ultimate prize. I set extreme goals for myself because I am a very competitive person; sometimes too extreme. I have to build up a lot of will-power to get some of things done. It is all really in my head though. Some tasks take more will power and effort than others, but the feeling of doing it myself is so empowering. Now whenever I take on new tasks, I just keep in mind that even though it may take a while for me to accomplish, when I do finally finish it all on my own there is no greater feeling.

My parents used to tell me that education was a privilege, not a right, and that I was fortunate to live in a democracy where I was legally entitled to my education. As I got older, partially because of this upbringing, I used to think the word privilege could only be applied to address the wealthy people of higher social hierarchies who were bestowed benefits and advantages from society, a true life of privilege. I never once thought that word could refer to me. I made that mistake during a conversation I had a year ago with my brother’s girlfriend, Sara. To put it simply, she is a bright and radiant twenty-four year old woman whom I admire profusely, specifically for her intelligence and wit which got her into Dental School. With regards to this, it is important to understand that she is Asian and of Chinese-ethnicity, and I am of Macedonian-ethnicity but considered Caucasian. That particular day, I started applying to universities and was talking spiritedly to Sara after-school about my hopes and ambitions; I told her that I wanted to enter the English program and potentially head off to Teaching College afterwards. She challenged me by asking if I had ever thought about Law School. In fact, it was something I had never thought about, which I told her. To emphasize her point further, she told me about how when she was in her Biology program she had never aimed academically higher than getting into Hygiene school, let alone Dentistry. The idea seemed ridiculous to me.

I remember in the year of 2016-2017 attending a school in California. After spending most of my time in the Northeast and Midwest, it was amazing experiencing weather that was above forty degrees year-round. In the month of April, in the nighttime, on my bed, I prayed, “Lord what should I do when I get back home to New York?” It was in the middle of the night, in a dream, I heard the words “Don’t forget about my daughters.” When I woke up, I immediately knew my journey with God began, by going after His lost sons and daughters. I felt God spark a dream inside of me to see lost sons and daughters come back to the heart of the Father. After leaving California mid-May, I traveled back home to New York and stayed at my parent’s house and several weeks later had a meeting with home church pastor.

When I first became interested in what was going on in the world I always turned to the News Channel or a documentary to inform me on that days current event. I never opened a newspaper, magazine, book etc. because I felt it was less time consuming, more intriguing and easier to understand if I listened to the story being told rather than reading it. Because of this class and our weekly article assignments, I realized it is much more interesting to open up a newspaper or print out an article to read rather than watch a television screen to inform me on what is going on in the world today. Not only did this class help me enjoy reading more but it also taught me the real meaning behind key terms and cases that can help me make better use of the article I am reading rather than trying to understand what the story is. I truly believe these article assignments caused a major positive impact on my reading skills, understanding and use of the context and all around better knowledge on what is going on in the world today.

“Because transition is a process by which people unplug into a new world, we can say that transition starts with an ending and finishes with a beginning.” In many ways the previous quote relations to my transition of transferring from Saint Peter’s University to UNC Charlotte. I had to “unplug” from many things in both my academic and personal life, as a result of, transferring to another school.

On my last day with class 3-213, I had the opportunity to conduct an interdisciplinary lesson using nonfiction articles. The articles I used derived from Nonfiction News: African Animal Edition by Cecelia Margo. Accordingly, the students have been studying nonfiction for several weeks and because of this, they had previously learned the various features of this genre. Upon planning for this lesson, I took time to prepare and craft an activity that would promote collaboration and engagement. Thoughtfully, I took into consideration the children that were in the room and adapted my lesson to meet their educational needs. Thus, I decided that I was going to crafted this lesson on the premises of two ideas: (1) tiered-text differentiation and (2) the pairing of advanced and struggling learners. Going into this lesson, I knew that I wanted to ask thoughtful and encouraging questions that would enable students to integrate their prior knowledge and challenge them.

I was reading a book one day and I read the statement “If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself” (The Lightning Thief, 2005). I knew I had to change to become a better version of myself. Times got better in high school. I learned that I deserved to be happy and loved. I realized that everyone is different and that is what makes us awesome. I learned to love myself despite my flaws. Sometimes, even now I have relapses and I know now what to do and how to get through them.