Student Reflection Essay

When I first got accepted into Stuyvesant High School, I heard countless of rumors stating: “Oh the workload is terrible”, “The competition is so fierce” or “Out of schoolwork, extracurriculars, or sleep: you can only pick two.” I found it hard to let it faze me, since I graduated from one of the most prestigious middle schools. However, the rumors transformed into reality when I stepped into Mr. Nieves’ Freshman Composition Class. The workload at the beginning of the year was brutal, coupled with assignments from other core classes that seem unaware of the workload of other teachers. Reading assignments were a regular, and there were journal entries and occasional quizzes to keep us in line. What made it bearable was the friends I made in that class; everyone had their own opinion about the topic we were talking about, and listening to other perspectives really broadened my horizon and enriched my learning experience in Stuy. Another thing that this class has taught me is the importance of time management, a skill that I will carry on for the rest of my high school career and life. When I choose to sign up for Mr. Nieves’ AP American Literature class in my Junior Year, I was hoping to relive the discussion-based lesson plans and meet more outstanding peers. I was not disappointed, to say the least, reflecting through all the experiences at the end of the course. The lesson plans he laid out for us were an interesting mix between small lectures and class output, and what I

After reading my first reflection, I realize I was very hopeful about high school in the beginning of the year. However, now I have mixed feelings about high school, since my first year did not go as I had anticipated. My first reflection mentioned how I thought the first month of high school was quite unexpected. Little did I know how unexpected ninth grade would turn out. I could never have imagined what would happen to me this year. Certain aspects were thrilling, exciting, hilarious; however, other aspects were depressing, anxiety-inducing, and highly stressful. I was incredibly naive and starry-eyed in the beginning of the year. However, I feel as if I am now an experienced adult looking down upon a young, innocent child, while secretly knowing that my younger self has yet to face the brutal, harsh, and unforgiving world. Nonetheless, there is always a wiser, more experienced elder looking down upon me.

I feel that I haven't impacted Suitland High School per se in the most ways that I could have but I have worked my hardest to impact the whole Prince George's County Community but some of the different times I have impacted stool in high school are my volunteer participation with National Honor Society and my volunteering Girl Scouts and creating opportunities to Girl Scouts.

When it comes to my involvement at Bowling Green State University, I have been a part of a variety of different organizations. I coached youth basketball from October of 2014 until April of 2015 at St. Aloysius, located in downtown Bowling Green. Not only did this demand the completion of specific certification courses, but it required a large time commitment. As a coach, I was a part of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). In addition to coaching, I have been a member of the Adolescent Young Adult Association (AYAA) since I arrived here in 2014. This organization is comprised of future teachers. The organization meets monthly to help prepare students for future tests and certifications. I was also a key member in founding the Men's Club Basketball team here at BGSU. I served on the executive board from February of 2015 until January of 2016. Additionally, I am currently pledging the National Honor Fraternity of Phi Sigma Pi. This organization requires a 3.0 cumulative GPA along with an in-depth interview process in order to receive admittance. Phi Sigma Pi recognizes academic excellence through philanthropy and

When working at Wade King in Mr. Denton's fourth grade classroom, I found that the students were very excited to have Nicole and me as guest teachers for their math hour. I had never worked with fourth grade students before, so their warm and inviting attitudes help calm my nerves. The lessons went well and I was surprised by some of the students' connections that they had made throughout our lessons. For example, there were several students that would bring up things that we hadn't talked about yet, but we were going to at the end of the lesson. Like the connection that certain fractions were larger than other fractions and this connection tied into the end of the lesson where we would place fractions on a number line by smallest to largest. It was so exciting to see students making these connections on their own and understanding the content that was being taught. I also felt like I was able to support the students very well when they had questions or difficulty with the lesson. I must admit, I was intimidated by the new fancy school and the fact that the students knew Chinese! Also, never having worked with fourth graders before, I didn't know what to expect or if I was truly prepared. Then we began teaching and the students had questions that I could confidently answer! Everything that I had learned paid off and it was such a good feeling to be able to support students learning. Something else that went well was teaching to Bridges. Bridges is so easy to follow and the

When I arrived to Mrs. Beach’s classroom, she began debriefing what had occurred in the classroom since the last time I was there. Two of the boys in her class had almost gotten into a fight, so the seating chart had to be changed so that these students were as far away from each other as possible. She also informed me that when they had a sub the previous day that they were behaving so poorly that the principal had to come in and have a talk with the students. Because of this, Mrs. Beach warned me that she would be much sterner today, because she was going to have to be out two more days this week, and she needed to reinforce what appropriate behavior looks like in her class.

