Weekly Reflections

In this video, I learned that reflective writing should have a minimum amount of description. Now that I think about this, it makes sense because the description is just a tool to set up my reflective response. I also learned that reflecting can help me learn more about myself and my past experiences so that I can do better in the future with the knowledge that I have now. Both good and bad experiences will help me become a better writer in the future.

For becoming a better writer and student, reflection is so important. It allows me to look back at what I have learned throughout my time as a student and fix what I may not have been great at in the past. It can help me not only become a better thinker but also a better writer. For example, I can remember how stressed that I felt once for procrastinating on a paper, and I hated that feeling. Looking back and remembering that feeling made me realize that I am not good at doing things last minute. I learned from that experience, and it helped me become a better student and do my work on time. Another example is that my teacher gives me corrections and comments on all of my papers. Looking at these mistakes is never fun, but it allows me to learn about what I need to do and not do again. This allows me to become a better writer.

Reflection is important outside the classroom because it applies everywhere in life. Everyone makes mistakes. I have made plenty, but I can honestly say I do not regret anything because it has helped me learn how to be better in all aspects of my life. This is a form of reflection because I can look back at my past mistakes and remember how bad I felt at the time. Looking back on this feeling makes me want to be better and not repeat those mistakes again. I learned from them, and now I can move on. I can also look back on what I have done right in my life. I have also made so many good decisions, and remembering these accomplishing moments makes me want to continue on that path so that I can keep improving. Accomplishing something always feels good, and it is addicting. Reflecting on my good moments always makes me want to repeat them.

We are students, and we are young. We are the generation of tomorrow. The power to make a difference is right at our fingertips, and all it takes is courage. Books like What the Eyes Don’t See show us the reality of that courage and what we as individuals are capable of accomplishing. I would never have thought that a pediatrician could take on the government and win. Well, she did, and her name is Mona Hanna-Attisha. She shows us in this book that if one strongly believes in something, then he or she can accomplish it. College students need to read more books like What the Eyes Don’t See because these types of books show past the smoke and mirrors of what we believe and show us the hard truth. These types of books remind us that the government we are supposed to trust is not always in the right. It is we the people who are capable of making the necessary changes if the government chooses to lie and hide behind the protection of power. Discussing, reading, and writing about books like What the Eyes Don’t See gives students a new perspective and challenges their beliefs of what they thought was true. Books like these show us college students the true power one human can have. We are young, yet we have the power to change the world.

“The High Price of Multitasking” is an eye-opening article that gives us insight into the reasons multitasking is not a productive action. Willingham’s purpose in this article is to tell us the truth about multitasking and the consequences that come with it. I feel very strongly that this article is directed toward many age groups and not just the younger generation. Adults text and drive too. Technology is a large reason for much of the multitasking that occurs in today’s generation, but multitasking is not limited to just cell phones and television. Multitasking is nothing new, and every generation does and continues to do it. Willingham sees absolutely no efficiency in the act of multitasking and gives us proof from experiments to prove his stance. He heavily disagrees and has the proof to back up his opinion. Although he disagrees, he understands that people will continue to multitask, and he hopes people will become aware of their actions and begin to focus on one task at a time. Willingham’s article is not only convincing but also persuasive. Because he gives definite proof of the negative impact of multitasking, this article seems very convincing. I know an article is convincing when it makes me reconsider my stance on a topic. Because of the scary realities he states in this article, I believe this article is also very persuasive. Hearing that being on one’s phone highly increases the chance of him or her being hit by a car is terrifying. Facts like those make people think twice, and that is why I believe that this article has a very persuasive tone to it.

     I have a love-hate relationship with writing. I sometimes feel like it is hard to enjoy writing when I am constantly obsessing over every possible grammatical error in my paper. Although writing is difficult at times, I have a special place for it in my heart. I consider passion to be one of my greatest strengths in writing. When I receive a certain topic that makes me feel a strong emotion, I can write about that topic for days and never lose interest. Another strength of mine is my creativity. I am an artist, and I always strive to be creative in every aspect of my life.

     Writing is the one subject that always seems to be a struggle. One of my main weaknesses is making careless grammar errors. Commas kill me. Another weakness of mine is probably my worst weakness. I have a difficult time knowing when I am allowed to switch verb tenses. Lastly, many things cause me stress. It causes me stress knowing that every teacher has different writing rules and exceptions, and I never know what is exactly allowed. I catch myself overthinking too much on simple writing assignments, and this causes me stress also.

Weekly Reflections are longer, more thoughtful posts that you will complete about every week of the semester. Topics for these posts will vary by instructor, but they will usually be completed outside of class and have a specific word-count requirement.