Reflection Paper

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 better understanding of the certain processes required to create successful essays. I realized that it was extremely important to stay on task, manage my time wisely, and organize my information in a way that would make the writing process easier. This realization and understanding ultimately allowed me to easily take on more extensive assignments, such as the Rhetorical Advocacy Project.

Every religion has different beliefs. I personally am Catholic, so we believe in some things that other people do not. Since I am Catholic we believe in having Godparents; it is almost like having a second set of parents, but they do not live under the same roof. Having Godparents is like having backup parents. If your parents pass away the Godparents would raise you and take care of you. Godparents are the ones who are supposed to help children understand things about God and their religion. They also make sure children are going down the right path in life. Sometimes I still question: What is the correct path in life? There are a variety of different paths that I could take, but sometimes I do not know which one is the perfect one; this is when my Godparents help me discover which path is the one for me.

Defeated, embarrassed, humbled… These are just a few of the emotions that I felt as I sat alone in the back corner of an empty restaurant on a Saturday night. The accumulation of recent failures was unfamiliar, and too much to handle. In front of two thousand people, I had just suffered a second-to-last finish, running a time that a year ago in high school would have earned a medal at the Area meet. I had run decently for myself, and still never had I experienced such defeat. On top of that, I was coming off of my first semester of college where I had received the first C of my life. Should I have gone to a smaller school to run? Had I underestimated the difficulty of the college engineering curriculum? Was this student-athlete life even for me? I poured over all of these questions. I came to the conclusion that I either had to quit, or I had to make a change.

Throughout my four years of high school I have attended many classes, sport events, and had many other experiences that changed my view on life. As i later look back on these experiences. I see how much they really changed my view on people, the way I treat them and about life in general. Over the years, all of these experiences and situations have built me up and turned me into the person that I am today.

The lessons that I develop follow a specific format that includes challenging, measurable objectives, appropriate pacing for each component of the lesson, appropriate student engagement strategies, activities, materials, pre-assigned groupings, and helpful resources. For example, I implement strategies and activities within lessons in order to provide students with an excited experience while learning. Within my well-structured lessons, I ensured that I included rituals and routines that students were familiar with. I also provided students with appropriate responses if students had a misconception about the current topic in order to avoid students feeling of embarrassment or frustration. For instance, during a phonics lesson, a student wrote the word "dat" instead of the word "bat." When seeing the misconception of letter reversals, I made the comment to be sure of the direction of their written letters and to remember that "b has a belly and d wears a diaper." Seeing that this misconception was evident, I provided students with a visual of these letters on the whiteboard. Following all lessons that I teach, I reflect upon my practices and continuously ask my supervising practitioner how the previous lesson went and I state what I feel as though I could improve, as I have the tendency to grasp when I make mistakes or could provide clarification for students. I also reflect on my teaching performance when watching recorded videos and listening to voice recordings of my

During this course, I have developed a new and useful skillset. One skill I can away from this course is that developed better argument skills. We have been assigned several assignments revolving around what is an “argument” and learning when and how to argue. My arguing skills have since increased and become more polished. I can use my new-found skills at work, in conversations, and at work. These tools will help me advance my conversations and language. I believe that this skill will benefit me primarily in work settings.

Students all attend school, for the same reason, and that is to learn. While most of the time we are being taught the same material, our school experiences vary from student to student and from school to school. Some countries schoolings are known far and wide for their academic performance and then there are some that don't even have basic schooling necessities. Some experiences are so wonderful, you never forget them. Others are so bad it's impossible to forget about them. I have had my own fair share of experiences be it domestic where I was shunned or foreign experiences which gave me a whole new perspective on education. It is these very experiences that have made me who I am today, a strong, critical-thinking and compassionate person.

This past year has been a learning experience that has led me to where I am today, attending Citrus. I graduated from Glendora High School in May of two-thousand sixteen with the intention of moving away to school and attending the University of Arizona; however, within the week post-graduation I decided it would be in my best interest to take some time away from the books. I love education and every ounce of learning. My school work, grades, and attendance have always been a top priority, but I began to feel as if I was a car running out of gas, I knew that if I went into my freshman year at a university with the mindset I had and the drive I was lacking, I probably would not be very successful nor would I get very far. For me to figure out myself and where I desire to be a break was needed from not only school, but also this town. Unfortunately, my gap year wasn’t filled with any crazy stories of finding myself while lost backpacking or traveling, but it was filled with personal growth amidst new coworkers, a newer environment, and a boyfriend as well as some family. I moved to Arizona anyhow and that is where I did most of my recent growth. Now you’re probably wondering how I landed myself back in Glendora, a question I now have the confidence to answer. Arizona was great, I love it, and it holds such a large part of my heart however I could not muster up an ounce of motivation to go back to school. I felt too comfortable with what I had and feared going back with

At this moment there is currently 7,430,931,842 people in the world. Nearly 3 billion of those people are currently living in poverty. Today, 350,000 babies will be born. The world, continues to grow, to prosper, as I sit in my bedroom staring out the window waiting for creativity to strike and give me the words that so effortlessly describe me. There is currently only one person in the world with the name Gabrielle Vozzi, and right now she is attempting to describe something that is indescribable: herself.

