Reflection Paper

Graduating from a school with less than 500 total students in grades Pre-k through 12, my class consisted of 19 students. Due to the modest size, most student athletes participated in multiple sports. In fact, I was on the basketball, baseball and track team going into my senior year.

The United States has always been known as a melting pot; a country where different ethnicities, cultures, and religions could congregate to in order to escape from conformity. A country where people could go in order to start a family and raise their children in a diverse environment. A place where everyone from different backgrounds is represented and everybody can share their ideals and experiences and feel welcomed. That is what I was told growing up, that is what teachers and mentors engraved into my brain, and it wasn’t until I was seventeen-years-old when I realized that is far from the truth. My language and perspectives are constricted due to the fact I grew up in the United States, and all it took was one trip overseas for me to discover the diversity of the world in comparison to America.

So this is the paper on what I have learned personally through my first semester of college. Throughout the beginning of my first semester I tried to treat it like high school. High school for me was always a breeze the teachers were decent the classes were filled with people I don’t really like but act like I do for the sake of getting through each day, the curriculum was easy, and nothing really stressed me out. College, as I learned was an entirely different monster. The classes were full of people who I didn’t know and who probably wouldn’t bat an eye if I showed up with my hair messed up or my clothes wrinkled. Full of faces that are only there to take notes and pass a test. That was the biggest adjustment, people don’t care about other people. Theyre there for themselves and their own personal agenda is what comes first. The initial feeling of being by myself was weird, it didn’t matter what the person next to me was doing nor did it matter what you were doing. Every choice you made was solely reliant on you. In high school if you pull out your phone the teacher gets onto you and takes it away. In college if you want to waste time on your phone you can, people do it consistently too. I’ve seen people playing games on their laptops, watching soccer games, instant messaging their mom. There is a lot of not paying attention for some people and at the beginning of the year I would occasionally get on Instagram or snapchat instead of paying attention because I still had

As humans of society, we all crave the respect and friendships of our colleagues. Unfortunately, choosing to walk in my Christian faith made those two components difficult to grasp.

Michael Jordan said talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. This mentality is precisely the case with the compensation project. Individually, everyone could have finished the project however by working with others the project became more polished and finished quicker. In class, discussions with my group allowed me to gain exceptional insight on topics which previously I would have overlooked. Teamwork forced me to open up and look inwards to find how I was limiting the team and way to improve myself.

What Shapes a child's mind? A main influence on the development of a child's mind is the authority figures in their life. What they say and do influences how the child reacts to situations and feels. In my Sophomore year of high school I was introduced to the new head coach for the high school soccer team. This man would shape the person I became in the matter of one year.

During my first year of highschool, I was held to a higher standard, than my previous years at middle school. A lot of the teachers at my school were preparing us for a college level experience. One teacher, especially, was pretty hard on us and she was the English teacher. The first major paper that was assigned was a research paper that had to discuss a historical event and how that event impacted the world. Since this was my first major paper and I was used to this kind of writing, I ended up writing specifically about Alexander the Great and the wars that he fought in. I specifically detailed the battles and what was going on, but I did not talk about how it impacted the world. My teacher offered to proof read the papers two days before the deadline so we could fix any critical errors. I showed her my paper and she said that if I turned that paper in, I would receive an F on the paper. I always strive to get good grades and to pass with all A’s, so when my teacher said this, I immediately realized how important writing could be and I started to develop my writing skills. All of the factors that were in this situation, made it a rhetorical situation.

One of the easiest and sometimes hardest papers to write are ones that are a reflection on what you have learned over the course. I enjoy reflection papers because it allows me to put what I have thought and felt the whole class onto one paper. It can be difficult because two to three pages really isn’t a lot of space if you feel very passionate but I find a way to make it work. This class was a last minute add on for me because I switched majors to graduate a little earlier. I thought that I was done taking writing classes for a very long time but here I am finishing the tenth week of another writing class. I always get very nervous before taking a writing class because I don’t see myself as the best writer but somehow I manage to still get pretty decent grades. After about the second or third week I realize that I do enjoy writing classes because it gives me an outlet to really write about things that I have passion for while also teaching me something that will be useful later in life.

