Reflection Paper

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

Process recordings have been very helpful in allowing me to see my strengths and areas that need improvement. It allows for me to check if I am using my competencies correctly and applying all the skills I have been thought. They also allow for feedback from my field supervisor so that I ensure the best services for my clients. I gain a better understanding of what I need to change about my approach and how to develop proper treatment goals with my clients. I get to put the knowledge I gained in all my classes to help a better understanding of the role of a social worker.

Since beginning to write papers in English class, I have had countless successes and failures. While many of my English classes have taught me how to improve my writing, I have not learned very much in others. My most recent English class was last year, my sophomore year. My class was particularly undersized; therefore, it gave each student the opportunity to have additional individual attention. Throughout the class I experienced high points, weaknesses, and even difficulties that I never overcame. Overall, my writing skills improved, but only marginally.

My writing experiences in middle school and high school were pleasant and seem to mostly relatable to the other middle school experiences where I learned a lot of different writing styles in sixth and seventh grade. In ACOW5 it said that most students advance into middle school without being prepared for writing to multiple audiences or in different styles. This was true in my case as well. In elementary school we did not do a lot of writing and when we did, we didn’t focus on revision a whole lot. Teachers would grade my papers off of grammar mistakes and I feel like they weren’t looking at the content of what us students were writing at all. I seemed to be able to keep up with what we were doing and it also was well taught for the most part once I got into middle school and high school. When I was in high school, teachers always clarified what they were looking for from us and also provided us with instruction on how to execute certain papers depending on what we were writing. In middle school my writing experiences were pretty good too, because starting in seventh grade we were assigned five paragraph essays in our grammar course that helped strengthen our capabilities on grammar and context. I feel like in middle school we only skimmed over the different types of writing when the article speaks about the five different styles. My school did a lot of writing to show learning, writing to learn writing and writing to communicate, but we didn’t start to write to express or to write to create until I was in high school and it was for journal entries or as projects in language art classes. As far as self sponsored writing, I feel like I didn’t partake in it until I was in high school, but for writing to learn and formal assignments we practiced all the time.

I’ve been playing piano for almost 9 years now, and that has come with a whole slew of failures on various scales. I had recently graduated from lesson books into classical music when this story begins. I had enrolled in Auditions, a piano competition where you ‘audition’ for State. I was ecstatic when I found out that I had received a one, or a superior, in the competition. Which isn’t easy by any means. In most competitions like Sonatina/Sonata Festival or Federation the judges give out superiors like Oprah Winfrey gives out money. “You get a one! You get a one! EVERYBODY GETS A ONE!”. So needless to say I was very pleased with myself.

As a preschooler, you won’t remember much of the things you were doing. In that time your brain and your fine motor skills are still being developed and you were just learning to speak as well. It is also a vital part of our lives, where you start to learn how to read, write, and be more self-aware as you continue aging.

As a type-A individual, I really do not like it when things do not go as they have been planned. Unfortunately, this has caused some additional stresses and anxieties in my life which I do not have much control over. As a double-major, it is so crucial to stay organized and have a schedule to stay organized and complete everything that is required of me. But, college can be stressful, but I think that I am handling it much better than I could have imagined. Throughout my educational experiences here during my second year at UConn, I have been able to handle stresses much better than I have previously in high school and especially throughout my freshman year. As I am writing this, I realized that by surrounding myself with individuals who I know are positive influences on me and planning time for myself, I am able to reduce stresses in my life.

First I would like to mention that I enjoyed reading this Chapter as it hit home for me because the teachers from Loyola Marymount University believe in building family and community strengths and I fit that mold. Even though demonstrating passion and empathy is mostly frowned upon by many in our institutions due to concentrating on teaching to the test. If you provide your students with a safe learning environment, my experiences have shown that they are more apt to flourish. As a result, I provide this type of atmosphere in my classroom. For example, one of the teachers interviewed, Leticia Ornelas, had “Lotion Day” Nieto (2013). I have shared my lotion with students as well. Some of them fall under the English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. And like she mentions, it provides them with a safe, caring, and passionate learning environment because you build that rapport. Building teacher to student relationships is essential to student outcomes.

There once was a time where I had no expectations on what was to come. Whenever I attempted to picture my future, I couldn’t. I did not know my career goals or any of my hobbies. Fortunately, the summer of 2014 changed everything for me. It was the summer I first volunteered to help with vacation bible school at my church. From that moment on, I had a fresh mindset and new goals. I permanently found an activity I enjoyed doing. Following that summer, I volunteered with VBS the three summers after. I enjoyed engaging with the children so much that I ventured into teaching second and third graders on Wednesday nights. Throughout this journey, I have been greatly inspired. Volunteering with children through my church has transformed me into a better and different person, through strength, career goals, and my faith.

Matthew 22:37 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Mark Noll emphasizes that Evangelical Christians are not loving God with their minds. Noll shares that if Christians do not become well-informed intellectuals, they will not be able to lead others to Christ. When I reflect on my religious upbringing, I realize how much truth I accepted came from humans, and not from scripture. When people challenged some of my beliefs, I was not able to support myself, because I accepted what I heard as truth. I am thankful that God has showed me the importance of wisdom in my faith.

On December 12th, 2014, we were in church listening to the pastor preach about helping others. After church, we talked to the pastor about taking up for the homeless people in Anderson County. Instead of having a church that night the whole church came with us to give them the stuff. I like that I help the homeless people. One of the people that we help was crying like a baby because she was so happy to see us.The little thing we did make them happy. They look like they were going to cry. The homeless were delighted to see the stuff we gave them. I could hear the sound of happiness in the room because they were laughing. The room was as happy as a child with its mother.

Pablo Picasso once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” The more I come to know God day by day, the more the quotes means to me. As a freshman in college, it can be very intimidating to be expected to just know what I want the rest of my life to look like. However, having an idea of your skills and how they can contribute to your purpose to serve God, can help a great deal. What do I have that I can essentially give away? Becoming an elementary teacher has always been my primary goal in life, and based on my skills and talents I feel this is where God is calling me to glorify him most. At this point in my life, my God-given talent, that I know of, is to work in the lives of younger children but due to the resources I’ve been given throughout the year, I know that God is much bigger than my own comprehendible knowledge.

I chose assessment #10: Authenticity Scale (Biswas-Diener, 2010, p. 122) for my assessment. Between this current quarter and the last, I pushed myself beyond limits on another section of the Appalachian Trail. On the morning of day number 3 out of 6, I snapped a selfie of myself as I crested a ridge line on a bald (treeless ridge line with unlimited views). The photo was unique and looked manipulated with a filter due to the glare from the sunrise burning through thin patches of fog spilling over the ridge as if the mountain was an airfoil. That photo is now my Facebook profile picture and titled, “Nothing artificial.” I have always pushed myself to be true and authentic in all I do. That does not mean being perfect, it means being honest with myself.

During this course I have learned many things from the units, but there are also many outcomes that I have learned. The five outcomes I have learned are rhetorical performance, research process, style conventions, multimodal design, and reflective interaction.

Visiting my family in North Carolina, over the summer, one of my cousins was dealing with failing health. Upon arrival, I proceeded to the hospital to minister to and check on her, as well as, to minister to my family. It was apparent that she was not going to be healed on this side of life. Unfortunately, a week after leaving, she would transition from life to death. Rah shares, “But what if the willingness to die involves more than merely physical death? What if the willingness to die requires the laying down of power and dying to our rights? What if, in addition to physical death, the passage calls for an emotional death?” These are thought-provoking questions that Rah asks. Death is a part of life, and to deal with it, whether with