Reflection Paper

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

My journey through Writer’s Composition has been a rocky rollercoaster with ups and downs, but from these experiences I have grown as a writer overall. The essays I have written for this course demonstrate that I have developed critical thinking and have shown minor improvements in my communication skills. They also demonstrate that though I have made some progress in personal responsibility and general writing skills, I still have work to do. From Writer’s Composition Two, I have developed an understanding of persuasive writing, and I now am able to pick a topic or a claim and argue it in classic argument writing.

A central part of Rhetoric and Composition classes is being able to understand an apply rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking and reading, the process of creating a paper, and being able to understand source formatting. Throughout this course, I’ve written new types of papers, expanded on my analytical abilities, and have gained valuable information on how to improve on papers that I’ve written in the past. My argumentation and organization have improved greatly by in-class workshops and critical, but well deserved, teacher comments. These skills are essential in writing I’ve learned and improved on many of the goals listed in the syllabus this semester, which will be necessary for my future schooling.

Now that we are near the end of this class my lack of writing skills has come into focus. What I have learned in this class has given me confidence and conquers my feeling of intimidation when it comes to writing. I never enjoyed school and did not put much effort into my prior education. As a result, I have struggled with my writing process throughout the years. I would feel intimidated when the need to express myself in writing was necessary, such as job applications or run reports required in my current job. My lack of effort coupled with an inadequate process has led to more than one embarrassing situation for me. I believe that this course has helped me improve and also taught that putting forth more effort and ongoing education is well worth my time.

“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.

I chose assessment #10: Authenticity Scale (Biswas-Diener, 2010, p. 122) for my assessment. Between this current quarter and the last, I pushed myself beyond limits on another section of the Appalachian Trail. On the morning of day number 3 out of 6, I snapped a selfie of myself as I crested a ridge line on a bald (treeless ridge line with unlimited views). The photo was unique and looked manipulated with a filter due to the glare from the sunrise burning through thin patches of fog spilling over the ridge as if the mountain was an airfoil. That photo is now my Facebook profile picture and titled, “Nothing artificial.” I have always pushed myself to be true and authentic in all I do. That does not mean being perfect, it means being honest with myself.

It is the night of September 4, 2015, a Friday during football season and getting to perform during halftime of my high school football game was a dream come true. As I am performing I feel a tearing that is coming from my right knee, I immediately fall to the ground in pain, but I had to get back up I can’t let my team down I must keep going. I make it through the dance, barely. I know this pain isn’t normal so I decide to go see a doctor with a very exciting name, Doctor Kazzam, I am hoping for news as exciting as his name. He does the major tests and finds out my meniscus is torn almost in half, meaning surgery is needed. Eight months after surgery and countless hours of knee strengthening physical therapy I am still nowhere close to being able to dance again. At this point I am hopeless, I have no motivation to do anything and I’m starting to give up on everything. I try binge watching Netflix, spending even more time with family, and drawing to try to be happy once again, none of this worked. My knee finally reaches the point of clearing in July. First day back at dance things were going great and they continue to go great for four more weeks I was so happy my motivation slowly started coming back and I was becoming myself again all until August 20, 2016. This time instead of a tearing feeling I feel a pop, and a loud pop as I fall to the ground the girls around me look around to see what that popping noise was. I decide to try a new doctor and this time I pick an

The TSA agent at the airport asked me, while I silently stood in front of her, handing her the paperwork I had with me and hoping it would answer her question because I did not know how to speak English at that time. I moved to the United States by myself as a refugee when I was 17. I had to flee Iran with only one backpack and was detained for 3 hours after landing, which in retrospect I understand why they were so surprised. If I have to split my life into different chapters, the day I landed at the LAX airport would mark the third chapter.

A challenge is an obstacle that one must defeat with validity that it has been overcome, while fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something is harmful. No life-changing challenge worth conquering comes without a dash of fear. In my life, I’ve faced what I thought was a lot of challenges. From having a dad that left to be the first in my family to go to college directly after high school, I’ve confronted a lot of obstacles that have generated fear. However, nothing could prepare me to the fear that I faced at my first SEARCH retreat.

When I was a child, my mother enrolled me in weekly piano lessons. These classes were not relaxing; in fact, it was like school. There were weekly music theory quizzes and at the end of the year, I had to have songs memorized to play in front of a judge who would authorize my completion of the grade level. That annual experience was torture for me because I had horrible stage fright just to play in front of one kind elderly individual. To say I detested the classes was quite the understatement. My brothers adjusted easily and enjoyed learning a new craft. I, however, had complaints going to class, leaving class, and throughout the week. I had no passion for the music, but I had no choice but to force myself to learn. The semester before beginning college, I graduated from the piano program. Years of surface level learning and not really absorbing piano material had finally come to an end. I knew in my heart I would never touch a piano willingly ever again.

When I decided to register for this class I chose it because out of my options the only one that seemed interesting was women’s studies. I did not think it would have an impact on me or my way of thinking. Looking back, I have learned so much that I will take with me in life and not just use in the classroom. Through the semester, we have talked about many aspects in this course that have made me relate and connect to past experiences in my life. This class has helped me to make changes in my thought process and I am glad that I have had the chance to learn everything that I have. It has been very beneficial to learn about the social constructs that I always saw in my life. I have connected many aspects of this class to my life in various ways and situations.

On September 12, 14, and 19, 2017 I had the pleasure of tutoring Haven. Haven is a nine-year-old, who is in fourth grade at Mark Twain Elementary School in Hannibal, MO. In each session, we would work together for 60 minutes. I was able to learn a lot of things while tutoring. First off, going in to tutor Haven and not knowing really anything about her and her learning preferences. It was hard not knowing what strategies helped her the most when reading or which ones made it more difficult for her. But that is going to be with any student(s), you just have to go with the flow. You will learn those things as you get to know the student. That is what happened with Haven and I, within the first tutoring session she let me know her learning preferences and what she liked. Then within the sessions we were together, I knew which strategy helped her while reading and what she struggled with.

Education begins before stepping foot into a classroom— it happens everywhere. I have been playing volleyball since I was in fourth grade, and I learn everyday from that sport. I was the little girl with braided pigtails and knee-high socks who loved the game so much. My parents supported me in my desire to stop playing for the YMCA and start playing club volleyball. I was full of raw potential, and I worked incredibly hard so that I could serve the ball in games. Finally, the time came for me to serve, and I missed. However, that missed serve wasn’t a missed opportunity. I could choose to dwell on that mistake, or I could learn from it and move on. One mistake doesn’t define me as an athlete, person, or student. When I relate this story to my academics, I think about the many mistakes I make in school, yet I strive to think positively while facing the obstacles in my path. I have been tested by the education system while on the journey of discovering and developing what is important to me as a student and as a person.

When I moved from South Korea to Miami, I expected there to be many differences. What I didn’t foresee was that there were also some similarities. I assumed that moving from South Korea back to the United States, would be akin to going home. However, I discovered that coming to Miami was comparable to adjusting to a foreign country all over again. Both South Korea and Miami are lovely places to visit. One of them, however, is also a marvelous place to live.

For the first nine years of my life, I grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood or what others called the “ghetto”. Growing up I knew the skin color spectrum and seeing someone with a different skin color never fazed me, however, I failed to notice who was in the minority. Within my bubble of a community, everyone lived in similar small houses. Our style of clothing wasn’t much of a concern, and what really mattered was just owning something to wear, unless it was a birthday party or any party to be exact. During the week parents worked hard to the point of exhaustion. For children, it meant that we didn't see much our parents and when we did they were too tired for interaction.