Reflection Paper

When I first decided to expand my education, it had been so long since I had been to school, and I was very hesitant. I talked at length about my decision with my husband and with his encouragement, decided to enroll but still was not quite sure which degree program to enroll in. I knew that this was something that I had always wanted to do since I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing, but I did not have the courage, nor did I want to give up the time with my family and children. I second guessed my abilities and my knowledge because it had been so long since I had been in college. Now that my children are about to graduate high school and

Think back to the person who taught you the gospel. Imagine what your life would be like if someone didn’t care? What about the person that taught that person the gospel? The person who baptized me lived a life that can be summarized by sincerity, love and passion for Jesus the preaching of Jesus and living like Jesus go hand in hand. Paul himself wrote of this in Philippians 1:21. Think of the lives that you can help change by choosing to live for Jesus. Unfortunately, there are times that we allow the fear of what friends think or say, apathy, etc. to interfere with our example to not just the lost but also believers of the church (1 Timothy 4:12). How can we expect to reach lost souls if we don’t take a stand for our belief, convictions, and don’t choose to live a life of love, honesty, sacrifice, etc? Do we say one thing but completely practice another? If there is one thing that many Christian’s are good at and really know how to do, it’s blending in. We fade into the crowd and try not to look or act different from anyone else. However, it’s when we choose to live contrary to the world that we really make impacts in peoples lives. People would much rather see a sermon and than hear one preached. We must strive to be the type of people that when others want to know what Christ was like they don’t have to look any further than

Louis, MO, there wasn’t anything special about my life. My parents were hurt by the Catholic Church before I was born, so we didn’t really step foot in church on Sunday mornings growing u. I don’t remember when I consciously began searching for fulfillment in the possessions and people around me, but I can remember back to middle school, always trying to fulfill some empty void in my heart. With disappointment around every corner, I hit rock bottom during my sophomore year of high school. That’s when the good news of Jesus came to my rescue. I heard the gospel for the first time and it was the exact fulfillment that I was searching for, and grace was given to me. Romans 10:17 says, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word about Christ.” I’m so thankful that God would allow me to hear through the word about Christ, and that others would be bold enough to share it. Ever since that day, God has placed a desire in me to proclaim the gospel and see lives

Ultimately, it was through the work of the early Church, Christianity had been able to have its magnitude. It makes one wonder, what did they bring up that brought multitudes to Christ? Well, it was a very simple tool that it is in the hand of every believer today—the testimony. Their testimony and our testimony centers around the Resurrection and the transformative power of Christ. Yet, what makes each testimony unique is God’s unique plan for everyone’s life. Our lives and how God intervened in them provides an avenue for us to relate to the struggles of others showing them that God can change their life too. All my blessings and struggles have been beautifully woven into a testimony that I can share with those that need to hear the Gospel, yet there wouldn’t be a testimony if God didn’t save my life.

I saw Jesus for the first time when I was 15 years old. I had been a wreck for weeks, extremely anxious about death, pain and the horrors of life, but everything changed as I went with my father to an ordinary, boring Lutheran church service on April 2, 2006. I had been in church countless times before, but I had never actually listened to what they were saying, I was merely sitting in the church pew, wishing I was home playing Super Mario. Now, I pricked up my ears as I heard that we believe in “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting”, as the Apostles’ Creed says. I thought: “Wait, do we? That’s amazing!”

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.

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.

Students all attend school, for the same reason, and that is to learn. While most of the time we are being taught the same material, our school experiences vary from student to student and from school to school. Some countries schoolings are known far and wide for their academic performance and then there are some that don't even have basic schooling necessities. Some experiences are so wonderful, you never forget them. Others are so bad it's impossible to forget about them. I have had my own fair share of experiences be it domestic where I was shunned or foreign experiences which gave me a whole new perspective on education. It is these very experiences that have made me who I am today, a strong, critical-thinking and compassionate person.

One of the easiest and sometimes hardest papers to write are ones that are a reflection on what you have learned over the course. I enjoy reflection papers because it allows me to put what I have thought and felt the whole class onto one paper. It can be difficult because two to three pages really isn’t a lot of space if you feel very passionate but I find a way to make it work. This class was a last minute add on for me because I switched majors to graduate a little earlier. I thought that I was done taking writing classes for a very long time but here I am finishing the tenth week of another writing class. I always get very nervous before taking a writing class because I don’t see myself as the best writer but somehow I manage to still get pretty decent grades. After about the second or third week I realize that I do enjoy writing classes because it gives me an outlet to really write about things that I have passion for while also teaching me something that will be useful later in life.

Being in a life or death situation, or at least believing you, can radically affect how you feel about the world, and everything around us. To unknowingly shake loose your repressed feelings and thought, through the rush of adrenaline and reflection on your own actions, is a truly freeing experience. While such a freeing experience comes with a terrifyingly dangerous cost, I was able to find a refreshing outlook on life.

Since I took U.S history and AP Government in high school, I was not completely blind to issues regarding the government prior to taking this course. I knew how the government worked in terms of the separations of powers, the bureaucracy, civil liberties and civil rights, and the different branches of it. Therefore, I did understand the function and the purpose of the government, however, I did not understand them all too well to believe that my trust in the government was high. I see the bad in the good, and the good in the bad, therefore, I was skeptical of the government when it came to certain issues. Furthermore, I like to see all sides of an issue before I take a sand on it, this causes me to be confused as to where I stand in regards to my political thoughts and attitudes. Overall, however, I consider myself to be very liberal when it comes to politics and policy making, especially in regard to women’s rights, immigration, education, global warming and the environment, as well as health care. However, I am still confused of where I stand on certain issues, especially regarding issues such as affirmative action. In essence, I am still figuring out what my political thoughts and attitudes are, but the beliefs I currently have are highly due to my political socialization and hopefully with the information I learned in this course I can continue to better understand certain issues and how I identify with them.

“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.

During my first year of highschool, I was held to a higher standard, than my previous years at middle school. A lot of the teachers at my school were preparing us for a college level experience. One teacher, especially, was pretty hard on us and she was the English teacher. The first major paper that was assigned was a research paper that had to discuss a historical event and how that event impacted the world. Since this was my first major paper and I was used to this kind of writing, I ended up writing specifically about Alexander the Great and the wars that he fought in. I specifically detailed the battles and what was going on, but I did not talk about how it impacted the world. My teacher offered to proof read the papers two days before the deadline so we could fix any critical errors. I showed her my paper and she said that if I turned that paper in, I would receive an F on the paper. I always strive to get good grades and to pass with all A’s, so when my teacher said this, I immediately realized how important writing could be and I started to develop my writing skills. All of the factors that were in this situation, made it a rhetorical situation.

A fundamental lesson that stuck with me through my early years of childhood was the importance of loving to write. There are many instances that have influenced me as a writer today, including going through an immense amount of stress from AP classes, writing my own poetry, taking the 5th grade writing exam, and applying to colleges. I developed a love hate relationship with reading and writing and this was strongly influenced by my teachers, parents and tutors throughout the years.

The United States has always been known as a melting pot; a country where different ethnicities, cultures, and religions could congregate to in order to escape from conformity. A country where people could go in order to start a family and raise their children in a diverse environment. A place where everyone from different backgrounds is represented and everybody can share their ideals and experiences and feel welcomed. That is what I was told growing up, that is what teachers and mentors engraved into my brain, and it wasn’t until I was seventeen-years-old when I realized that is far from the truth. My language and perspectives are constricted due to the fact I grew up in the United States, and all it took was one trip overseas for me to discover the diversity of the world in comparison to America.