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

Arriving in a new country was exciting and discomforting. America is a wonderful place to live, which is full of adventure and challenges. I was attracted by the Western culture. Meanwhile, different languages also troubled me. Although I began to learn English in elementary school from ABC, my listening and oral abilities tend not to be adequate. I have to study hard to improve my English, so that I can understand what the people said.

Throughout the course of this semester, I have continuously grown as a writer. Prior to taking this course, I had little experience or knowledge when it came to writing. I used to struggle with forming my thoughts into writing, let alone a paper. I was never confident with what I wrote. My writing had no greater purpose other than the assignment. My writing process included: writing my paper, proofreading it, and turning it in. Once the paper left my hands, it also left my mind. Throughout this course we worked with others, visited the writing lab, wrote critiques, and we were able to revise our papers. I believe that all of this is has caused me to grow greatly as a writer.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Truer words have never been spoken. Coming to America was my greatest adventure and my biggest fear. I had never traveled to a foreign country before. I was intrigued about the culture, the people, and the country itself. What will it be like? Will I be able to adjust to that pace of life? Will I make new friends? I would have to find answers with experience. Moving to another country meant starting a new life over again, in an unfamiliar place with strangers i have never met. Being the “new kid” is never comfortable.

On September 6, 2017, I were documented for an incident that involved a University Housing policy violation. I was charged with violating the University Housing Alcohol 1.2 policy. With my violation, came consequences. I met with The Residence Conduct Coordinator to discuss my actions and came to the conclusion that I would have to schedule a meeting with The Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center (CADEC) and with that, a reflection paper.

I was forced to come to America at the age of 13, knowing only Spanish. My junior year career was not pleasant because of that factor. I started off with four classes that were meant to teach me English. I was distraught and confused. I left my friends, my dad, and my life to come here. I was not comfortable at all. I felt alone, but I was not alone, there was another 12 students with the same obstacles as me. Now at the age of 18 I am proud of what I overcame and I can truly say these three strategies assisted me while overcoming my obstacle, Lifelong learning, develop mutually supportive relationship and believing in yourself.

My parents and I immigrated to America when I was three years old. Back then, I did not realize how dramatically this move would change the course of my life, all I wondered was why I couldn’t understand a word anyone spoke. With the support of my parents and teachers, I was able to quickly catch up to my peers both socially and academically. I was aware of the size and diversity of the world from a young age because I frequently travelled back to Russia to visit family. At school, I described the journey to my friends and we all became engrossed in learning about unfamiliar cultures and languages.

Same as any other regular students who decided to go to college and committed to excellence, I also wish to have a chance for a bright future. However, there are many obstacles along the way. Before I came to America, I had never thought about college because my family could not afford for me to attend. When we had a chance to go to America, it was like a dream came true for my family. We believed that we would have a better life here and everything would be fine. As we moved to America, I was so grateful for a chance to go to school. Nonetheless, the language barrier was crushing my dream. In school, I could not understand the materials my professors presented because they spoke English at a faster rate than I could process. I felt that there was no way I can pursue the American Dream like I always wanted.

It has been four years since I came to the United States with my parents. As an immigrant, I realized everything here seemed really difficult for me to adjust my life. Having lived comfortably in Vietnam for over 18 years, I had to start everything from the beginning when I came here. At first, I thought things would be new and interesting in a new place. Later on, I gradually experienced the mental state called “culture shock.” For me, the difference in language and culture were among the biggest cultural barriers that I needed to overcome. However, I have always said to myself that I had to adapt to this circumstance. I believed this hard situation was a great opportunity to strengthen my capability. Therefore, I started to learn English

Over the course of the semester, there has been numerous amount of areas where I believe I have improved in comparison to high school. What has helped me in my writing is the writing class and the in-class writing workshop. The writing class that is located in the Kremen education building has helped me with my writing greatly because in the writing center the person in charge teach us lenses and we apply those lenses to the writing, draft, or reading that someone brings in. The in-class writing workshop has helped me because other students get to read my writing. This is helpful because I get feedback from many students and they let me know what needs to be fixed. A new tool I have been using is They Say I Say. The book is very helpful because of the information and examples it provides such as the templates. I have been applying the templates into my essays and I have seen a significant difference.

As humans of society, we all crave the respect and friendships of our colleagues. Unfortunately, choosing to walk in my Christian faith made those two components difficult to grasp.

I met with K. Beam before we left on our two- week fall break to discuss working with her for the coaching practicum and what she was interested in working on with her students.

Michael Jordan said talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. This mentality is precisely the case with the compensation project. Individually, everyone could have finished the project however by working with others the project became more polished and finished quicker. In class, discussions with my group allowed me to gain exceptional insight on topics which previously I would have overlooked. Teamwork forced me to open up and look inwards to find how I was limiting the team and way to improve myself.

“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.

In Elizabeth’s classroom there are various activities going on all about Egypt, there are students demonstrating how ancient kings were mummified for burial. The students are learning about Ancient Egypt, but they are doing it in an atypical way. The activities and lessons are not teacher driven, instead the students are working in collaborative groups except one student and they are working on student driven projects. Some students are learning about pyramids. The classroom brings on a new meaning to organized chaos. A teacher who really needs structure in the classroom may have a difficult time with a classroom that is organized like Elizabeth’s. There are a few areas of concern when approaching student driven activities like what is being done in Elizabeth’s classroom. One concern is how can she ensure that all her students are learning the required content. To me this can be done a couple of ways. She could use formative assessments throughout the learning process as a way to assess if the students are learning the content. These can be as simple as observations of the students collaborating together, or as concrete as a pen/paper quiz over the required content. Another way is to establish content specific rubrics that are differentiated to meet the needs of each group’s specific projects. Of course the rubrics need to be presented and reviewed with the students several times throughout the process. Prior to beginning their assignments and then revisited in weekly