Reflection Paper In English

I have always enjoyed telling stories, it was just quite difficult for me to express my ideas well. I took this class in the hopes I could form a well written, organized paper. Expository writing has taught me my different strengths and weaknesses and how to use them accordingly. My writing skills have improved and changed drastically since the beginning of the semester. I learned to eliminate wordiness, to add detailed analysis, and improve grammar skills. This has made a significant difference in my writing abilities, preparing me for my future in college.

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

I grew up influenced by strong women. Growing up, I use to watch Disney’s Mulan on repeat. It became a habit that I would belt the songs from the movie from the very tops of my lungs. Bear in mind, I was only in the single digits of age at the time. Being a child, I thought I was a good singer. I know now I wasn’t. Doesn’t matter now. Turns out, I was terrible. I would also watch Atlantis: The Lost Empire and any other female led Disney movie though I could never stomach Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. Even now I have no idea why.

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 result, on a June summer night in a hotel with my extended family, I prayed to the God “Come into my heart Lord and be present in my life.” At that exact moment, a feeling engulfed my body that is hard to explain; it's almost like a wave that crashed over my head and moved down to my feet. Even though I was surrounded by my extended family, I understood that like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we weren't alone but another had entered into our company. The mountain top experience of my salvation was brief and sadly inconsequential in my life for a couple of years. Life moved on and as a ten-year old, I didn’t want change to consume my personality despite my recent conversion. I had just been introduced to this concept of the church being enjoyable and fun; anything that stood against that idea was put to the wayside. Relationships between my brother became tense and strained. Life during the spiritual transition from an immature child and a growing one is reminiscent of James chapter three verse six through nine,

I used to be the person that went along with what everyone else was doing. I used to be the person that focused on basic values such as love, honesty, and confidence. Even though those are values that everyone is expected to have, I never fully understood what they were supposed to look like in everyday life. It was last year around September when my Church released the sign up sheet for a mission trip to Costa Rica. When I was 14-years-old, I attended a trip to Costa Rica with my church. I had the experience, but was younger and more immature at that time. The summer of 2015 was eye-opening. However, what I experienced never officially stuck with me. In early January I decided to sign up for the 2017 mission trip, in hopes that I would find myself there.

claim. They agreed that I should try something new, for a change. I than made the decision to

One evening, I was studying for my final exams with my friends in the library. We were there for almost the whole day, and most of us got a most of our assignments and studying done. As I meandered down to the printers to print my philosophy paper, I could not help but discern that some of the students around us were also getting their assignments done, albeit rather languidly. A closer look as to what they were doing showed that some students were checking their social media and watching Netflix, while others were online shopping. In other words, they were procrastinating. I knew that our studying period was brief; in fact, we had two or three days until our first finals started. I had a few compelling speculations on why people procrastinate, from that they know everything (unlikely), to they do not know what to study (more likely), or the fact that they are just lazy (very likely). Though I am also a victim of procrastinating, I try to focus on my studies, especially if it is exam season. My insights turned to reality when I asked my friend about something that we were supposed to study for the calculus exam. It turns out that he was watching a football game on his laptop, but he muted it to answer my question and to show me how to do a problem. He proclaimed that he will study it later, even though our exam was in less than forty-eight hours. He knew what and how to study, but he told me he wasn’t up for it. I observed that this is a familiar episode – every time a

We all have a person we used to be that we aren’t anymore. It’s better this way of course but we still remember the people we used to be and the way we used to be. When I look back I see why I changed makes sense. At one point we just don’t like who we are so we take a chance and change ourselves. You have to find the fine line though, we make these Alterations but we must make sure not to destroy ourselves in the process because who we are is important.

In early 2015, I applied and was accepted to a theology program at Dallas Theological Seminary. That fall, I embarked on a journey where, for two and a half years, I literally spent every non-working, waking moment, reading, writing and studying. It’s a journey that would encompass reading tens of thousands of pages of books, watching thousands of hours of lecture videos, and writing hundreds of pages of written research. It’s something I’ve done in secret, with the exception of a few close family members and a few close friends.

