Reflection Paper

Writing has never been one of my strengths. Even in high school, when I took an AP English literature course, I did not enjoy writing papers if need be. Since I did not fancy writing papers, I never developed a systematic writing process. I would write the paper last minute and pray for an A, but college doesn’t work like that. When I came to college, I placed into music classes first so that I could develop those skills, thus leaving my core classes (including English) on the backburner. Although I do not regret this decision, having a two-year gap between English classes made it difficult to readapt. Instead of spending hours practicing instruments and music theory, I faced the challenging task of shifting gears to spend a majority of my time behind my laptop. How was I supposed to manage this new workload?

Last summer my cousin and I were enjoying a meal with our families in China. It’s been 7 years since I last saw my cousin. We are about the same age and my favorite memory of her was celebrating her 11th birthday. I remember my uncle and aunt sitting to my right and my grandparents sitting to my left singing happy birthday as she blew out her candles. It has been so long I almost couldn’t recognize her when I arrived at the airport 2 weeks prior. My mom receives a call and leaves the room to pick up her phone. She comes back 10 minutes later in tears. She breaks the news to the family and that our trip would be cut short. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the following week, we pack up our bags and head out to the airport. She had to start treatment as soon as possible. I knew I would become the man of the house to take care of my mother and brother, who has autism, while my dad worked in New York.

Writing is a tool that will be used throughout my lifetime. It is a tool that is worth taking the time to perfect because it will only be beneficial in the long run. On my writing assignments, I earn A’s, but I still have areas that I need to work on. The areas that I struggle the most would be with simple grammar errors such as the use of commas, writing with an active voice, and writing short,simple sentences. First of all, I often do not know where to place commas in my sentence. I struggle with this because I tend to add commas in the wrong place, so I have become confused with the proper use of commas. This is a small grammar error that I can easily correct by learning where and when commas are needed. I have also found and been told that I write in a passive voice when I should be using an active voice. This is a technique that I have to work on by practicing it and noticing the difference while I am writing and reading. Finally, I often write run on sentences or sentences that include unnecessary information. This makes my writing unclear and difficult for the reader to understand. I could improve by writing shorter and simpler sentences that include only the essential information to get my point across. I have noticed these mistakes in my writing and it has also been brought up by others, so I am currently working on improving it.

In 1994, my parents immigrated to Canada from Vietnam to seek better living conditions and a promising future for their soon-to-be children. However, to live in a free nation filled with opportunities, the two left everything behind. While living in rent, my father worked full-time at a factory while my mother had found a job as a cashier. Although they had a sustainable income, my father understood that raising a child would cost them more than they were currently making. In 1997, my father decided to study computer science at Langara in search for a better-paying job while working part-time as a security guard. Meanwhile, my mother took up housekeeping, working at two different hotels to earn more money for their coming child. Understandably, my parents had made their lives much harder immigrating to Canada, but their sacrifices - I can say - has paid off.

It is helpful for individuals to be aware of their past as they remain living it. I came into this world in 1973 as nature created me, a premature infant growing with the assistance of artificial support while radiating unconditional love, happiness, and innocence. I had no thoughts, beliefs, or stories to abide by. I was just being and experiencing each moment of time that life was offering: to sense, explore, and grow. In recollection of my youth, memories often reemerge of an internal calling to drawing pictures of things found in nature that brought good feelings and the joy of sharing this with others. The artwork most often would incorporate flowers, rainbows, feathered creatures, bees and different nature beings. Every one of them brought a sense of aliveness as a dazzling representational process that would reflect association with Mother Earth. There was much delight for me as a child connecting and resonating with nature, void of any story world. Somehow, through all the purity of that happy childhood, there was an intuitive knowing and sense of a genuine relationship to the natural world, which brought a deep feeling of being seen and understood, which was reflecting all those special moments between this innocent child within and nature. This shared existence always brought a sense of enjoyment between myself and many natural beings. It is common knowledge countless individuals have had comparable experiences. I have survived my challenges by embracing

It is sunrise yet again, as I begin to do my duties for the day. I begin sweeping the floors of the castle and then proceed to the rest of my routine. Next, I usually make my way out to the farm to collect goods to begin breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of eggs, bread, and some sort of fruit. Usually in these times, fruits were a rarity, however when you are a servant living under the roof of the political unification of Spain, rarities aren’t as rare. While I’m outside, I head to the corner to gather grain to feed the livestock. Recent times have been difficult, because my only son, who is allowed to live in the same quarters as me, has been taken to be a squire. In another area, he learns chivalry, how to handle weapons, and other things necessary for any battles that he may encounter as he ages. Although these duties will be relatively important throughout his life, the education system is not what it should be. If my son were of upper class, he would be learning grammar, proper Latin, rhetoric, and philosophy. This infuriates me because my son did not have control over into which class he was born. If he did, he could be acquiring a mastership, studying in a cathedral school, or attending a higher university when he’s older. In exchange for my son, I have been given the duty of looking over the spinners, weavers, and embroiderers in the workshop that makes Queen Isabella’s medieval clothes. While I do my duties, the King and Queen usually attend different masses and

