I am quite shocked that we are already at this point of the semester already. During these past few weeks, I personally have felt some changes in the way I have thought about this course when I first went into it. On the first day, I’ll admit it, I wasn’t really looking forward to class. Then we are told that all of our work is going to be posted online. Normally I am a very closed person and I don’t like my thoughts or ideas to be out there so that was something that I needed time to adjust to. I am a little more open to it now, but with limits. I am okay with classmates or other students reading my work but when it comes to family and friends I am still not comfortable with them reading it.
Now that time has passed and I have spent hours brainstorming, writing and editing the work that has been assigned, I am starting to see a little change in myself in the way I process, write and handle the work load. Before, I would say due to lack of confidence, finding a topic to write about was hard and once decided, starting the process was even harder. But right now I can say that I am able to gather my thoughts and organize them in a way that makes the writing process easier. I was thinking about it the other day, I have started to go out on more walks because of the dogs I am watching and I think having the time outside helps my thought process. I say this because I have found that once I get back, I am able to spend a lot more time writing than just staring at the paper or watching my cursor blink. I still won’t say that this is my calling in life, or that I really do enjoy it but these assignments have turned into less of a chore into more of a way to get my going.
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For the Film-Based Assignment, which was based off of the movie John Q., I did not collaborate with anyone else while writing my paper. This approach will be the primary route I take since I like having the time to write down my thoughts before they can be changed by someone else’s input. The hardest thing for me while composing this paper was trying to figure out the ‘route’ I was going to take on this assignment. Once I figured out what I wanted to write about, I struggled trying to find the best way to express my feelings on the specific topic I chose. The thing that helped me the most to get me over this hump was making a pros and cons list of my opinions based off of John Q’s actions.
I started working on this paper during class on Monday and kept working on it at a client’s house until today (Wednesday). This approach worked well because I got started in class, so my basic thoughts were written down. Then on Tuesday I was able to change up some things after I had the night to sleep on it. Having the chance to be out of my own environment to write this paper, both in the classroom and the house I am at was beneficial because I was able to easily avoid many distractions I have at home. The reason I chose to write about how I supported John’s actions was because of my twin sister. She has a disease that requires her to get IV fluids every 3-4 weeks, doctor appointments every 4 weeks and sometimes surgery is in between those appointments. If my sister didn’t have the benefit of having great health insurance since my father is in the Navy, she would have to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars every year (and this has been going on since we have been 16). If we didn’t have this insurance I don’t know what I would have done to get the help that my sister would need. I am happy with my current steps that I have for my writing process. The only thing that I would like to add is that recently my boyfriend has been trying to get me to talk about my assignments more. When I end up speaking about them, I am able to get more ideas out there and I am starting to find this a little useful. The film John Q. was about a lower class family whose child gets very sick and will need a heart transplant. At the very beginning, the first thing that caught my attention was when Mike (the son) and John were saying goodbye to each other when he was being dropped off to school, he said “No goodbye, you know I don’t like goodbyes. See you later.” Whenever I hear something like that I feel something bad happens.
Unfortunately, this family isn’t covered by insurance so the hospital isn’t willing to help care for Mike. You can feel the thoughts flood your mind while your heart strings are being pulled when John is trying to figure out his insurance when he says “My son is dying and I’m broke. If I don’t qualify for Medicare, WHO THE HELL DOES?” But that doesn’t stop John Q. from fighting for his son’s life, like any loving father would do. He might not have gone about it the right way by bringing a gun into the ER and taking ‘hostages’ but his mindset was that “I AM NOT GOING TO BURY MY SON! MY SON IS GOING TO BURY ME!” After all of his efforts it paid off. A woman died in a car accident and her blood type matched Michaels and they were able to do the transplant. Because of everything John did for his son, fighting against the corrupt insurance system and not giving up, Mike can now live a long, normal, happy life which is what every parent wants for their child. For my academic mindset project, I did not have anyone work with me on it. Honestly, I think this was a good approach because this is more of a personal paper since it is based off of my opinions and thoughts on these different readings and videos. The most difficult part of writing this assignment would be condensing my thoughts because I had a lot to say I guess. I had to spend a lot of time editing this paper, a lot of time…
I started working on this Monday after class since it got my mind moving. This was good for me since I had a few days to really take my time on my work. I ended up writing the paper at a client’s house that I pet sit for and this worked out quite well since it is a different environment. I wrote about the topic I chose for two reasons: one that was part of the assignment and two I wanted to add some personal things to it. Like how I felt during SAT prep. I do feel like my writing process is improving but hopefully I will continue to grow throughout this course and maybe I will develop new ideas/thoughts to add to the Academic Mindset Writing. After I read the section in the text, "Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners [...] (Chicago University)", I found that the mindset that fit into my life the best was number three, I can succeed at this (Self-efficacy). I say this because I guess after thinking about it, I have only ever really gravitated towards things in life that I am good at. Like working with animals for example. But, in my academic career, the mindset that is the most important for me to help achieve my academic success is the growth mindset. I really do feel like that if I put all of my effort into my work, I can improve in this course and others that are down the road. Sometimes all you need is that little push, or have someone explain something to you in a way that you understand and I think that is what I was given. I must say, that since I started this course I have been able to see some changes in the way I think and do things. Remember, “If you don’t succeed once, try, try again”.
In the readings, “Teachers, Parents Often Misuse Growth Mindset Research, Carol Dweck Says” and “The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system”, Dweck and Kohn both believe that the mind is a powerful thing. I can certainly agree with them. They focus on the two mindsets, growth and fixed, that individuals use during their day to day lives, whether it’s for their work or academic careers. A fixed mindset is when a person feels like they have limited potential in certain areas. A growth mindset is when someone feels like there is always room for improvements. Let’s say someone might think that they can never paint since they are terrible at it but at the same time have done nothing to improve this skill, what would this be an example of? This is a fixed mindset. The individual has essentially accepted that fact that they can’t paint and won’t do anything to improve on it. I believe that if you are someone who leans towards the growth mindset, it says a lot about yourself. I think this because many people do not really think they need to fix on things in their life but if you can see your weakness and improve on them, you are a strong person and are going to get far in life.
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