Essay’s Reflection

During my school year I have written research paper, biographical essay, autobiographical narrative, and I believe a bibliography too. Freshman year, I wrote an essay explaining how I got into the system. In that essay I did pretty well. I got like a B. Ms. Priester’s expectation were to do 3 drafts before the final draft. We had to self edit, peer edit and adult proofread. It took about a week an a half to have everything ready.
I have also done an autobiographical narrative on the book Bless Me, Ultima. I got help on that paper but I actually think I got an A. It was well written and it has a lot of time into it. It took about the same time as the other. The expectations were the same as for the other paper we had written.
I did a research paper and it was on the use of cell phones. It was actually very fun to write about it and I gather lots of good information for it. I got a high A on it. I think that was one of my best written papers of my school years. At least for the 10th grade it was.
During the time of writing essays it actually very stressful to me at times. However I love writing essays. I like personal essay the best and also about topics I am able to choose, that interest me like abortion, teen pregnancies, etc.
Essays are fun and I am exited to get started. Thank you.

Reflection

I think that in order for teachers to really teach students in the foster care system, he or she needs to be able to teach at the level this student is able to learn at. I think this way because when you teach a student at the level they are at, they are able to understand their work better. However, some students in foster care have no motivation in wanting to learn therefore they settle for less. When it comes to that point, it doesn’t matter if you are grading them in coloring between the lines or comprehension on books, they just won’t be teachable students.
Sometimes, I wonder why students don’t have motivation which makes me think if it really has anything to do with the system or not. Personally I feel that some foster kids just want people to feel bad for them and they pull the foster kid card. I think that we have advantage of achieving many of our goals, at least a high school diploma. We are able to make up our grades and improve them and take college classes. Failure is not what we are but it is what we choose. Sometimes taking the easy way is better at the time but later it won’t pay as well as hard work will.
In the end, when students are at that un-teachable stage, a teacher can’t help much but to try to motivate them to do well. Unfortunately teachers don’t have all the power to just teach one person at a time. They got to keep going and so if someone chooses to stay back then, see you later.

Me Vs. Reality

I have grown in many areas as time goes by. What I used to care about then I don’t care anymore. I was not very responsible, or mature. My understanding of life is different now. I am now more responsible. I am able to now be able to take the responsibility of the things I do, instead of blaming things on others. I am more mature and able to recognize the healthy types of relationships. I understand how a relationship should be and how life generally is. I understand the importance in honesty and respect, as I didn’t know that much then. I thought life was to have fun and never thought about how, especially girls, should have respect for ourselves.

I have also grown emotionally. I am able to realize that feeling will always change; however they should not control our life. When I was younger I would cry all day in my bed and not care about anything. Now I understand that life will be amazing and then cruel and all I can do is keep living it to the best I can. I stopped living in the past and focused on the present and the future. In order to continue life we got to keep moving forward.

What caused me to grow in these areas is my little sister. Knowing I will be the one she looks up to I don’t want her to have my bad habits. I want her to be proud and follow my good examples. She motivates me to be who I want to be. To reach my goals and move forward each day. She is my motivation, my little sister. :)

Writing Discussion Questions

4. Do you think that kids who are mediocre will want to follow the a specific set of guidelines for writing? Should they? Explain your answer.
I believe that those kids who are mediocre will not follow the writing process but it would definitely be a good idea for them to follow it because it will allow them to raise their standards.

6. Would you say that someone who uses the reading and thought process mentioned in the packet is better than someone who did not even if they are also a skilled writer?
I think that using the thought and writing process is helpful to anybody. Even the best writers need to gather up their ideas.

7. What if kids do not want to "Raise their Standards"? What is the solution then?
If kids don’t want to raise their standards than that’s on them. Everyone should not have to lower their standards for others to be appeased.

8. What do you think is a good way of getting a student to be a more motivated writer?
A good way to get students to be a more motivated writer would be to have them write things about what they find interesting.