After completing the match assessment, I familiarized myself with several behaviors I did not know I had. First, I will talk about the statements that I consider most like me. With my career in retail since the age of nineteen I have acquired quiet the few skills. I can get others to do what I want them to do by being very discreet. In order to have a successful team, you must guide each individual to reach success. I am currently employed in a bakery which means that my duties include training new individuals who will be working with me. By holding a professional tone, I have noticed that each trainee complies with their work. I like the freedom that open-ended goals provide me. My personal freedom is something that I do not take for granted. Open-ended goals for me should not set limitations to getting the work done or acquiring new ideas. Additionally, I have noticed that I work best when things are orderly and calm.

Mr. Abedi then introduced me to Miriam, one of the woman volunteering at Open Mosque Day. Miriam was working behind one of the tables educating people on Islam. She gave me a Qur’an , a short biography on Muhammad and lots of other information to take home. She was very interesting to talk as she was raised Catholic and converted to Islam. She spoke about how Islam is a lot like Catholicism and that Mary is mentioned repeatedly in the Qur’an more than any other woman. I asked her if she believes Mary is the mother of God and she replied no. Miriam told me she was mentioned seventy times and that she is recognized as devoting herself to God. She explained to me that Allah wants us to pray and that God is great! God is absolute, perfect and unique. I asked her if she believes in God and she replied she believes in Allah and that Allah means God in Arabic. Up until she explained this I thought of God and Allah as two separate people. Miriam was not comfortable taking a picture with me so she found Mr. Abedi and we took a picture together. I thanked them both for their time. Syed commented that he thought it was great that I was open to learning about other religions.

During this lesson, the students will be focusing on building their emotional intelligence. The students will learn about the concept of perseverance and will work on their empathy and interpersonal skills. My hope is that the students are able to start thinking and building on personal strategies pertaining to these concepts so that they will be able to use these strategies throughout their daily lives. I want the students to understand importance of expressing their emotions, working together, and never giving up. During this unit, I would like to explore how the impact of integrating dramatic activities will help students to form a deeper understanding of the concepts being discussed in the lesson. In addition, I am interested to see the effect that implementing the art of drama has on the students and the way that they view not only themselves, but also the community as a whole. Through the use of dramatic activities such as covering the space, tableaux’s, total physical response, two corners and role-playing the students will be able to look at the story from different perspectives, express their emotions as well as learn more about their peers’ thoughts on the subject matter. These activities will also encourage the students to think deeply and use their background knowledge to form connections between the story, characters and their own lives. Throughout this process the students will be actively involved and engaged, which will help them to fully comprehend the

I grew up in a Christian home, a Christian church, and had Christian parents who love the Lord. I went to Sunday school every Sunday and learned all the stories of the Bible. My group would make crafts and eat snacks. I loved going to church and I loved God, but I didn’t know what it meant to truly believe in God. It was scary for me to put all my faith into one thing, for fear I would rely on the Lord and at some point I would need Him and He wouldn’t be there. However, I found out the most important thing to do is to put faith into one religion and believe it entirely.

Afro-Am 151 has taught me a lot about my beliefs and the way the world operates. When I walked into class on the first day, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. The only reason I enrolled in this class was because it fulfilled my Ethnic Studies requirement. I was handed the syllabus and was told that the class is a service learning course. As a freshman, I had no idea what that meant. Now, I obviously know what this type of course entails. At first, I wasn’t looking forward to doing the 25 hours at a placement site, but after I went and saw just how much they needed volunteers, I started to enjoy it. It was a nice way to escape the bubble of campus. I didn’t realize how trapped I felt living on campus until I went to Packer Townhouses and saw a whole different side of Madison than I was used to. Going to my placement site also allowed me to apply the concepts we learned in class to the real world. It is much easier to understand a class and the topics we are taught when we have real life scenarios to apply them to. Besides gaining a more in-depth understanding of course concepts, I also learned more about myself. I found that there is much more to the world than I am aware of. I was naïve about what happened in the world every day to people who aren’t as lucky as me. It is a much different world to people who aren’t white and don’t get the opportunity to attend college or higher education. The key course concepts that I was able to see brought to life the most are

As the end of the semester is approaching I have come to realize that this class has played a big impact on how I view the world today. Throughout the semester I have gained knowledge on different topics and I plan on using them to make better decisions in the future. I feel that discussing all the different topics in class has made learn how to communicate and understand others better. One of the many topics discussed was that men should be able to express feminine characteristics without being judged or labeled. Another topic was how sex has been viewed throughout families as negative therefore, many children are having babies at a young age or are developing STDs and how the lack of Prenatal care can affect an infant’s health.