The purpose of this project was to provide teacher candidates, such as myself, with an opportunity to gain experience in a preschool/pre kindergarten environment. I was given the opportunity to collaborate with the lead teacher in a pre-k classroom to learn about the daily classroom routines. I partnered with a child to implement in-class and out-of-class activities. Through implementation of these activities, I was given the opportunity to collaborate with the child, her mom, and the teacher to come up with age appropriate activities that interested my student. I completed my fieldwork at Kindercare Learning Center in Richfield, OH. I have worked at Kindercare for over a year and I was extremely excited to see what I was able to learn by doing my field work at my place of employment and learn more about the incredible child care center at which I am lucky to work. This location of Kindercare recently earned a 5 star rating from Step Up To Quality. The teacher in which I shadowed this semester was Ms. Jackie. Ms. Jackie has been teaching at Kindercare for a little over one year. She attended Bowling Green University, studying middle level education. She left school prior to graduation as she realized she did not want to teach middle school. Shortly after leaving Bowling Green, she received a job at Kindercare. She initially was hired as the preschool teacher working with the three year olds, but after about 6 months, she moved up to being the pre-k classroom lead teacher.

The policies I was found in violation of are Use/Possession Drug, Allowing a Guest to Violate Visitation Policy, and Failure to Comply.

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.

She compared her life to a hurricane, a natural disaster that took everything in its path and destroy any shred of light in her life. Thus, the weeks turned into years of regressive behavior that led her to believe that she was not good enough to truly be herself. She only allowed herself to be her mother’s puppet, an item only used for public occasions, for if she ever became her own self, she would be outcasted. Yet, during those times I recall a shout in the cave of darkness, a murmured voice saying: Carpe Diem. Seize the day. My brother used those words when I was little —he was an extroverted fellow who vocalized whatever he felt because he was confident in whom he was. Nevertheless, I was an introverted, insecure, and self-conscious kid who was silenced by the public because they scared me. Fear ruled my actions. Fear ruled my mind. Fear ruled me; yet, my brother’s words rang a certain alarm in my head when I grew up. Thus, I realized that my individuality was stolen. My silence was bought, and my uniqueness was used as a weapon for society’s cruel expectations. I noticed that the world has so many beliefs, ideas, and aspirations that I wanted my own drum to beat in my own rhythm.

Over the history of this country, many families across the globe have come to the U.S. in hopes of a better life. My family was one of the many that decided to leave our home country and come to the United States. We never realistically imagined coming to America, but when we did, it was a real dream come true. Knowing I was coming to this country as a student was especially exciting for me personally. We were so excited about this new adventure and the opportunities we would have, despite the many challenges that lay ahead. Two of the obstacles I had to overcome, were having to learn a new language, and build new relationships.

In school, I used to loathe the icebreakers that involved saying an interesting fact about oneself. I would fumble around and iterate some unoriginal sentiment about my favorite color or animal and leave without actually providing substance about myself. This all changed after I lost the vision in my right eye and could tell people about the three-inch needle that pierces my eye multiple times every year. I thoroughly enjoy watching people squirm as I chuckle and explain the process.

To go along with being an athlete, I am a student. To be able to get playing time, you need to have good grades. My parents didn’t just push me to be a good athlete, but to get good grades. I had higher expectations compared to my brother. But that pushed me to keep my grades up and do get an A on assignments and tests. This impacted who I was and what I decided to value. It was important to my parents that I got good grades, but to me it was too because it helped me get into college and it made me feel good about myself. Being a student, just like being an athlete, teaches me to be diligent in the work that I have in front of me. It also teaches me time management, and what I need to get done compared to going out with my friends.

Every school has these four main academic subjects: English, Math, Science, History/Geography. The class I like the most in my eighth grade school year is History. This is because we get to learn about different time periods, different people, different religions, and so much more. We don't just sit in class and read out of a textbook. We get to do fun activities to help us understand more. While we work, we talk to our teacher and have funny and weird conversations. We make fun of each other and have a good laugh. I'm always excited to go to History class.

As I have gotten older, my mom has not been as physical with me like she was when I was younger, but she still shows her emotions to me. She is happy one minute and then the next she is very angry and blames everything on me. I have even tried talking to her about how she is and who she is and every time I do, she gets physical and kicks me out of the house. I have gotten to where I do not care anymore and I do not talk to her. I try to have good days with her, but I know if I say anything I will ruin our day and she will be angry. I am very grateful that my mom is not physical with me like she used to be; that has helped me grow as a person. I still feel like am trying to find who I am. I am 21 years old, and this fall will be one of the first times that I leave my family and I will not be with them every day. A year ago, I moved to North Carolina. I had a job and a place to stay and my relationship with my mom was so much better then when we are together. I wish this was not the case, but it is. I am struggling right now with her because we are at the point where we need a break from each other, but there is nowhere for me to go, so I am holding on until the fall.