Semester Reflection 2

Choose at least four (4) of the following and answer them in depth. I will quote from your answers in your report card comments, so please take time to edit & revise your writing, ensuring that it is ready for public consumption. For each answer, be sure to use specific evidence & examples.

• Explain how your thinking about American history and/or culture has developed over the course of the year. Include examples of particular people, places, events and/or ideas that influenced your thinking.

• What is the greatest challenge facing your generation? What will be necessary to address it?

• What is the greatest contribution you and/or your generation are in the process of making to America and/or American culture?

• Describe your vision for yourself in pursuing higher education.

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

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

• What four-year college/s are you interested in and why?

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

What is the greatest challenge facing your generation? What will be necessary to address it?

What four-year college/s are you interested in and why?
i am interested in going to UC Irvine because the school has plenty of computer programs for me to choose from to major in. I have been interested in some type of computer major ever since i have been a kid. They always fascinated me with the possibilities that they could do.

Beyond grades, what motivates you to work hard at school?
I would have to say the wanting to prove to myself how well i can do in school. I know how important it is to work hard in school because without an education i won't be going far in life.

What in the world do you care about and what are you doing about it?
i care about getting into college so i am studying to do better so that i will have a better chance of getting into college.

Semester Reflection Part 1

Choose at least three (3) of the following and answer them in depth. I will quote from your answers in your report card comments, so please take time to edit & revise your writing, ensuring that it is ready for public consumption. For each answer, be sure to use specific evidence & examples.

• What have you learned about the way you learn, work, and/or collaborate?
• What project was most valuable to you, and what have you gained from it?
• Describe in detail one significant academic challenge you faced this year. Why was it a challenge for you? Go in depth, use specific experiences, and explain how they contrast with a less challenging experience.
• Describe one valuable mistake you made this year.
• What is your greatest strength as a student in a project-based learning environment?
• What challenges do you face as a student in a project-based learning environment?

What have you learned about the way you learn, work, and/or collaborate?
I feel that i can get a lot of work done by myself but when it comes to writing a paper i feel that i am much better with a group of friends who i can get feedback from while i am writing. Working alone has its benefits such as being able to focus more, being able to think clearly, and not having to worry about someone screaming or making loud noises. Working with in a group also has its benefits such as being able to get critiques at any time you want and being able to help give ideas if you are stuck.

Describe one valuable mistake you made this year.
I think that one valuable mistake that i have made this year was during the media saves the beach website. When i was helping to make the website we had pretty much waited until the last minute to really get anything done and because of that the website suffered. I know that if we had just put in the effort then there would have been a whole new website there.

What is your greatest strength as a student in a project-based learning environment?
I think that my greatest strength would be that i am very good with working with different people because i am better at that then working myself.

Writing Reflection

Please answer both of the following with substantial, thorough, thoughtful, well-revised, multi-paragraph pieces of writing that feature direct evidence, specific examples, and a high degree of honest self-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).

• 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 feel that i have greatly improved this year in my writing. My American Icon writing piece i feel was one of the best essays that i have ever written because i had followed the writing tips. I made sure that i was making meaning early, and i used plenty of sensory details.

My next piece of writing that i am most proud of it would have to be my Ampersand piece. At first my Ampersand article was terrible and did not have any good quality's about it, i need to restart my whole article. After rethinking how to write my article i was able to include plenty of examples with help from my internship, and i also did my best of avoiding sledgehammer words as well as ing words.

In the future i want to be able to write more detailed essays that include more examples, quotes, and being able to incorporate the loop idea better. things that have worked well for me when i write are getting critiques, rereading, and going over my writing. Usually my strategy is to have a 5 paragraph essay that has an intro, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Historical Refelction

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?

Describe specifically how you would interact with this person—is he/she a professor at your university? a fellow student? a leader? visiting campus? Cite at least three relevant primary sources for your quotes. If you are unsure what a primary source is, please check with me!

I think the most interesting character that we have learned about this year is John Adams. I think he would be an excellent choice to be my college campus leader because he was such a popular founding father and he supported equal rights for all diversities even if they were slaves. What also surprised be was he defended the British during the Boston Massacre, which was so strange because he was protecting them. He said that, "It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say," This shows how in his philosophy he supports every person and believes that they should have natural rights and a trial to defend themselves. Due to these events that had transpired it made it easier for me to see John Adams as the leader of my future college because he helped to create the building blocks for America's Constitution and laws.

Literary Reflections

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.

If I could bring a character from a book that we have read to college with me, I would bring Doc from Cannery Row. I would want Doc to be an upper class student who could help me out my freshman year. In Cannery Row, Doc was always helping out Mac and the boys, and even when things went terribly wrong for example the party they had planned for him. Even though things had gone bad before he decided to he throw another one. He was always a very forgiving person and he even cleaned up the party. I think that Doc would be a great mentor because he is very smart and he was always tried to help everyone out. He helped the boys get money when they needed it, even when he hesitated to give them such an important job. He puts a lot of trust in the people around him and doesn't judge them if things don't go well.