Throughout our discussion there were several intriguing and engaging questions that were asked and sparked a good conversation among our group. One moment where I believe I was most successful in the discussion, was throughout minutes six through sixteen. Throughout this time, we discussed how the Party’s control in 1984 can be seen in the world around us today such as in North Korea. This question was first prompted by Leo but what I feel made this our groups most engaging point was how everyone added to the question by rephrasing it, or adding additional information and perspectives, or incorporating it into aspects they are most passionate about in their lives. From this point, I related it to history and how history can be rewritten to correct ways a nation or person has morally failed. I used the example of slavery to show this point. Starting from about minute eight I discuss with my group how according to an article my English class read last year, Texas history textbooks teach slavery based on how it economically impacted the South rather than by teaching the dehumanizing and awful treatment of other people. This question and the points brought up by this question were what I found to be most engaging. Our group spent nearly ten minutes on this point, because this point took a personal side and everyone had something to discuss from it. I believe the passion developed from this point is what made this not only my most successful moment but one of our groups best

Leading up this stress reduction course, I have had a history of letting things get to me (even small things). This would build up, and at times in my life I have had to withdraw from some commitments in order to practice the self-care that I did not consistently provide myself. I had a stressful adolescence, and my adult life has just started to become more stable and happier in the last 6 years. A lot of this change has to do with my effort to live more mindfully/practice meditation, which can be transferred to my every day interactions, cognitive processing/appraising, and caring for myself and others in my life. I jumped at the opportunity to take a stress reduction course because I knew that there was room for improvement in my methods of self-care, mindful living, and stress management efforts overall.

Children often repress memories from their childhood due to lack of will to remember or lack of wanting to remember. Tragedy or uncomfortable childhoods help cause children to forget what has happened to them. Growing up, I didn’t have the best childhood and often struggle with recalling any details from it. Now being grown up, the only thing I am certain that I remember is going to school, my teacher’s names, and things that I did at school. School was a place where I went to escape my home life. If someone were to ask me how to define my school experience it would be: Safe-haven. When I was at school, I was so absorbed in learning that all I could focus on was my education. After school, I would come home and play “school” with my brothers with reverse roles. I would be their teacher and they would be my students. I would explain and teach them in depth the things I had learned that day. The overall main reason that school was so enjoyable for me was because of the teachers. The teachers that I had in elementary school helped to instill my love for learning. They also helped me realize that I wanted to help kids such as they helped me. In addition, they gave me my dream. My dream has then be to become a teacher and help my students escape from whatever happens when they are not at school. I hope to have all my students in love with the learning process so therefore school can be their place of forget. They can come into my classroom and forget everything that is wrong with the rest of their life. As time passed and I am now a college student, my love for learning has continued to grow and has had me want to become the best teacher I can be. My ultimate goal and dream in life is to become an Elementary Education teacher that makes a difference to her students, whether that is making them feel safe, or helping them learn to love school.

It was two and a half years ago, in Conroe, Texas. The sun beat down and drew every bit of moisture from my breath. Every move that was made was a sweaty and laborious process. I was atop a steel frame, eight stories in the air. Laying on my belly with my feet dangling over the side pulling measurements and creating pools of sweat in my safety glasses. This was a typical Monday for an ironworker; pouring sweat by 8:00 a.m., cursing the sun, and disregarding your own personal safety to benefit someone else’s interests.

I stood atop a wooden stage found in an auditorium located in the University of Toledo. While standing there, Dan Stark, the Toledo region’s current engineer of the year, handed me a scholarship while the sound of applause filled the large building. The framed sheet of paper had a four-digit number written in it in large font: $1,000. To understand the circumstances that led up to this event one must observe the past and how I learned the importance of hard work.

From the early moments of my childhood, I remember seeing my parents go to Russian Orthodox Church a lot. They would explain to my younger brother and me what was right and what was wrong from the religious perspective. On my 4th birthday, my grandma gave me the Bible for kids as a present, and I remember my mom reading it to me before going to bed. Back then it was just another interesting story that happened somewhere very far away. And yet mom would always find a way to tell these stories in such a manner so they translated really well into the reality we were living in. The more I grew up the more I realized that there was something missing in the big picture of my understanding of the world. I saw a lot of suffering that was happening everywhere, death, natural disasters, and I thought there must be a reason for all of it. Otherwise, the God does not care about any of us. I started to look for the answers everywhere: in the philosophical and religious books, movies, wise counsel from the people who lived a long life. I could not find the truth in church because the whole purpose of its existence with all its rules and restrictions, its idea of God who is something or someone out there, separate from us, and the only being that knows all the answers, was totally alien to me; mainly so due to my unwillingness to accept the fact of transferring all the responsibility for everything one does to someone else. I believed it to be a weakness to acknowledge one’s bad thoughts and deeds as something natural, as an external influence of the evil spirits. For me, it sounded like people who agreed with this concept simply wanted to escape the punishment for what they had done, choose an easy way out.