Reflection #3

One thing that really shaped my life was getting involved in sports. When I was young I would always have problems with my work ethic, and I really enjoyed the competitive aspect of sports. I was really drawn to a particular sport, football. Everything about football I just loved, whether it be the hitting of another person to achieve victory for your team, the hard work, the dedication but most important the team unity. Being together as a team and fighting through hardships to achieve excellence was a great feeling to have, especially as a kid. As a kid you grow a bond with your teammates and gradually over time they become your friends. Football really gave me confidence to be more social and to communicate with others without being shy. Eventually, when I went to different schools I would always run into my old pop warner teammates and it would help me always be comfortable with having friends around throughout school. Football also made me more outgoing, we would all get together and go out as a big group and have fun on the weekends all throughout high school. We could always count on each other if one needed help. Football also thought me respect, dedication and good work ethic. Throughout high school it was hard to balance a respectable GPA and still maintain going to practice and focusing on my upcoming opponents. This really helped me develop good work ethic to work hard and balance both these commitments I had to do.

Week 2

My reading habits are pretty consistent. I usually tend to read everyday weather it is on the internet looking up newspaper articles, media articles or just reading my monthly sports illustrated. I try and read as much as possible because I know that the more I read the more I will advance my literacy skills and furthermore advance as a reader and with all my literacy skills such as writing and critical thinking. I also tend to follow what I learned in class which is identifying what the title and heading mean before I read the article. This reading strategy helps me comprehend what the whole article or passage will be about. My strengths as a reader are my ability to read fluently and fast while being able to comprehend what I am reading. The comprehension part is the most important part though. I think that is an important quality to have as a reader because if you are not aware of what you read, there is no point of reading a story or article. The whole comprehension process is a vital step as becoming a good reader. Back at home, my father loves to read. He reads the newspaper every morning before leaving to work. Both of my parents and my older brother encouraged me to read ever since I was little. I was very fascinated by sports since I was young and that’s how my parents reached reading out to me, with sports articles and athlete autobiography. They would read them to me and eventually I would read them on my own.

Week 1

Studying the vocabulary required for this class had some impact on me. I’ve actually noticed some of our vocabulary words in my English class frequently, without studying these words I would not be able to identify the meaning of them in my English class. I approach unfamiliar vocabulary differently now because I am eager to find out what that specific word means. I try to use our vocabulary words in conversation as much as possible, and it is rather easy once you get the chance to practice over and over. These vocabulary words have made things a lot easier including my tasks I have to complete for my English class. I try to incorporate these words in as many assignments I can. For my essay in English, which was about literacy I talked about this specific process and that involved the memorization of these words. As for remembering the words long-term or short-term they both even each other out. When it comes to test taking I am able to remember the words for a short time and usually do good on my test. As far as long term, if I study the words after I usually take my test I tend to remember them for a longer period of time. Enhancing my vocabulary is very important and I believe that this strategy is helping me out, mainly because I am getting accustomed to looking at these words more constantly then I would in any to hear situation. I am eager to learn more words.