Inclusion: Means the action or state of including or of included within a group or structure. In education this means everyone has the same opportunity, there should be no boundaries to stop a learner reaching their full potential in the learning enviroment. (wikipedia)

In life dilemmas, do you often feel you’re unable to endure through daily functions? For my family, this happens every day with very few serene moments. During the peaceful times, my mind and body are at ease and I wish that feeling would last forever. Unfortunately, the aroma of tranquility departs while I’m experiencing the motions of my demanding life. In these stressful moments, diligent quotes such as “This, too, shall pass” and “Everything happens for a reason” help accomplish my daily responsibilities. In the past few years, these encouraging words provided me the confidence to overcome obstacles with my family, anxiety, and depression. However, sometimes my depression consumes my entire body and I feel lifeless and numb. These feelings don’t allow me to relax after stressful times and it becomes difficult to fight the negative thoughts.

There are many lessons I learned in a little over a year. June 24, 2016, I remember standing on the stage at CSU when the old district president gave her words of wisdom to me and I received the district flag. Our first event as an officer team we elected the secretary, treasurer, and parliamentarian. When Sarah, the old district president, stood up to nominate me for Parliamentarian I looked at her like she was crazy. I never thought that I would get the spot until they announced my name as the new parliamentarian. As a new team, we went to New Mexico as a new team and I met some people that are fun but I never thought they would become my best friends. I remember thinking that they were some of the best when we were sitting around telling embarrassing stories and Kyle, The State president, told his most embarrassing and everyone else just laughed. When we said goodbye it was hugs, tears and until next times.

Though there was an impressive amount of points and ideas which I will touch on in a few sentences which I appreciated from JD Vance's lecture, what made me willing to listen, swallow and immerse myself in what he was saying was the fact that he pointed out that while there are going to be differences in culture, in opinion, in almost anything there can be differences in… what’s important, what’s an essential part of trying to fix America and restore people’s hope in the American dream is to come at problems and dilemmas from the other side, with a new perspective.

As I sit here and write this literacy narrative, I reflect on a time in eighth grade when I read a book regrading civil injustice. Back then I wouldn’t have thought to use such fancy words. Instead, something along the lines of “a black boy my age got killed for whistling at a woman! And the murderers didn’t even get in trouble.” So much confusion was attached with my not so politically correct summary of the book. In fact, we read this book in the upmost politically correct way as possible. Derogatory terms such as negro, nigger, and colored was to be renamed and replaced by the word African American. Simple. Nothing too hard to do in eighth grade just switch a word or two around. But how ironic we didn’t go over any set “rules” for the white character’s. No negative connotation related to the word “white” at all. In fact, when we had class discussions for this book it was normal to say “Hiram the white boy went to visit his grandfather in Mississippi.” But if I was to talk about Emmett Till, African American would always be attached to his name. I can admit just like any other person in that class it was weird but we never put too much thought behind it. Just abided by the rules and read.

I believe that existence is dependent on connections. Life only exists in ecosystems where energies are undoubtedly interrelated but I think as humans we often overlook the significant beauty of our ecosystem. I’ve learned that the three most important types of connections we make are relationships with other beings, the understanding of ourselves, and deep ties to our natural surroundings. Without these connections, life cannot be. In my experience, I’ve seen how art and creativity develop a language through which connections can be made.

When I first started this class I had no idea what to expect, I was nervous since this was my first college English class. After the first couple of classes, I realized I did not have anything to worry about. You were a great teacher that I got along with well. When we had our conference projects mid-semester I was feeling very good about what the second half of the semester.

I roll my eyes as my dad tells me, again, “aggressiveness, attitude, and confidence.” It turns out that the phrase I have been ignoring for so long as been extremely applicable as my understanding of the words has changed. The first time my dad told me to be aggressive, I thought he meant the actual definition, which involves anger. This was false, and I learned this during my sophomore year in geometry class. I decided to challenge myself by taking honors geometry, which ended up being the most challenging class I had taken until that point. I struggled with the material and the incredibly fast pace that the class moved at. As I got reminded with that “aggressiveness” talk, I started to realize what it actually meant- attack your problems

There I was in the eleventh grade in my final month of school before Summer break. I was sitting in the front row near the door of my Math Inquiry classroom, just behind the foreign exchange student from Japan, Kokoro. The room was empty with just two students. With five total in the class, three of which were absent, it was just Kokoro and I. As we were looking over the math I found it to be the most heinous subject. I could not comprehend the material my teacher lectured on the unit circle. The curriculum for that was difficult. As a result my teacher Mrs. Dickey an intervention specialist and math major managed to answer my questions when I could not comprehend the material.