Semester Reflection Part 2

Describe your vision for yourself in pursuing higher education.

I envision myself studying and learning new words, and reading progressively higher level books in order to expand my vocabulary as well as open my mind to new things. I also see myself writing a lot more notes that have more details, descriptions, and notes to self in order to make sure that I don’t forget anything, and to make sure my notes actually prove to be understandable to myself in the future. I also picture myself asking more questions and participating in more discussions in class to make sure I truly learn the material, and develop my own ideas through deliberating.

What in the world do you care about and what are you doing about it?

I care about the international world, and the people in it. I want to travel the world for its varieties of cultures and history, and have been going on One World Week trips in order to actually do this. I don’t just go for fun, though that is a part of it, but I also go because I find the different people, history, and culture to be so interesting and beautiful. In order to go on these trips, I have to work to earn the money through fundraising, and if I want to travel again next year, in fact, I have to find a summer job, which I’m looking for.

I want to break the stereotypes we have about other countries, because I’ve noticed that a lot of people I talk to say that just about every country hates Americans, and it’s really a downer, and I’ve found that it’s not really the case. In Kurt Vonnegut’s A Man Without a Country, he said “the highest treason in the USA is to say Americans are not loved, no matter where they are, no matter what they are doing there.” I couldn’t agree more. I’ll admit, I used to say this, but that was mostly because it was what everyone else said. But after travelling, I’ve learned that I really just believed what I heard around me, no questions asked, and I want to continue to break the stereotypes we have about other countries. I want to bond our broken world.

While traveling, I learn so much about the culture and history, and it’s so fascinating to me that I want to share the knowledge and use it in my life. This goes the same for the people I meet in these places. I love talking to people I meet in other countries, because their way of thinking is so different, and gorgeous in their own ways. However, I’ve found that I tend to forget a lot of details. So, to counteract this issue, I’ve decided that from now on when I travel, I will write notes on what I learn, and who I meet right after I’ve listened. I want to share the knowledge I gain with the world using psychology (which I’ve been learning about throughout my life, and plan on studying in college), photography (I make sure to take a lot of pictures of what I see), and writing.

In a nutshell, what I’m doing is getting early experience with the world, finding out how I can continue to gain experience, and sharing my experiences with other people in conversations, debates, stories, and pictures.

What is a quality in a classmate that you would like to develop in yourself?

Most of my classmates have the same problem I do, but in other classes I’ve seen that many people don’t have this same problem. I want to be able to raise my hand, and ask questions in class without the fear of seeming ‘stupid’, or like a burden to the class. I want to speak my mind even when the class is silent, as I’ve seen many people in other classes do. I’m tired of being afraid of what other people will think of my thoughts and curiosities, and I want to be able to voice them without as much fear in the near future so I can really learn to the point that I understand in everything that is being taught.

I also have a classmate who has an excellent memory, which has proved to be extremely beneficial, and I would like to commit things to memory more as well.

Beyond grades, what motivates you to work hard at school?

I’d have to say that my competitive spirit, my desire to help those around me, and my desire to better myself are things that greatly motivate me to work hard at school. In academics, if there’s something that seems like a competition to me, I get consumed by it, and try much harder to do better. If I happen to ‘lose’ this competition, I just realize that I could have tried harder in certain aspects, and continue to compete.

I think my desire to better myself connects to my competitive spirit. If I am competing with someone (whether it be a classmate, or someone I’ve learned/heard about), it’s probably because there are qualities in them and/or their work that I want to see in who I am and what I do. In other words, in a way, I compete with people who I find admirable, and I want to work hard to be the better person I want to be.

I enjoy being of help to the people around me because it makes me feel like I’m changing something in them, and making their life easier, which gives me a sense of accomplishment. So, in order to be able to help and explain things to the people around me, I like to work harder to understand the content so that eventually, I can explain it to the people who need help with it.

Semester Reflection Part 1

What have you learned about the way you learn, work, and/or collaborate?

One thing I learned about the way I collaborate with others is that I really enjoy helping people when I can. When I say ‘when I can’, I mean when I understand the material they need help on. I just genuinely enjoy helping people when they ask for it, and in fact, I feel honored to do so. I also learned that when it comes to working in groups, I can be a leader if needed. If someone else seems to take the leader role, then I’ll listen, but if everyone in my group is quiet and/or shy, then I can easily step up. Basically, I can become a leader when one is needed, and I am proud of this quality.

