Self Reflection Paper 2

I chose to base my studies on J because we shared a lot in common; we are both Christians living in a predominantly Muslim country. He is eleven years old. His parents are Jordan nationals who have lived in Bahrain for at least two years. J goes to school at Naseem International School where I work. The school offers PYP programs. Lessons are conducted in English; however, Arabic lessons are also offered per week. Majority of kids in this school are Muslims most of whom are Bahrainis. Other nationalities making the student population are Saudis, Lebanese, Jordanians, few South Africans, and other Arabian Gulf countries. Teachers are a mixture of nationalities. Some of them are Arabs, others South Africans, while some are Europeans.

Growing up is a journey we all have to travel. Everyone makes their own paths on an adventure of change. Along the way, the path will be beautiful and smooth-sailing, bumpy and rough, and sometimes conflict will appear out of the blue. At times forks in the road will show up and decisions must be made. Change is inevitable. Throughout a lifetime decisions made will be small and slight, or huge and major. It does not matter because one decision can change one’s path completely. Even the slightest change can make the difference. The decision could even be a change of hairstyle. A change in hairstyle could lead to a new fashion sense, to a new genre of music, to a completely new person. I myself have noticed many differences and similarities between my middle school self and now; and it is only the beginning.

Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. (Eds.). (2012). Foundations of addiction counseling (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

I was inspired by the content this week so much so that I incorporated digital storytelling into the UNIV 100 course I am teaching. One of the requirements for the course is to attend four outside events and write a one-page paper about each experience. The third paper is due within two weeks, and students have tended to dread the activity, waiting until the last minute to decide on the event and submit the paper.

It’s 11:50 PM the night before a social studies project is due. I have just finished gluing down the last clean cut and perfectly centered piece of paper to my project board. I stand back and look at my work; everything is neat to my liking and the craftsmanship is impeccable. As usual, I probably spent triple the amount of time as my classmates to complete this project, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Oh, and I’m in 5th grade.

This semester in English 1302 my perspective on writing has immensely changed. In the previous semester I struggled and nearly passed by a hair because I did not clearly understand the objectives that were given. In this semester, my mistakes had to be fixed. Although it was a process, I finally got around to clearly understanding what the objectives were for English 1302 and how to apply them to my papers for this course.

Fall 2015 semester was the first time in several years that I drove. I had serve anxiety surrounding driving as a result of a car accident. This affected my attendance greatly as I either missed classes from not being able to leave my driveway or was late from pulling over to calm myself down. I did not want my issues with driving to adversely affect others on the road, hence, I had to rely on family and friends to drive me when they could.

I wonder if everyone, despite their varying backgrounds from one another, has experienced “imposter syndrome” at some point in their life. There are numerous ways in which one can feel out of place, as I can firmly attest to. I feel like an outsider all of the time. Dating back as far as my early childhood, my personality and my interpretation of my personality, has lead me to believe that something is very wrong with me. Why am I so different from the outgoing and energetic people I see in movies and even in my everyday life? Why are there so many misconceptions about people like me, and why am I starting to actually believe that they are true? I can recall many experiences in my life in which I have felt inadequate compared to my

Throughout one’s life we are defined by a wide multitude of aspects. We are defined by moments, by people, by society, by our parents; this is just a short snippet of the pieces of our lives that help us- and society- to define who we are. The creation of who we are begins to form from the moment we enter the world kicking and screaming, as if we are already trying to stave off the misconceptions that others will form about us. For many people, including myself, the person(s) who raise(d) you have strong roots in the origins of our attitudes, values, and beliefs.

It is incredible how a few weeks can affect a person’s knowledge and skills. I described my lack of using writing in the preliminary writing assignment, knowing I had plenty of room for improvement. By utilizing the knowledge I gained within my first few weeks of school, I received a surprisingly pleasant grade on my reflection paper which revealed my writing strengths; similarly, exposing my weaknesses. Knowing my writing skills have improved slightly makes me determined to continue improving my strengths, ultimately transforming my writing weaknesses into strengths while I continue building new skills in writing.

The concept that one person is better than another based on unchangeable characteristics is a frivolous yet extremely prevalent doctrine that is accepted and conserved by a great number in our society. Race, class, sexuality and gender all determine ones privilege and power which, for me, has had a direct link to my own self worth. I have categorized myself habitually and have either increased or decreased my self confidence in accordance to my class, gender, sexuality, and race.

I am now approaching the conclusion of my college career and starting to adjust to work life. This is a period of self-reflection and an attempt to put everything I learned into perspective. During this period of my life, I have been constantly thinking and contemplating my future. I feel very anxious yet nervous during this time while I am adjusting to this new stage of my life. When I was in High school my life was very structured, because I could be very dependent on peoples help and I obviously still lived with my family. When I went to college, I had to break away from that feeling of dependency and start the adjusting to adulthood. In college there was more responsibility and I started to become more independent. This was a crucial step in my life but choosing a career is going to be an even bigger step. It is a bigger step because; I have to start structuring my career goals and family goal for the future. At this moment all I can think about is my career, and how I can I keep improving myself for work life.

I am about ten years old in elementary school. The foundations that will dictate the rest of our educational career are embedded here. We’re all beginning to become self aware, realising we are separate entities from the others around us, although we haven’t quite understood what that means. We have also begun to wonder what our private parts are meant for and why they come in two different sets. We’re told about these “changes” that we’ll undergo in the next years, how our bodies will change and how we’ll come to resemble our mothers and fathers. In a class of 30 you can pick out four of the girls whose bodies have already begun to morph into something entirely different. I’m not among them, but I wonder about what I’ll turn into when my body starts changing. I am thin and tall with very long hair, but I don’t feel very pretty and I’ve convinced myself that I am not human because if I was then I would like the other girls in my class. The adults around me tell me I’ll grow into myself which isn’t a concept ten-year-old me can fathom and so the adults probably just feel sorry for little ugly me.

Scrunch a piece of paper. Now try to smoothen the mess out. Does the sheet of paper return back to its original state? I’m sure it doesn’t. “Breaking someone’s trust is like crumpling up a perfect piece of paper. You can smooth it over, but it’s never going to be the same again,” said by an unknown author. In the year of 2015, my family hit its breaking point. An event no one expected, however, I foresaw. I knew at that moment everything from that point on would be different.

In high school, countless obstacles are thrown your way that can decrease motivation, happiness, and overall mental well-being. Jobs, dating, friendships, and other high school normalities can have a substantial impact on a student’s life as well as their motivation to maintain favorable grades and perform well in extracurriculars. These have the power to diminish a person’s self-esteem and even induce harmful tendencies or thoughts. In response to these unfortunate realities, I continued to remind myself of those who built me up during my life as well as those who tried to bring me down. This mentality helped keep myself on track with where I desired to be when I graduated. During the process, I even learned that people or events that damage or pain you, can become one of your greatest motivators.