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.

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.

Writing has never been one of my strengths. Even in high school, when I took an AP English literature course, I did not enjoy writing papers if need be. Since I did not fancy writing papers, I never developed a systematic writing process. I would write the paper last minute and pray for an A, but college doesn’t work like that. When I came to college, I placed into music classes first so that I could develop those skills, thus leaving my core classes (including English) on the backburner. Although I do not regret this decision, having a two-year gap between English classes made it difficult to readapt. Instead of spending hours practicing instruments and music theory, I faced the challenging task of shifting gears to spend a majority of my time behind my laptop. How was I supposed to manage this new workload?

The greatest lessons and the greatest teachers I have had in life have not been in school. I believe the greatest learning takes place when you are exposed the suffering of humanity. I gained insight, compassion, and empathy.

I’m a highly academically driven student and have several, quite lofty, goals for my time here at Texas A&M. I want to maintain a 4.0 GPA, or at least a minimum of a 3.5 in order to maintain my Cornerstone Honors status. My dream, and biggest goal, is to intern for a congressperson in Washington, D.C., and I also want to study abroad, hopefully in England.

We all grow up differently, with a different background and story that follows but, it’s not likely reading and writing are a factor to who we are. When I was two years old, I was consistently having surgeries on my right hand because of my hand disorder called syndactyly. I was used to having help consistently, never honestly did the work for myself but, as time progressed into the fifth grade the reality of school hit me hard. I had a cast on my arm from surgery and was dreadfully struggling to keep up in any of my classes. I failed math that same year and, was clinging to social studies an English by a thread. I was surrounded around intelligent role models yet, I was struggling and didn't take school serious enough. That summer was my final summer before entering into middle school which meant I had to do a summer assignment called “Summer Reading”. Two books, two pages of summaries, for both journal logs, and much more, I wasn't hopeful that I could do it by myself. had much pride that somebody wowed do it for me.

Although I have a lot more to figure out about myself, I have learned a lot about myself and the people of America while taking this course thus far. I have been able to, make a lot of connections between myself and the topics we have discussed in class and making sense of things that have happened to me throughout my life. I recall discussing issues such as colorism and white privilege, love, the treatment of blacks in America, the meaning of “African American” and black education plus a lot more during this course.

As I began to reflect back upon my life and the incidents that have turned me into the writer I am today, I smiled as I began to remember some of my earliest childhood memories. Shortly after, my entire class was erupting with laughter as we shared stories about each other from our youth. The reminiscing of what has turned us into the writers we are today opened up the opportunity for all of us to share our memories and laugh about our elementary days. Through the reflecting I shared a very notorious memory from kindergarten involving our teacher. As I spoke about the memory I realized that it was the memory that has influenced me the most as a writer.

I remember, when I was in 4th grade, I used to try to write books or stories. When I was younger, I loved to read with my mom. After we would read something, would try to write something similar to the book we had finished. My mom would help me read books like The Magic Tree House by simplifying and slowing everything down for me so I could better understand what was going on and why. Nina Sankovitch, a reader who blogs about what she reads, captures my feelings when she talks about how “I discovered new wells of resilience and joy, empathy and beauty” (Sankovitch). When I was younger, I did not always know how to capture these emotions, but my goal was always to make a story and try to recreate those feelings. It was a real accomplishment for me because, while this was happening, I struggled with reading in class. When I first started reading, I would dread being called upon, though I liked to write stories of what I read on my own. Now, I do not enjoy to reading anymore.

