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

When asked to reflect on what I have learned in relation to Canada’s celebration of its 150th year the first word that comes to mind is ignorance. By celebrating Canada as a nation people are celebrating all types of histories, but many parts of Canada’s history should not be celebrated. Canada’s 150 is something that can be comparable to celebrating Columbus Day; a celebration of genocide. Moreover, the celebration of Canada’s 150 also disregards current struggles occurring within Indigenous communities, overlooking the multiple years and traumas that have tormented Indigenous women. The image of Canada as a successful and thriving melting pot is what the banners of Canada 150 convey. This works against its history as it erases and shadows the stories of trauma and resiliency that have occurred since the beginning of colonization. Overall, I have many personal opinions on Canada’s 150th but from my personal experience and from what I have learned in this class I find that this celebration negatively affects Indigenous people and condones the continuation of poor treatment towards Indigenous women in Canada.

I decided to interview my mom, Maria, who is 51 and lives in Chelan, Washington. I selected my mom because she has lived in two different countries and was able to reflect on similarities and differences that she noticed. My mom grew up in Mexico, as a child she lived in a city, when she got into her teens her family moved to a small town in the southern part of Mexico and as an adult she moved to the US. I began the interview by asking my mom what sustainability was to her. She responded by saying sustainability is the ability to provide her family with the basics needed for their well-being while not being wasteful. According to Kuhlman and Farrington, “sustainability is concerned with the well-being of future generations and in particular with irreplaceable natural resources” (Kuhlman and Farrington, 2). It was interesting to compare both definitions as they both focused on the well-being of the future, and although my mom did not mention natural resources she did emphasize not being wasteful.

My set of beliefs comes from my own experience as a student and in the classroom. As a student, my school was extremely poverty stricken which meant that it seemed as if no one wanted to be there nor did they care. However, there were a few teachers and even administrators sprinkled throughout the district who did care and when a student found those special educators, one latched on. We were all extremely eager to be fed academically and believed in. According to Ministry of Education, Guyana (2016), “Creating a positive learning environment is essential for success in the classroom. Teachers should create a welcoming atmosphere where student feel safe and willing to share” (para. 2). This kind of atmosphere was created for me as a student. For example, Mrs. Debbie Schlicht was the librarian for grades 4-12 and was also the yearbook and newspaper sponsor. In 2011, a young little eighth grade girl decided to tryout for the yearbook staff and despite how terrible the double-page spread she submitted was, that little girl made the yearbook staff for the following school year. Then, her ninth grade year she decided she wanted to be her school’s yearbook editor during her senior year. Three years later, she walked across the stage at the Gertrude Ford Center at the University of Mississippi where she was named ‘2015 High school Yearbook Editor of the Year’ for the state of Mississippi. She later went on to be a yearbook editor on the collegiate level. The little girl described

Change is apart of everyday life, it is inevitable no matter what we do, but it is our choice as people on if we want these changes to be negative or positive. A few years back, I made a promise to myself that as I progress through life, I will always try my best to change for the better and fix myself in areas where I fall behind, but not everyone makes the choice to be better. Some make a choice that affects who they are in a negative way as well as hurting those closest to them, someone I used to hang out made that decision and that caused me to change my perspective on him.

I grew up in church and in a Christian home which I do appreciate because some people do not have the opportunity as I do. Personally, my domination is a Methodist because my father is a full time Methodist pastor. My faith when I was younger was weak, because we for example had a dress code for my family on Sunday we had to wear Sunday best (girls are not allowed to wear blue jeans). We had to set examples for others. My dad talked about it does not matter what clothing you wear if you have clothing on. All that matters are that we are here to worship the one and only savior. Now that I look back my view on Jesus as a little kid would have to be a Judgmental God and a Gocha God because my step mom would want us to seat an example while we were at church and we would always get in trouble if we do something wrong in church. In the summer of my Middle school year I went to Camp Loucon and my faith grew stronger because one night during worship I felt a tug on my heart. The tug you cannot get rid of. I knew Jesus needed a home in my heart. So, I went up to the alter the Dean of the camp came up to me and said what do you want me to pray for I said accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. When he was done praying I felt this piece of calmness, and such greater joy that I can’t explain. I felt so happy I started to cry. (I usually never cry). Later that night my cabin laid on a basketball court at camp and looked at the stars. I said, “there’s a lot of stars up there”.

