Reflection Paper

Everyone remembers that one teacher. The teacher who was their favorite. The one teacher who they, as a student, looked forward to each and every class lecture. Through all the dry and tedious class presentations, these teachers woke the class up with their animated passion for what they were teaching and the unmistakable desire for their students to learn. The purpose of this reflective journal is to discuss this week’s assignment readings while connecting how this information will improve my skills related to clinical teaching.

Honors 103 presented me an intellectual challenge this semester; It certainly altered many of the expectations and assumptions about writing that I possessed prior to enrolling in the course. Throughout the semester, I wrote a strong paper that I was particularly proud of, in addition to a paper that I felt was weaker, and numerous papers in between. However, the weaker paper highlighted elements of writing that I will continue to refine moving forward. I actively participated in and regularly attended class, which helped me absorb the most amount of information as possible. I did many assignments and activities that were especially helpful, informative, and useful, although there were a few assignments that I would modify. This class addressed all the course objectives, and specifically helped me better understand and achieve several. Certain aspects of writing remain which I would like to learn more about, which goes hand in hand with the message that I took away from this course.

Howard Gardner an American developmental psychologist once said, “There are hundreds and hundreds of ways to succeed and many, many different abilities that will help you get there.” As an early childhood educator, I live by this quote. No child learns in the same way; therefore, no child can succeed in the same way. It has taken me until college to figure out what my definition of success is and how to achieve it. I feel most successful when I achieve the goals I have made for myself. My goals are not only the deadlines and due dates, but also personal education goals. I want to be successful in everything that I do because it gives me pride to know that I have done my best. I will be successful in this class by using Mr. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to gain insight into what will help me achieve my personal and professional goals.

In our everyday lives, we tend to categorize people because of their race, culture, their socioeconomic status, and judge people by their looks, age, ability, and gender. When I was working at a daycare past summer of grade 9, I met one Chinese girl who was around 4-5 years old. One time I witness her classmates making fun of her because she has a asian accent when she talks in English, her eyes are small, her mom works at a restaurant with low pay. Even during break, I would always see her sitting in a corner all alone, while others were having fun. Therefore, I took the courage to talk to her. Throughout the conversation, I realized that she was mad at herself because she has a different race from others, language barrier between her and her classmates and she was ashamed of her mother working at a restaurant because other parents work at a higher pay occupation.

She compared her life to a hurricane, a natural disaster that took everything in its path and destroy any shred of light in her life. Thus, the weeks turned into years of regressive behavior that led her to believe that she was not good enough to truly be herself. She only allowed herself to be her mother’s puppet, an item only used for public occasions, for if she ever became her own self, she would be outcasted. Yet, during those times I recall a shout in the cave of darkness, a murmured voice saying: Carpe Diem. Seize the day. My brother used those words when I was little —he was an extroverted fellow who vocalized whatever he felt because he was confident in whom he was. Nevertheless, I was an introverted, insecure, and self-conscious kid who was silenced by the public because they scared me. Fear ruled my actions. Fear ruled my mind. Fear ruled me; yet, my brother’s words rang a certain alarm in my head when I grew up. Thus, I realized that my individuality was stolen. My silence was bought, and my uniqueness was used as a weapon for society’s cruel expectations. I noticed that the world has so many beliefs, ideas, and aspirations that I wanted my own drum to beat in my own rhythm.

Writing is a tool that will be used throughout my lifetime. It is a tool that is worth taking the time to perfect because it will only be beneficial in the long run. On my writing assignments, I earn A’s, but I still have areas that I need to work on. The areas that I struggle the most would be with simple grammar errors such as the use of commas, writing with an active voice, and writing short,simple sentences. First of all, I often do not know where to place commas in my sentence. I struggle with this because I tend to add commas in the wrong place, so I have become confused with the proper use of commas. This is a small grammar error that I can easily correct by learning where and when commas are needed. I have also found and been told that I write in a passive voice when I should be using an active voice. This is a technique that I have to work on by practicing it and noticing the difference while I am writing and reading. Finally, I often write run on sentences or sentences that include unnecessary information. This makes my writing unclear and difficult for the reader to understand. I could improve by writing shorter and simpler sentences that include only the essential information to get my point across. I have noticed these mistakes in my writing and it has also been brought up by others, so I am currently working on improving it.

While I was duel enrolled in my local community college and in high school, I was wrapped up in the day to day aspects of my life because I had a lot of little things going on and hobbies that I enjoyed. My future career and being in a university seemed so distant so I didn't think about it much. It didn't occur to me until my first week in college that I really needed a plan and that my life is moving incredibly fast. It wasn't until then, that I really started to think about what I wanted to do with my life after I got out of college. I now find myself thinking about it every day, calling friends and family and researching different career paths for different majors.

