This class ended up connecting to many aspects of my life in ways I never expected. I thought we would write about specific assignments or topics our teacher was interested in. Instead, I was given the opportunity to write about my passions and things that made a difference in my life.
The first connection I made was between book What the Best College Students Do, by Ken Bain, and the lessons I had heard growing up. The idea that you can limit yourself with your own thinking is a concept my mother has told me since I was a small child. She is a self-made woman, and strongly believes that whatever you want to do, you can do. She also drilled into me that whatever you do, you must do well and give 110%. She did not, however, say that it was ever okay to fail. In her mind, if you have the mental capacity to do anything you believe in, there is no excuse for you to fail at something. So, when I read the book What the Best College Students Do, by Ken Bain, I was introduced to something entirely new. He talked about how it is okay to fail, as long as you gave it all that you had and you still believe in yourself and your future success. This idea gave me a level of comfort in college that I never expected to have. It gave me the confidence to think deeply and write confidently in this class, my education class, and even my liberal studies class. Instead of being stressed and shut down about failing and doing poorly, I was given the encouragement and freedom to take risks. I believe this improved my writing greatly, in all of my classes.
Another connection that greatly impacted me was between this class and my own transition into college life. I was homeschooled until my sophomore year of high school. So my years of experience within a school system were few and coming into college seemed daunting. Not because I was living in a dorm or going to a new place, but rather because I wondered if only three years of being in school was enough to allow me to succeed in the “big leagues” of college. This class was the first of my college career, and from day one Dr. Rand worked to help us understand that our success is the goal of everyone, not just me. She was the perfect example of a teacher that was tough, but genuinely wanted our success and happiness. She was welcome to comments and our opinions and I found that because of her kind attitude, it made my transition easier. I found the confidence to speak to my professors when I needed help or did not understand. I found comfort in my own writing and classwork. I felt confident that I could succeed – that I would try my hardest and if I did not succeed immediately, that was okay. All of this came from one professor. Without this experience, I believe that finding my stride in college would have been much more difficult, and that I would have spent most of my time worrying about if I would succeed. Instead, I was able to find my routine quickly. I was confident enough to speak up in classes and share my opinions. Finally, I was able to write papers that looked at the world from a new perspective and could move my reader in ways I never could before.
My final connection with this class was between my writings from this class and my life abroad. I never really thought that my time in Haiti would come into play in my freshman writing class. My first large paper, the Literacy Project, was very much a process of the heart to write. I had to sort through an emotional experience, as well as thousands of jumbled emotions and thoughts to create a paper that could convey the meaningfulness of the whole ordeal. By the time I reached my end product, I felt like something inside me that had once been so tangled, was now straight. It was not so much that I was proud of the words on the paper. I was proud that I could take something a thousand miles away, and bring it into my class in a way that everyone who read it could relate to. My inquiry project was much the same. Once I was able to un-jumble my love for those children and what they taught me, I could take my internal revelations and turn them into a call for action. Creating Emma was an interesting process. When I think of her, a hundred little faces flash behind my eyes. The children I knew in India with no clothes, my kids in Haiti, children on the streets of Mexico City – I wanted to bring the plight of them all into the character of Emma. Her struggles, her pains, her joys were all based on those children; most of whom I did not even know their name. This was a huge connection to me. Being able to bring the third worlds that I had encountered into my class created some great class discussions and allowed me to write about my passions in a way that could pull my reader into my world and see these issues through my eyes.
The first connection I made was between book What the Best College Students Do, by Ken Bain, and the lessons I had heard growing up. The idea that you can limit yourself with your own thinking is a concept my mother has told me since I was a small child. She is a self-made woman, and strongly believes that whatever you want to do, you can do. She also drilled into me that whatever you do, you must do well and give 110%. She did not, however, say that it was ever okay to fail. In her mind, if you have the mental capacity to do anything you believe in, there is no excuse for you to fail at something. So, when I read the book What the Best College Students Do, by Ken Bain, I was introduced to something entirely new. He talked about how it is okay to fail, as long as you gave it all that you had and you still believe in yourself and your future success. This idea gave me a level of comfort in college that I never expected to have. It gave me the confidence to think deeply and write confidently in this class, my education class, and even my liberal studies class. Instead of being stressed and shut down about failing and doing poorly, I was given the encouragement and freedom to take risks. I believe this improved my writing greatly, in all of my classes.
Another connection that greatly impacted me was between this class and my own transition into college life. I was homeschooled until my sophomore year of high school. So my years of experience within a school system were few and coming into college seemed daunting. Not because I was living in a dorm or going to a new place, but rather because I wondered if only three years of being in school was enough to allow me to succeed in the “big leagues” of college. This class was the first of my college career, and from day one Dr. Rand worked to help us understand that our success is the goal of everyone, not just me. She was the perfect example of a teacher that was tough, but genuinely wanted our success and happiness. She was welcome to comments and our opinions and I found that because of her kind attitude, it made my transition easier. I found the confidence to speak to my professors when I needed help or did not understand. I found comfort in my own writing and classwork. I felt confident that I could succeed – that I would try my hardest and if I did not succeed immediately, that was okay. All of this came from one professor. Without this experience, I believe that finding my stride in college would have been much more difficult, and that I would have spent most of my time worrying about if I would succeed. Instead, I was able to find my routine quickly. I was confident enough to speak up in classes and share my opinions. Finally, I was able to write papers that looked at the world from a new perspective and could move my reader in ways I never could before.
My final connection with this class was between my writings from this class and my life abroad. I never really thought that my time in Haiti would come into play in my freshman writing class. My first large paper, the Literacy Project, was very much a process of the heart to write. I had to sort through an emotional experience, as well as thousands of jumbled emotions and thoughts to create a paper that could convey the meaningfulness of the whole ordeal. By the time I reached my end product, I felt like something inside me that had once been so tangled, was now straight. It was not so much that I was proud of the words on the paper. I was proud that I could take something a thousand miles away, and bring it into my class in a way that everyone who read it could relate to. My inquiry project was much the same. Once I was able to un-jumble my love for those children and what they taught me, I could take my internal revelations and turn them into a call for action. Creating Emma was an interesting process. When I think of her, a hundred little faces flash behind my eyes. The children I knew in India with no clothes, my kids in Haiti, children on the streets of Mexico City – I wanted to bring the plight of them all into the character of Emma. Her struggles, her pains, her joys were all based on those children; most of whom I did not even know their name. This was a huge connection to me. Being able to bring the third worlds that I had encountered into my class created some great class discussions and allowed me to write about my passions in a way that could pull my reader into my world and see these issues through my eyes.
" we are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be" ~ looking for alaska