I also learned about how I work this semester through our Mock Trial. I never knew how long and how deeply I could focus until I did this project. I found myself focusing so much on researching that I lost track of days, people, and even sleep. I had to teach myself in a lot of ways, and I was so happy when I found that I really understood the material.

What project was most valuable to you, and what have you gained from it?

I actually have two projects that turned out to be very valuable to me, and that is Media Saves the Beach, and Ampersand. Media Saves the Beach was a bit of a challenge for me, since I had never been asked to find information on my own (for example, conducting water tests), nor had I ever been asked to write like a journalist. It was hard for me to do this, since it was all so new, but in the long run, I did quite well in this project, learned more about our environment, how we can help, and I even got to experiment with a new type of writing.

The other project that I considered valuable was Ampersand because it was my first time being published, and I got to be an editor, which is one of the career paths I’ve been considering. This project gave me an inside look to publishing, as well as my classmate’s perspectives on the world, and practice with yet another style of writing that was more along the lines of story-telling, rather than journalism. I realized that when it comes to writing, I enjoy writing fiction, but still including a few facts in it, and loosely basing it on reality, rather than writing like a journalist.

What is your greatest strength as a student in a project-based learning environment?

I’d have to say that my greatest strength in a project-based learning environment is my creativity. When I’m thinking of ideas for projects and writing, it usually doesn’t take very long for me to come up with an idea and product that I am interested in pursuing and accomplishing. For example, coming up with my idea of how I wanted to show my Tralfmandorian Transformation project didn’t take me long to think of at all.

What challenges do you face as a student in a project-based learning environment?

A challenge I face as a student in a project-based learning environment is figuring out how I can actually make my final product happen. I’ll use our Tralfmandorian Transformation project as an example for this one as well. Deciding on what I wanted to display was simple, but figuring out how to make it get to that point was difficult. There are a lot of computer programs that I’m still an amateur at, or don’t even know how to use, and in a project-based learning environment, I’ve learned that you have to have quite a bit of experience in with such programs so that you can actually make your final product. Another example would be Ampersand, because I wanted to help with the layout and design team, because they seemed to be struggling, but I didn’t know how to use InDesign, so I didn’t end up being much of a help at all, which I felt extremely bad about.

Writing Reflection

• Explain one or more specific aspects of your writing that have improved this year. In this explanation, you must directly refer to at least two specific pieces of writing that you produced for this class. You may use any assignment, project, writing sample, draft, blog entry, etc. You should discuss the writing tips & strategies we studied, the processes & methods we used, the critiques & drafts we employed and the products we created (feel free to use these specific key terms to keep your reflection focused).

I hadn't noticed before, but my writing has greatly improved since the beginning of the year. It's extremely obvious when I read my writing. I looked at my earliest work of writing for this year, which was my American Icons project. There was a lot going on in that writing, and it didn't all connect well. My thoughts were scattered, and there was too much to actually fit on one page. Not only that, but my structure wasn't developed either. I had a couple places in my American Icons Project that mentioned certain books. Some of the titles were in italics, and some were underlined. It looks extremely unorganized, and the writing itself seems random. Everything made sense in my head, but now I realize that I didn't do well of making sure it made sense to the readers.

I had only gone through a few drafts with that writing, whereas my Ampersand article went through many drafts. It took me quite a few drafts to get my writing to the point where all my ideas flowed together, and it made sense to everyone. I'm very proud of how far I have come this year. At first, I didn't think I had changed much, but now that I'm actually looking at the difference, I can see how big it is.

In my Ampersand article, my writing has a well developed idea that concentrates on a certain topic, whereas my American Icons piece jumps all of the board and doesn't flow well. Another thing I noticed was that I pay more attention to my writing style as well (ex: I use italics for thoughts, or to represent a way someone says something). I learned how to punctuate with power and purpose, activate my verbs, watch my "ing's", and minimize sledgehammer words, and I've noticed that it gives my writing a level of consistency that makes it sound more developed and professional.

• Describe one specific goal for your future writing. Your explanation of your goal(s) must include some or all of the following: writing samples from this year, writing strategies you have used in the past, writing strategies or techniques you would like to develop, examples from authors you respect, etc.

