Reflection Paper

I grew up going to Church with family and friends until I was around the age of 8 when my parents just stopped going as much and eventually it came to a halt. I honestly don’t believe that I really knew anything about God besides that I believed in him because my parents did. As I grew older and got involved in heavy drinking to a point of no self-control and doing things I would regret when sober I began to hate myself with a deep passion. I didn’t know why I would do the things I did and continue to make the same mistakes even after I felt the gut wrenching feeling the following day. It was when I was older that I found out about a friend of the family molesting me as a child and everything just made more sense as to why I was so overly sexual and

I grew up in a Christian church. I am still to this day in that same church. I went to Sunday school and I knew who God and Jesus were. I knew some things but when my parents told me that they were getting a divorce that’s when I felt God

During my growing up years, from the time I was 3 or 4, I attended church with my parents. Sunday school taught me all the bible stories and when I was 12, I went to confirmation for two years. I was confirmed in eighth grade and continued to attend church regularly until two years ago.

I believe that you get what you give and maybe other people also feel the way I feel. It considers

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.

I walked into second period on August seventh and was greeted by my teacher, Mrs Key. She was straight to the point, telling me, “This class will make you work; if you cannot handle it, get out.” I began to question my decision to take her class, doubts seeping into my mind as I knew myself too well as an awful writer. I thought, “Should I really take this class?” Ultimately, I determined that I could manage the work in the class and make it to the final paper. As a student with a four grade-point average, I expected the class to be effortless. However, the weekly papers combined with such a challenging class resulted in a constant bombardment of low grades, making me realize that I was very wrong. I started to put forth more effort in the class, and although I started the year writing atrocious pieces, I can proudly say that my work has improved significantly. I had a tough start to the year, struggling in the areas of my theses, introductions, transitions, and conclusions; however, my effort has been rewarded by their obvious improvement to further emphasize that even the most terrible of writers can experience success.

If there is one thing in life I have learned, it is that I value the idea of staying true to myself through anything. Although life has a tendency of throwing you some curve balls you can’t let them define you. I often ask myself questions about how I am going to spend the day. I hear my many-sided mind reply “however you want” or “I don’t know but make it count.” The reason I label my thoughts as many sided is because I find myself being pulled back towards things I have been seeking to get away from for some time, as well as letting negative times in my life pull me in another direction. I view my mind as a movie scene in which you see the good and the bad sitting on your shoulder and your sitting trying to figure out which direction to follow, of course the right direction is ideal but that is easier said than done.

When I was eight years old, my dad being to honor and asked to speak at a meeting for the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS) in Jerusalem. The event happened to overlap with my spring break. We packed our bags and in the morning we set out for LAX. After a rigorous and tedious flight, we arrived at the Ben Gurion airport. Zwe started the trip in Tel Aviv. After settling in to the hotel, we freshened up, and began to roam the streets. We had walked through the Shuk Hacarmel. The whole atmosphere was so welcoming. Everyone greeted us with warm hearts and open arms. My family felt right at home. The next day came about, and my mom had mentioned that we were going to meet one of her cousins, Sharon. Sheron is a consultant for the Israeli Defense Force and has dedicated his whole career to protecting his country. His passion for Israel taught me so much. Although our time was short because he only had a few days off, he taught me the meaning of being Israeli. Israeli isn't just being born in Israel, it means to alwya have a part of Israel in your heart. It is something I carry with myself and is one of my personal core values. After five days in Tel Aviv, we set out for Jerusalem. The night we had arrived in Jerusalem, my family and I could not contain ourselves. We decided to walk around and get to know our home for the next five days. As we were walking through the city, we began to hear the sound of music and people laughing and singing.

Growing up I was very independent because my mom died when I was 4 and my dad was never around.Not having parental guidance made me very independent academically. Back then we lived in New Lebanon and I went to Dixie. When I went to Dixie is when I found out I was academically unique. I never really considered it until my 4th grade English teacher Mrs. Guggenbiller brought it up to me. My brother Anthony had Mrs.Guggenbiller and they were very close. He went to her whenever he needed help and talked to her about personal things. I then grew to have the same bond with Mrs.Guggenbiller that my brother had, I went to her with any of my problems hoping she could help me solve them.

At a young age money, politics, and first world problems never occurred to me. However, as I grew older all of these things started to hit me one at a time. From when I started my first job at fifteen, this thing called “taxes” took money out of my check. At that time my mother showed me all of the bills she had to deal with such as, house payments, insurance, and car payments. My entire world was turned around on the subject. This led me to start caring more about America's crises and the responsibilities that come along with adulthood. After bringing my child into this uncertain, harsh world, this subject concerned me beyond belief. It was a cruel smack in the face from reality. Starting with the little things, this is how the 2017 presidential election changed my view on this country, and my view on the world in general.

As I planned this learning experience I consulted with both the teacher and director of the program about their science curriculum for the month. I knew I needed to plan an activity inclusive of science themed dialogic reading. Since, the class was beginning to learn about the senses, we collaborated about splitting the class into two groups. One group would be with a teacher doing a sense of taste activity, while I would have the other group doing a sense of smell activity. My activity was inclusive of fresh herbs from my garden and a book about smell. I prepared the dialogic reading as well as brought along a felt board with yes and no pieces. After I read the story I passed around the various herbs for the children to smell and explore. Once they decided if they liked the smell or not they would place a yes or no piece on the board. The languages of learning I referred to was investigating what smell they liked the best and exploring through using their hands to touch the fresh herbs. As a result, they learned new knowledge about how their nose works. For instance, I had with me lemon balm, which obviously smells like lemons. The children assimilated the smell to that of lemonade, since that is what they are most familiar with. Additionally, my lesson supported standard: 10.1 PK.B Identify and locate body parts by understanding what sense is responsible for what action. As well as 2.4 PK.MP Use mathematical processes when measuring; representing, organizing, and

To be sure, John, I could never hope to sum up this entire experience in a hundred pages, let alone one or two. That said, this paper will center on the dangers of cliche´, staying in your own lane, and continuous improvement. Despite their seemingly innocuous nature, these particular topics are fundamental aspects of learning any art and cannot be stressed too greatly.

Everyone has their own way they learn best. Some will say they are visual learners, while others say they identify as an auditory leaner. Like learning styles, the same goes for the academic reading, research, and writing process. My personal practices are the result of years practicing, trying to tailor what works best for me. I have discovered the strategies that work well for me through previous experiences which have allowed me to develop my individual method for assigned text readings, research, and writing papers.

For most students in the public-school system, seeing a private school classroom with under fifteen students in the classroom would be an uncommon sight to them: Since most public-school classes hold up to twenty-five students to one teacher. Although this close interaction between student and teacher greatly shaped me as well as my reading and writing skills today, it did not come without drawbacks when I transferred to a public school for the first time. Highschool was the first time that I attended public school. This is when I discovered just how much personal accountability it would take to stay on top of all the essays and Shakespeare worksheets not to mention the other three teachers that expected I complete their assigned homework

“How do you still manage to pronounce this character wrong? It’s been two years!” I laugh aloud at the absurdity, much to the embarrassment of my partner. “I don’t know! It’s from Chinese I, okay! Leave me alone!” Her attempt at defending herself fails as she quickly joins my laughter. I smile and pat her back. “It’s fine, Lily. You’ll fix it one day.”