Reflection Paper

The world around us shapes who we all are as people. Our experiences, whether surrounded by joy or failure, all help write the story of our lives.. Like the characters in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, I understand the importance of a family's devotion to one another, how gender could affect how you are treated, and how rapidly information could spread through a tight knit community. As for those in Thomas Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49, a twisted version of reality is something I have dealt with, like Oedipa. Using all of what I analyzed from the two books, I have come to believe that I am the way I am due to where I geographically grew up and my Hispanic heritage.

Do you know why you are still overweight? Do you understand the reason why you can't lose weight or not be able to keep it down and when you do you just jump back the other side plots as a bonus a few extra kilos you don't want?

Five things from the book that I find interesting are anxiety disorder, depression/major depressive disorder, sexual harassment, suicide, and panic attack. All five of these subjects I have chosen because, as a female in the 21st century, I have experienced every one of these emotions at least once in my life.

Throughout everyday life there are many occurrences that highlight that problems that we as a society experience on a daily basis. A lot of these occurrences happen so often that they’re over looked or just seen as the normal, which should not be the case. Depending on where you are and who you are can skew how you see things and how you react to them. My journal entries hone in on how I, a 22 year old black female from the middle class, saw these many experiences. My entries take a look into sexuality, race, stereotypes, and marriage; which are all topics that we have discussed in class to see how they are viewed in today’s day and time. Also, I was able to see how these experiences impact my everyday life as well as seeing how I reacted to these situations.

I can see it now. The day of judgment is before me, and I see the Lord standing in front of me for the first time. There’s nothing here to prepare anyone for this day, but all I know I can do is trust the Lord and know that he will take care of me, no matter what. At times I fear the day of the resurrection, but it also makes me really excited to see heaven and all of my loved ones that have passed away.

Every school has these four main academic subjects: English, Math, Science, History/Geography. The class I like the most in my eighth grade school year is History. This is because we get to learn about different time periods, different people, different religions, and so much more. We don't just sit in class and read out of a textbook. We get to do fun activities to help us understand more. While we work, we talk to our teacher and have funny and weird conversations. We make fun of each other and have a good laugh. I'm always excited to go to History class.

From the day I was born I’ve lived on a farm. It’s always been there, like an extension of the house I grew up in, we have a barn, sheds, fields, and pastures that are all as familiar to me as the different rooms of my house. Despite all of these familiarities though, I’ve never defined myself based off of where I came from, I was the same as everyone where I was from we all grew up in similar places and did most of the same things. I was actually the outlier because ever since middle school, I knew that I didn’t want to live in a place like that when I grew up, I knew that I wanted to move on to something else and that I would probably want to go to college. Almost ironically though these things that I never used to use to define myself, are some of my favorite things I’ve done and learned in my life so far. They may seem kind of stereotypical, but small towns having massive senses of community and farms giving you a certain kind of work ethic, are most definitely true. The importance of these things was instilled in me at a very young age, and I firmly believe that they’re what lead me not only to choosing Hamline, but that they helped me figure out that I want to go on to law school after my four years here are over. I’ve been asked so many times now that I’ve lost count if I miss being on my farm or how weird it is moving to the cities from such a small town, and honestly the squirrels are not a good substitute for all the animals my family and I have back home,

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.

Last summer my cousin and I were enjoying a meal with our families in China. It’s been 7 years since I last saw my cousin. We are about the same age and my favorite memory of her was celebrating her 11th birthday. I remember my uncle and aunt sitting to my right and my grandparents sitting to my left singing happy birthday as she blew out her candles. It has been so long I almost couldn’t recognize her when I arrived at the airport 2 weeks prior. My mom receives a call and leaves the room to pick up her phone. She comes back 10 minutes later in tears. She breaks the news to the family and that our trip would be cut short. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the following week, we pack up our bags and head out to the airport. She had to start treatment as soon as possible. I knew I would become the man of the house to take care of my mother and brother, who has autism, while my dad worked in New York.

To go along with being an athlete, I am a student. To be able to get playing time, you need to have good grades. My parents didn’t just push me to be a good athlete, but to get good grades. I had higher expectations compared to my brother. But that pushed me to keep my grades up and do get an A on assignments and tests. This impacted who I was and what I decided to value. It was important to my parents that I got good grades, but to me it was too because it helped me get into college and it made me feel good about myself. Being a student, just like being an athlete, teaches me to be diligent in the work that I have in front of me. It also teaches me time management, and what I need to get done compared to going out with my friends.

In school, I used to loathe the icebreakers that involved saying an interesting fact about oneself. I would fumble around and iterate some unoriginal sentiment about my favorite color or animal and leave without actually providing substance about myself. This all changed after I lost the vision in my right eye and could tell people about the three-inch needle that pierces my eye multiple times every year. I thoroughly enjoy watching people squirm as I chuckle and explain the process.

For the first nine years of my life, I grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood or what others called the “ghetto”. Growing up I knew the skin color spectrum and seeing someone with a different skin color never fazed me, however, I failed to notice who was in the minority. Within my bubble of a community, everyone lived in similar small houses. Our style of clothing wasn’t much of a concern, and what really mattered was just owning something to wear, unless it was a birthday party or any party to be exact. During the week parents worked hard to the point of exhaustion. For children, it meant that we didn't see much our parents and when we did they were too tired for interaction.

In my senior year of high school, I earned my Certified Nurse Aid licensure. This was a huge accomplishment for me because I would love to have a job in the medical field and this was an opportunity to get my foot in the door. I was hired by a nursing home in Wilmington, I couldn’t wait to go to work and start making real money. I have to admit, I was mainly excited for the huge pay raise compared to my previous landscaping job. When I started my job, I was mainly working to earn a paycheck. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my job wasn’t just a job. My duties as a Certified Nurse Aid included assisting the residents with everyday activities, cleaning, and recording vitals. In the beginning, I found myself just going through the motions and doing whatever was asked of me. Normally, I work third shift which is from 11pm-7pm. I decided to work this shift because I wouldn’t have to give up my precious hours during the day. Also, I assumed it would be easier because all the residents would be asleep. I really enjoyed my job, I knew I was helping people and that made me feel good. It just didn’t seem to sink in that what I was doing was having a huge impact on other people’s lives. Soon enough. I would realize how important my job was.

Many people are usually shaped through the challenges and obstacles that they come across throughout their lifetime. I grew up with parents who immigrated here and knowing about their history helped me grow a lot throughout my childhood. I have grown to know about and going through struggles that my parents have gone through. I am now a hard worker and plan to use this characteristic to a good use when going to through college and pursuing my career path. I am also humble and thankful for everything that I have because my parents never had most of the things that my siblings and I have. Throughout my life, I have learned to grow through my parents and their history. Learning about my culture has also helped me grow as a person.

In the video we see an elementary teacher, teaching a reading strategy called summarizing in a whole group lesson. In the video I observed her use strategies such as direct instruction, modeling, cooperative learning, and independent practice. She begins the lesson by setting the objective of learning and using the summarizing strategy when reading. During this whole group learning, she is modeling the summarizing strategy in order for her students to mimic the strategy so they can internalize it, in hopes for the students to use the strategy when reading in order to become self-regulated learners. At one point of the video, the teacher uses a peer sharing strategy where the teacher ask the students to turn to their neighbor and come up