I feel that I have achieved the majority of my goals from the end of last semester. Looking back at my first semester writing portfolio, the goals that I tried to fulfill for this semester were either improved, or I fully accomplished. My goals were to use better vocabulary in my writing, and to proofread my essays more often, and carefully. Throughout this past semester I tried my best to keep these in mind, and incorporate them in my writing. I believe I have improved my vocabulary since first semester, and I have made sure to reread my essays, and I even had others read my writing to get other opinions. During this semester I have made new goals for myself. I think it is good to always have different goals that you would like to achieve, and once you do, you should continue to make more. My current goal for writing is to

Ralph Ronaldo Emerson once said, "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Although I was unfamiliar with this quote until recently, I would say Emerson's words are a very important part of my life. Without even realizing, I experienced what Emerson was trying to convey with this statement. In my junior year of highschool, I became a part of a pilot mentoring program. Going into the program, I ultimately expected to be helping a student organize their studies or to be explaining class topics to them in a way that would appeal to their sense of logic; I expected to be teaching a student how to do something. However, what I least expected -and what happened- I was the one who learned something new. I learned that the attitude I have in life can drastically affect how I live. If I don’t carry beauty with myself, I will never find beauty around me no matter how hard I try.

Everyone at some point in their life has had the dream where they are falling, but they never actually hit the ground. This dream is symbolic of life. Regardless of how far you fall you never hit the ground. A friend of mine, currently in pharmacy school, confides in me about how he wishes that he had done things my way, the right way as he calls it. Nevertheless, I did not grasp what he meant so one day, I implored him to explain. According to him, the “right,” way is by not failing classes the first time, finishing college in 4 years, and be smart about taking the MCAT. Essentially, not screwing up the first time, so you can continue with your goals the first time around instead of getting older and wasting time. While my friend may have been right in some aspects, my personal experiences have taught me that there really is no right way. However, life does not ultimately work out the way one imagines. You do fail, you do break down, you are frightened and you learn to get up regardless of the circumstances.

Throughout this semester, I have learned about many different topics, but there are three subjects that have stuck out to me the most, and which are helping me improve my college skills. Those topics are VARK learning styles and studying, time management, and note taking. Each of these topics has helped me by allowing me to learn more about myself. I have also challenged myself by trying different learning techniques to improve my college skills.

The Christian Manhood course taught me many things, but it specifically taught me to be open to growth and I learned about how important it is to be in a community of fellow believers. Although this was only part of the class it really stood out to me as a very important take away from the course. It is something I will take with me for the rest of my life and that I will always remember.

As I planned this learning experience I consulted with both the teacher and director of the program about their science curriculum for the month. I knew I needed to plan an activity inclusive of science themed dialogic reading. Since, the class was beginning to learn about the senses, we collaborated about splitting the class into two groups. One group would be with a teacher doing a sense of taste activity, while I would have the other group doing a sense of smell activity. My activity was inclusive of fresh herbs from my garden and a book about smell. I prepared the dialogic reading as well as brought along a felt board with yes and no pieces. After I read the story I passed around the various herbs for the children to smell and explore. Once they decided if they liked the smell or not they would place a yes or no piece on the board. The languages of learning I referred to was investigating what smell they liked the best and exploring through using their hands to touch the fresh herbs. As a result, they learned new knowledge about how their nose works. For instance, I had with me lemon balm, which obviously smells like lemons. The children assimilated the smell to that of lemonade, since that is what they are most familiar with. Additionally, my lesson supported standard: 10.1 PK.B Identify and locate body parts by understanding what sense is responsible for what action. As well as 2.4 PK.MP Use mathematical processes when measuring; representing, organizing, and

“He’ll be alright, Mom. Honestly, nothing bad ever happens to us. I promise we’ll be okay,” I reassured her. The next day, October 1, 2015, my dad discovered the devastating news: his doctor diagnosed him with cancer. The doctor explained he has Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer that eats away at the bones, and it is incurable. Suddenly, it felt as though we were one of those families in the Fox Chase Cancer Center commercials. Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve this? Nothing could prepare me for the constant overwhelming feeling of bewilderment.

There are many things that happen in my life. I have been alive for 15 years. I have been exposed to manything that could have changed me as a person. The real world is brutal and keeps changing. T was okay to have discrimination against blacks back in the 1900’s. Now in 2017 the rules have changed and now black and white people have the same rights as everyone else. No One thought that the life for blacks would change but it did. I have changed to based on what I have learned. I have learned from my mistakes and it changed who I am.

After I take ACC 221 and ACC 222, this semester I decide to take ACC 321. The name of the class is intermediate financial accounting. Before I took the class, I heard the class is the most difficult class among accounting class because of there is a lot of materials to cover in very short time. There are around 15 chapters to cover in a semester so that we have to learn a chapter in a week because we have to use some classes to take the exams and quizzes. And if I want to learn this course well and get a good grade as what I did in ACC221 and ACC222. I will have to read the book, listen to the teacher carefully, do the quiz well, prepare for the exam well and finish all the homework online. It is very important to