Reflection Paper On Reflection

Wow, I made it through the second hardest class I am taking my sophomore year, this being a close second to College Prep Writing (next semester’s class). This class has truly changed me in the most interesting ways possible. I actually have found some maturity in writing, something that I didn’t even know I needed until I learned it. This essay compared to my intro essay will most likely look like a Harvard paper versus a community college course high school student’s paper. But that is because this essay has changed me in the most positive way possible. Thank you very much for the opportunity to take this course, and I do strongly suggest it to other students.

Reflection Essay In English 151, one of the first requirements for the class is to have a three ring binder. It would ultimately become my current writing portfolio with all my writing assignments that were done for the class. To keep the binder organized, tab dividers were also required. The tabs

The first student to perform for the fundraiser was Candy Tsai. She performed Arabeske, Op.18. Candy tends to use more of her arm muscles when playing rather than wrists. She sets a great example of pedal use throughout her piece. Although she uses pedal, she distinguishes her articulation correctly. Overall,

Throughout this semester, there were many obstacles that I had to face regarding the different assignments assigned. However, I was able to effectively complete all of these tasks to the best of my ability regardless of the amount and specific requirements each one possessed. I also managed to gain a

Reflection This semester has been busy, I have written four papers. Scoring better than I thought I was capable of. St. Edward’s University was not my first choice, because I knew that St. Edward’s focuses on their student’s writing skills. The only reason I applied was because my mom wanted me to. I got waitlisted at my first choice and then my mom thought my second choice was to far, so here I am at a University that requires more writing from a person than anyone has ever done in my life. Reading and writing are not my strongest subjects, I am better at math, chemistry, anything with numbers.I set foot at this school with the thought that I was going to fail or just barely pass Rhetoric and Composition. I was going to take it in the a university that its goal is to improve the student’s reading and writing skills. The truth was, I expected to dread the class. On the first day of class, a man in his early 40s started screaming at the 14 kids in the room. He is different than the teachers I had before which is refreshing, his name is Professor Braun. It’s November and this is the fifth paper he has us writing, it is a reflection on my writing from the beginning of September to now. From Untitled Paper #1 to Are you Certain of Your Own Truth Paper #4, I am able to see a big improvement such as there are less careless mistakes, my ideas are more developed and carried throughout my papers, and there is a more concise support and analysis in my papers.

In today’s society, the main idea that is presented by many people is that there is nothing that can be labeled as an absolute truth. This means that everything that we believe today is based solely on one’s opinion of a certain matter. This philosophy was first brought to my attention during my junior year of high school. I was taking an AP language class, and my professor insisted on starting these arguments about absolute truths and opinions. As one of the only Christians in the class, these topics angered me. The professor was practically attacking the very beliefs that I stand firm on, and I was not okay with it. There would be times where I would raise my hand and present my argument against his belief, but that would always end in a class argument debating one side or the other. Once the class was over, I always found myself revisiting my Word. I could always find my comfort in the Word of God. As Christians, we have to understand the importance of the Canon, or truths given to us by God.

Growing up in a small town in Northeast Vermont, there isn’t much of anything. The economy is poor, there isn’t many jobs, and it’s cold. My hometown is similar to the made up town of Catamount in the novel, Continental Drift, by Russell Banks. I saw my family in likeness to the Dubois’s. My mom stayed home with us kids until we needed extra cash so she began to waitress. My dad got one of the better jobs at the new correctional facility a town over.

Reflection Paper A. The policies I was found in violation of are Use/Possession Drug, Allowing a Guest to Violate Visitation Policy, and Failure to Comply. The first rule exists because the residence life wants to keep us and our peers away from bad things that are typically illegal. This is important

Change. It’s an ambiguous concept. It’s got a scale range from getting a new bed to losing a loved one. Sometimes it’s asked for and other times, it’s not. Sometimes you’re a little girl waiting to get a haircut only for the final result to be disastrous and other times you’re walking out of the salon feeling like royalty. Sometimes you’re simply changing the color of your walls and other times you’re moving to a new house. Sometimes you’re meeting new people and other times you’re losing your best friends.

Though my father is Black, I was born into a middle class White family in considerably rural West Virginia. The community in which I grew up in was largely White and conservative, however, I have experienced many different cultures and styles of living in my lifetime. Based on my experience in these various settings, I cannot help but think that the way in which others view me often depends on the person on the other end. I suppose gender is rather obvious to the majority, but I feel as though my socioeconomic status and race are largely subjective. Especially with regard to race, people have perceived me as Black, Dominican, Polynesian, and even White-- almost anything than what I actually am. I have noticed that these various perceptions often depend on who I am with and who I am surrounded by. This, of course, bothers me to a certain degree. As Ropeik (2012) points out, people are tribal in that we stick to those who are culturally and ethnically similar, related or not. I have often felt as though being mixed race in America means being largely tribe-less, resulting in identity ambiguity and confusion.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and Greaater Works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And, whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father

In this course, one of the things I learned that stood out to me cognitively that prompted an internal cognitive reaction was bereavement experiences. On the first day of class, I learned that there are different beliefs about what happens after death. For example, some people think that reincarnation happens after death. However, I believe you either go to heaven or hell. I almost second guessed myself when reincarnation was brought up. Second, seeing the video of the mom discussing the story of her daughter committing suicide prompted an internal cognitive reaction in me. I was thinking to myself, how couldn’t anyone prevent this from happening? I wish that she knew what she was experiencing was only temporarily and not permanently. I was angry that she had to endure so much pain and obstacles in her life. Third, hearing the story of Prof. Windsor life and how she still grew to be strong, successful, and leading groups to help others with similar stories to hers. I was motivated to work on being a better social worker.

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.

Pastors need mentors, mentees, and true peers. I have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with two pastor colleagues both in very different places in life and ministry. Yet, even from these different places, all three of us share some very basics understandings and needs as we strive to serve the church. Rev. Bev Dempsey and Rev. Nikki Brown Rice are the two selected clergy persons I chose for this connection exercise. All the best plans were intended to email and create a great long thread of emails to turn in. One thing we all have in common is that we are much better face-to-face connections than in email. Therefore, when given the chance to decide to connect through email versus personal conversations, we all agreed on personal conversations.

For my second observation, I choose to focus on making a lesson that would benefit the students with their upcoming paper. I knew from their last paper (they analyzed a cartoon) that students struggled with two things: they either said too much or too little in their summaries and they had a tendency to use quotes when they meant to paraphrase. Therefore, I designed a lesson using picture books that would have students collecting information from a variety of sources, which they would have to do for their final paper, and summarize in their own words what they found.