In Elizabeth’s classroom there are various activities going on all about Egypt, there are students demonstrating how ancient kings were mummified for burial. The students are learning about Ancient Egypt, but they are doing it in an atypical way. The activities and lessons are not teacher driven, instead the students are working in collaborative groups except one student and they are working on student driven projects. Some students are learning about pyramids. The classroom brings on a new meaning to organized chaos. A teacher who really needs structure in the classroom may have a difficult time with a classroom that is organized like Elizabeth’s. There are a few areas of concern when approaching student driven activities like what is being done in Elizabeth’s classroom. One concern is how can she ensure that all her students are learning the required content. To me this can be done a couple of ways. She could use formative assessments throughout the learning process as a way to assess if the students are learning the content. These can be as simple as observations of the students collaborating together, or as concrete as a pen/paper quiz over the required content. Another way is to establish content specific rubrics that are differentiated to meet the needs of each group’s specific projects. Of course the rubrics need to be presented and reviewed with the students several times throughout the process. Prior to beginning their assignments and then revisited in weekly

As I consider what is in America’s future, I look towards the same ideals and values that formed the foundation of America when it first began. I can foresee the citizens of this nation upholding these principles in high regards and improving upon how they are applied for generations to come. Some of that which makes America the greatest country in the free world would include: the ability to express oneself, the right to be treated the same by all, standing up for what is right, working together for a common goal, and showing pride in our nation.

Since I took U.S history and AP Government in high school, I was not completely blind to issues regarding the government prior to taking this course. I knew how the government worked in terms of the separations of powers, the bureaucracy, civil liberties and civil rights, and the different branches of it. Therefore, I did understand the function and the purpose of the government, however, I did not understand them all too well to believe that my trust in the government was high. I see the bad in the good, and the good in the bad, therefore, I was skeptical of the government when it came to certain issues. Furthermore, I like to see all sides of an issue before I take a sand on it, this causes me to be confused as to where I stand in regards to my political thoughts and attitudes. Overall, however, I consider myself to be very liberal when it comes to politics and policy making, especially in regard to women’s rights, immigration, education, global warming and the environment, as well as health care. However, I am still confused of where I stand on certain issues, especially regarding issues such as affirmative action. In essence, I am still figuring out what my political thoughts and attitudes are, but the beliefs I currently have are highly due to my political socialization and hopefully with the information I learned in this course I can continue to better understand certain issues and how I identify with them.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Over the past year, I have felt the true feelings of spiritual and emotional growth. This past year, I started at a new school, which in its self was a big change for me, I joined a new church and changed my major in school. Shortly after starting at Towson University the thoughts of changing my major from music to business arose on many occasions. Along with that came the struggle to no longer pursue music as a career. To come to a decision I continuously went to God in prayer, aside from the decision to switch my major from Music to Business, my relationship with God increased ten-fold. Along with this great decision going on I also started to attend counseling at the school’s health center. With the progression of my sessions with my counselor, I slowly but surely addressed some of my inner demons dealing with myself, my mother, and my biological mother. With this came some pushback from some family and friends, telling me “you don’t need counseling, you have God’ and etc. God really reviled himself through this because there were times when my counselor and I would discuss something and the same day or on the following Sunday my pastor, or a minister would repeat the words of my counselor in a sermon or in personal conversation. The relief of finally knowing how to address my feelings and emotions in life situations is

The locker room is silent, but why? We are less than two hours from Massabesic High School’s first playoff appearance and everyone is sitting in silence; everybody is playing with their lacrosse heads, anxiously stringing them for the third time today. Why are we not excited? Why are we not blaring music? Why are we not jumping up and down, acting like idiots like we always do? I am pacing around the locker room and walking in and out, with the occasional stop at the bathroom to make sure I am not going to throw up. We have spent way too long rebuilding this team to throw the season away now. There are two aspects to being on a sports team that are not captured on the field but have a huge impact on winning: how everyone is acting in the locker room, and how we warm up when we take the field.

Beginning in September 1981, I was cheese-bused (school-bused) from Steele School to Mayfair Elementary in Northeast Philadelphia beginning in second grade. Amazingly, we were accepted in the desegregation program, which allowed minorities to start seeking education outside their own neighborhoods. I thought that the desegregation process began in the 60s, but I guess these Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods remained defiant on keeping us out. I remember the green application form and clearly written on top of it “Desegregation”. Not knowing what it meant back then, I was clearly blind to the fact that racism still existed and unfortunately still does. Northeast Philadelphia was the place where the Irish lived. Rowhomes lined the streets and were always kept clean on the outside. There was always tension about going to the Northeast for anyone who wasn’t white. Initially, we weren't welcomed from the neighborhood, but the school had no choice, but to let us in.

Pastors need mentors, mentees, and true peers. I have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with two pastor colleagues both in very different places in life and ministry. Yet, even from these different places, all three of us share some very basics understandings and needs as we strive to serve the church. Rev. Bev Dempsey and Rev. Nikki Brown Rice are the two selected clergy persons I chose for this connection exercise. All the best plans were intended to email and create a great long thread of emails to turn in. One thing we all have in common is that we are much better face-to-face connections than in email. Therefore, when given the chance to decide to connect through email versus personal conversations, we all agreed on personal conversations.