I want to have my ideas be more developed in my writing, so it makes sense to everyone who reads it. I have accomplished this with my Ampersand draft, but it took a lot of effort, and I would like it to be easier so I can better understand how to communicate with the world. My American Icon project shows how mixed up my ideas get, and my Ampersand article shows that I can do much better. I want to practice using Concerts Not Pancakes more, just to see if I can actually do it with an entire piece of writing. I feel like that was the writing rule that I had been struggling to fit in throughout this year, but I haven't gotten much success with it in my writing.

Honors History #3

Of all of the historical figures we have studied this year, including—but definitely not limited to—Presidents, philosophers, politicians, leaders, social movement-ers, and the many everyday people that have contributed to American history & culture, who would you most like to run into in college?

I would like to meet Kurt Vonnegut. We learned quite a bit about him this quarter, including about his life, and philosophies. I find him to be a very wise and interesting person, and also recently learned that he was a professor at the University of Iowa, which is one of the colleges I truly want to study in after I graduate. So, it's only logical that I would want Kurt Vonnegut as one of my professors as I study Creative Writing. In his book, Breakfast With Champions, he said: "New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become." I think it's safe to say that he values new thoughts, and this also tells me that he has some level of passion for teaching. I think he would definitely push me to appreciate what I truly learn from him, as well as the people around me.

Kurt Vonnegut said in his book Player Piano: "I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." I feel like this can easily be connected to creative writing, and that Vonnegut would use it in one of his lectures. Getting close to the edge, but never falling. Getting as close to reality, or a completely different world as you can before you lose your mind--or at least your train of thought-- to create a story. We can all create our own excitement, so long as we are willing to push towards our minds limits, and getting out of the ordinary. Perhaps Kurt Vonnegut could help me get to these limits. He certainly had a lot of interesting ideas in Slaughterhouse 5 (For example: "The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist"), so it wouldn't be odd to think that he could pull some interesting thoughts out of me as well. That's one of the reasons I can't wait to enter college: so I can see how far I can push my mind. I chose Kurt Vonnegut precisely because I think he would be one of the greatest pushers my mind has ever had.

Honors Lit Blog

If you could bring one character from any one book that we have read this year with you when you go to college, who would bring? Why?

This character could be your roommate (or suite-mate or housemate or whomever), a future classmate, a friend on campus, a professor, TA, grad student, or any other person you might regularly see on campus.

In a thoughtful blog entry, explain clearly who you would choose, what role he/she might take, and why you want to bring this particular character. Be sure to include specific evidence from the character, the book/novel, or other relevant sources.

Out of the characters from the books I have read this year, I would want to bring Ponyboy Curtis from The Outsiders to college with me as a classmate. I would want him as a classmate partly because he comes from a background that I haven't had experience with, such as Socs (Socials), and Greasers, and the fights that went on between them. He has an interesting character and perspective, plus he's a writer as well. He was supposed to be the one who had written The Outsiders, which he revealed at the very end of the book. Put that all together, and you get a great creative writing student.

When in college, I want to major in creative writing, with a minor in psychology. From what I read in The Outsiders, Ponyboy also wanted to be a writer, and was good at it as well. He was also considered smart in school. If he were one of my classmates, I'm sure I could ask him for some help with creative writing, or at least have the pleasure of reading what he wrote. One of the most interesting parts of being in a creative writing class, I'm sure, would be reading other classmate's writing, and reading from Ponyboy's perspective would be as interesting as it was in The Outsiders. I'm sure he would help me better my writing.

Another reason why I would want Ponyboy as a classmate is because he would be interesting to talk to as well. He was portrayed as an honest character, which is refreshing, and throughout the book he was considerate of other people, which is also refreshing. Plus, if I were to practice psychology, I could try to help him as well. In a way, he would give me new life lessons just by talking with him. In fact, he is one of the reasons I appreciate sunsets more now, thanks to how many times Ponyboy brought up sunsets. I figure he can teach me to appreciate a lot more as well. He seemed like a wise enough kid, and I think he'd make an interesting practice patient.

If Ponyboy Curtis were to join me at my college of choice as a classmate, I know it would benefit me as a student and a writer.