The Jesus and Christian Community class at Fresno Pacific University is a course where a student can further develop their relationship and understanding of the Bible while discovering a relationship with Christ. All incoming freshmen are required to take this course as a part of their general education requirements which focuses on the book of Matthew, his interpretation, and the historical background of the Bible. One of our assignments is to help incoming pupils understand a certain verse and its purpose. The section we will be focusing on is the in Matthew chapter 17 verses 14 through 21 in addition to the Sadducees and other related topics. Jesus has followers which are the general public and disciples who are the people who claim to be devoted to God called the Pharisees and Sadducees. The faction of the disciples called the Sadducees are a group that are not characteristically what one would depict as humble servant of Christ. They followed their own set of rules and had standards that were different from the Pharisees, the followers of Christ, and Jesus himself. As we continue this discussion, we will see the importance of the verse in Matthew along with the roles the Sadducees and the things that influenced their cultural views.

There are over 4,200 religions throughout the entire world but I grew up in a Christian home believing that God is the way, the truth, and the life. Christianity is a religion of grace and mercy, but many people struggle to believe in a transcendent figure that they cannot see. I was taught that all concepts in the Bible were valid through the Nazarene church; these beliefs are confirmed, in my opinion by the plenary theory of inspiration. This is what I grew up believing about the Bible.

“Pay attention!” My abnormally boring teacher snaps at me as she struggles to catch my straying attention. I’ve just discovered that if I trail my eyes without moving my head, I can look at anything I want rebelliously and ignore the lesson. However, my teacher is less than thrilled. It’s as if she was just told to put a collar on a flying dog, which by the way is totally possible. She’s frustrated with me, as I’m the only child in this vast class who gives her this much trouble. I won’t even sit still and pretend like I know what’s going on around me. It’s not my fault, I just can’t understand, therefore I can’t pay attention to the “meaningless” words like ‘cookie’ or ‘ball.’ I can hear obviously, but what I’m supposed to be learning isn’t registering in my tiny five year old brain.

This is my second year at Longwood. Before coming here, I attended Richard Bland College with the hopes of being a pediatric physical therapist. Throughout the years at Bland, the hopes of being a P.T. changed. I have had different career goals I wanted to be a juvenile probational officer and a social worker. I always knew I wanted to work with kids and be an important figure in their lives. I grew a liking to kids when I became an Aunt. I have two nieces and two nephews and over the years as I watch them get older I enjoyed being around them. Every time I attend a family gathering you could always find me hanging with the kids. It was much easier to be myself around them because of my personality. I consider myself as an energetic, silly, playful, and compassionate individual. My journey at Longwood has not been easy due to my academic situation, choosing a minor, and future.

According to care.com, over two million children have a parent who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. At the beginning of third grade, my father received a letter from the government stating that he would be deployed for almost a year in Iraq. Nine years later, it registers that this experience helped me grow in many ways. Not only does it prove out that what he did and what he went through made and continues to make such a large impact on me, but his being gone encouraged me to value the time I have together with people. Once you don’t have the opportunity to be it affects you in countless ways. Such a big event in my life showed me how much I rely on him as a father, a friend, and a teacher, but it also showed me that when things are difficult I am able to handle them independently.

It felt as if each step I took was going to be my last at any second. It has been sixteen hours of just plain hunger, thirst, and exhaustion which worried me very much. I was walking for hours just to get to the “other side” while being 3 months pregnant. My over thinking became extreme but my main concern was if it was really worth my babies life incase something wrong happened? Who would have thought anyone could physically and mentally survive this kind of thing let alone a pregnant one, luckily here I am about to tell you the living nightmare I went through. I would not wish this experience on anyone walking on this earth, this journey was something I will never forget.

Over the course of the semester we have done numerous writing assignments in order to help us dig deeper into topics that we might not have known about previously and to improve our writing skills. I have never been an excellent writer. I’ve had trouble planning out where details would go in my past papers. However, there has been a clear improvement in my writing when looking back on the work that I have done in this class.

Over the history of this country, many families across the globe have come to the U.S. in hopes of a better life. My family was one of the many that decided to leave our home country and come to the United States. We never realistically imagined coming to America, but when we did, it was a real dream come true. Knowing I was coming to this country as a student was especially exciting for me personally. We were so excited about this new adventure and the opportunities we would have, despite the many challenges that lay ahead. Two of the obstacles I had to overcome, were having to learn a new language, and build new relationships.