Reflection Paper In English

Learning as much as my brain capacity can endure is my ultimate goal in life. School is not just a chore, it is a necessity to further me into the future. English class, specifically the writing portion has evolved my understanding of persuasive literature and how to explain my thoughts

The reason I took English 101 was to learn how to write a paper more effectively and understand the process in order to prep me for college. While I feel as my writing skills have considerably improved, my individual papers still have a lot of room for improvement. Through the many papers assigned, I have gained knowledge about the writing process, and with this brings a lot potential for my future years. The groundwork for a great paper has been laid because of this class, and all that is left to do is to keep practicing.

Looking back on my life experiences, I can’t help but smile in response to every memory of struggle, success, and change for each experience has served as a page in a larger, unfinished story. Growing up my identity has been strongly tied to my upbringing in a traditional Italian household with my father, mother, and brother. My upbringing has thus included an emphasis on food, family and friends, and culture. The backyard of my childhood home in San Mateo, California was complete with slowly growing key ingredients in a variety of Italian dishes. Considering my father’s parents emigrated from Liguria, a region in Italy most famously known as the birthplace of pesto, growing basil allowed us to maintain a connection with our heritage. As a child I remember playing in my backyard with my brother, careful to not roll the ball in the dirt where the basil was growing. That would ruin the fun of picking it with my dad and making it with my mom. Yet, the truly satisfying aspect of this tradition was sitting down as a family, which often included my maternal grandparents, and sharing a meal complete with numerous anecdotes.

Not too long after arriving in Texas I committed myself to being a Christian. In retrospect, I understand I didn’t fully understand my actions, but I knew that my aunt, uncle, and cousins were different and I wanted to experience the love, joy, and freedom they all have. As a

When I made the decision to stop going to college because I was pregnant I made a promise to myself; I promised that the moment my daughter was in school I would go back to school myself. Five years later I followed thru on that promise but not without any reservations. I had been out of school for so long, and I have a decent job why did I need to go back? How would the scheduling work? How was I going to maintain my work schedule and go to school? My determination and the want to keep the promise to myself is what allowed me to overcome my doubts and fears. Fast forward to picking classes I was nervous. I enjoy English and writing so that was fine and expected, but it was picking out the right teacher. I am beyond glad that I picked you as my professor. Not only was class fun and engaging, but your willingness to work with your students and encourage them is just what I needed. Out of everything I learned during the duration of this course the three significant things I learned were pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, how to keep a paper formal, and how to use different tools to produce the best paper I can.

I thought that service learning would be a great way to connect with the community while learning more about the environment. In ENVIR 239, I knew that I was going to be focusing on minimizing my footprint and aside from class assignments, I wanted to know what other hands-on activities I could do. Through the service learning, I actually feel like Beaven, “balance[ing] what negative impact [I] couldn’t eliminate with some sort of positive impact” (Beavan, 15). As Beaven would call it, this “environmental activism” has made me wonder what other activities I could do aside from composing and recycling. When I went to my first volunteer event, I was surprised to see the different age groups. There were kids and adults eager to get their hands dirty and do their part to minimize their footprint.

People say that I have a hard exterior and that I rarely show my emotions. Well, that is true, but isn’t that applicable for every human being? Seeing someone when they are at their weakest moment is uncomfortable and the last thing they want is your pity. Sure, that might be true, but what they want after is certainly companionship and people to talk to. Keeping feelings pent up is fatally detrimental to the mental health, and I myself have been a recipient of this during my sophomore year of high school. It was only with the help of a close group of friends that I could preserve through my darkest hours.

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.

I think we tend to push religion away from the public arena because today’s society and culture has made it taboo to talk about Christ. Even though it has been taken out of context, the separation of church and state is a prime example. While most schools in my area allow prayer there is still the risk that non-Christian students may bully or even shun their fellow classmates for who and what they believe in. We as Christians accept everyone as they are. We may not approve of their lifestyle or life choices, but that is where we are given the opportunity to witness to the secular non-believers. That is when we as Christians see our true calling.

I spent my life in school having troubled on understanding the learning in English when I moved to America. I started to have some troubles with understanding and knowing a different language (English) in this country and also having a problem with communication with other people who speak English. It took me through the process to know and understand English when my mind was focused and understanding my native language Chinese Cantonese. There are some moments that I accidentally pronounced something wrong while I’m trying to learn English. I somehow accidentally mixed some ideas with grammar along with English and Cantonese when I realized it was totally different. My ability to learning and reading at school somehow still become an problem in English. People in special Ed. said that I had disability. By the word disability I thought that only disability only people who handicapped or on wheelchair. By learning a different disabilities I learned that my disability works and struggles only the part of the brain function rather than a physical part than some other people who are disabled. There are some issues with my English I had to get involved with more support with teacher aides who specialize ESL (English Second Language) to help me with understand and improve my English. I also had to get involved with special education in school so that they could help me with my English language easier.

I went into junior year without any fear or stress whatsoever. I started a new program at my school called the Associative Arts program in order to graduate high school with a two-year college degree. This program entailed not only taking both on site and online college classes, but also

Speech. The English language has been hard for me to grasp. It still is today, in many ways. Of course, I have grown to love it and accept it, even indulge, in the challenge it presents. This did not come naturally, though. As a young child, I had a speech impediment. It was hard for me to make myself understood, even less so through my writing. Not only was it hard for me to write, but also to read. As a result, from the time I was four years old to the time I was nine years old, I worked with speech tutors and attended special reading classes to improve my speed and comprehension. In the end, it made me come to love the English language and its different sounds and compositions. However, struggling with this early ineptitude for it had

On the first day of my junior year of high school, I made the lowest grade I had ever made on a test: thirty-three. The test was in my English III class over our summer reading book, Beowulf. I had read the book and the SparkNotes that went with it and I still failed. At first, I thought that it would get easier and that I did not do well because I was still in summer mode. However, I was far from correct. That first day set the tone for the rest of the school year, but I was determined to find a way to bring my grade up.

I felt very uplifted after receiving this email, until later that day when we received the papers back and I think I got a C. I cried my whole walk back to my dorm room, wearing my sunglasses down Van Meter at 5:00 pm so I could try and hide my tears. I wanted so badly to be better than a C because in my head, it wasn’t just the papers that were C work, it was me that was a C. Aside from this experience, I really loved Being Human and its introspective aspect was very beneficial for me at the time. I felt very lost and unsure about who I was and certain things that had happened to me during that period. I expressed all of this during one of our first assignments, where I drew an actual human heart and assigned each chamber a moral that I was sure I had. I thought out every aspect of that drawing, from the reasons why I shaded certain areas darker to why certain words/icons were placed in certain chambers. During my presentation, I wanted to be honest about my state of unknowing, and the challenges I was going through. I opened up about my mother's death a little bit and really tried to express how that tragedy instilled specific values in me.

Every teacher that I have ever had has always enforced the golden rule that ‘reading is fundamental’. That’s what I think of when I think of reading a book. While my childhood sparked the start to my struggle how did overcoming speech issues, reading aloud, fantasy, and reading classic literature help? It starts with a negative experience but did I feel like I got a positive experience by my adulthood? Or do I still have that same trouble, just an easier time.