Mrs. Anderson is the 5th -grade teacher. She has 25 students, but two of her students disrupt the whole class by arguing and fighting with each other. Zack has a specific learning disability in reading. He likes math and geometry, he is a quiet worker during independent work and likes to stay after school to feed a guinea pig. Patrick enjoys telling funny stories and being limelight. He is an average student, likes sports. According to Mrs. Anderson’s observation, Zack likes to argue with Patrick, yelling or crying on Patrick’s teasing or even pushing Patrick if he doesn’t respond to his request. Patrick teases Zack and other students by name calling or making hurtful comments. When called on during class discussion Patrick can give unrelated or inappropriate information ( Star Sheet). It’s a few critical goals for Zack and Patrick to focus during this semester:

Problems will always arise no matter what you do. It can be the smallest and simple things or it could be the biggest problem you have ever faced so far. A problem that I want to solve is my education, primarily with math. Math has always been a struggle with me. Since enter high school I tried and used many different study habits and note taking skills. None seem to work, minus one. It wasn’t the best time saver but I was able to remember the questions and how to the solve the problem faster. As a senior, I had enough credits to no longer take math. I was happy that I wouldn’t have to suffer anymore and no longer take it, so I thought. I started thinking, is this really the best I can do? No, it wasn’t. I want to challenge myself even more.

In our lives, many events impact us, but, everyone has one situation that is most important to them. One of the most influential events in my life would be when I joined the East Ascensions Advanced Chorus. I enjoyed practicing and performing in class, concerts, musicals and other events, but I enjoyed being with my choir members more. Joining the choir had such an impact on me because I eventually stepped out my comfort zone for the first time, I no longer felt like I did not fit in and gained the self-confidence I always wanted.

When I was in 8th grade at Niu Valley Middle School my English teacher assigned a poem project and we had to record ourself reciting a poem that we made about nature. We also had to make a slideshow with pictures that represented what we were saying. The teacher, Ms. Fujimoto, assigned students two weeks to complete the project. During the first week after the project was given, every English class was dedicated to working on the poem project. Throughout this time I decided not to do anything and just go on my phone because I thought the project was very simple and would take little to no time to complete. I was also very tired and the room was like a sauna and it was boiling me until I was soaking with sweat. I vividly remember staring

Growing up as a child it was confusing originating from a hispanic family in a country where English was the core language customs at home were foreign, very diverse in comparison to the American culture. As a cause of Spanish being my native tongue at the start of primary school I was put into ESL separated from the regular standardized classes. There were instances my childlike self would curse my luck from belonging to a totally different cultural background. Ir was frustrating and bothering beyond belief that learn wasn't coming to me as efficiently or smoothly as other students by grade level. Reading Comprehension, writing and speaking were always my core struggles in primary school, while other students had mastered reading their first chapter books I had yet to have mastered a simple picture book. While I struggled to understand simple history facts others had know it by heart since their parents were well educated and born into this country, making history a given for them in particular. Even asking for help was taunting for there was no help at home available for assistance, my parents would try but fail to help me comprehend what the teachers deemed me to be capable of learning being of little help since they themselves were foreign to the English Language . Throughout my elementary school begging older neighborhood kids for homework help” was my daily routine i was an only child back then. The one person who was always willing to help me out of all my neighbors was an older girl named Julia. Out of everyone in her grade she was the smartest the most intelligent it was always her who would accept coming straight after school to my house teaching, showing me how reading can be manageable tricks that always appeared to emit the fun side to every boring aspect. Julia became my role model from then on she was someone admirable, estimable at such a young age she was independent, and wise flr her age there wasn't an instant since knowing her that she has asked for help academically or on anything else in particular. Julia was the type of person who cared for others and selflessly helped anyone around her to the best of her abilities. My whole character formed around her in a way. Her personality and

As I have gotten older, my mom has not been as physical with me like she was when I was younger, but she still shows her emotions to me. She is happy one minute and then the next she is very angry and blames everything on me. I have even tried talking to her about how she is and who she is and every time I do, she gets physical and kicks me out of the house. I have gotten to where I do not care anymore and I do not talk to her. I try to have good days with her, but I know if I say anything I will ruin our day and she will be angry. I am very grateful that my mom is not physical with me like she used to be; that has helped me grow as a person. I still feel like am trying to find who I am. I am 21 years old, and this fall will be one of the first times that I leave my family and I will not be with them every day. A year ago, I moved to North Carolina. I had a job and a place to stay and my relationship with my mom was so much better then when we are together. I wish this was not the case, but it is. I am struggling right now with her because we are at the point where we need a break from each other, but there is nowhere for me to go, so I am holding on until the fall.