first quarter reflection

first quarter reflection

The first quarter has made many large impacts on my educational life. I have learned a lot and I have discovered several annoying habits that will keep my grades down if I do not do anything about them. This year English, taught by Mr. Sutherland, has been a unique one. His lessons are not strongly based on the facts/rules/reality, but rather on the art, creativity, and use of imagination in English. I already had a year with most of my work based on reality from Ms. Valdez, so why repeat? One thing that Sutherland has taught us that I find extremely useful not only in English but in writing in general are the “quick writes” we did in class. They have made the speed of my writing increase greatly and they decreased the amount of time it takes to brainstorm plans and ideas for writing. Mr. Sutherland also introduced goolge blogs, making ASTI a more technical high school. The creativity in English makes English one of the most fun classes at ASTI. Instead of doing essays that are to be done in the exact rules and style of the teacher’s choice, we the students now have the right to freely choose what to write. The blogs are an excellent example of freedom. With the blogs, I am able to write about anything I wish (as long as it not offensive of course), an assignment I always desired in doing for English class. Probably the best blog I typed was  Are we human or are we animals?, especially since Mr. Sutherland responded with some interesting comments (which were positive of course) . The “weekly blogs” also made my typing become more quick, something extremely helpful for finishing work in short periods of time. As an ASTI sophomore, I get large amounts of homework daily and most of it is completed through typing. Due to the increase in speed thanks to Mr. Sutherland’s assignments, I am now able to finish more work and spare a few seconds editing my work.

Though I learned some useful things in Mr. Sutherland’s class, I also discovered and unfortunately developed some nasty habits. It is crucial for me to overcome and solve these issues if I am to go to the college of my choice, and time is running out quickly. One of my main troubling habits which I had been dealing with for many years is saving schoolwork for the very last moment. The rush causes the quality of my work to darken and made it more difficult to get the grade I aimed for. This is proven in the recent blogs and essays I typed for English. My most recent blog about Night, a book written by a holocaust survivor Elie, is am example when I typed and published just minutes before the due time. Another nasty habit that distracts me is how I rush. I frequently speed through my work while typing self control if possible and I do not show the amount of effort that is required to get into college. the conclusion was short and could of been better.

The holocaust blinded many into becoming totally different. Many of the survivors were pushed to the limits and decided to quit trying to win control over them. They were living like wild animals with only the fittest to survive. Though we are not in such a dreadful environment like the holocaust, we today still experience difficult with self control like through pure-pressure, stress and anger.

A possible explanation of my rush through English work is not only because of the “saving of work for the last moment”, but also a lack of effort I have given to my assignments. My mind frequently tells me that “Mr. Sutherland mostly if not only focuses on the quantity not quality, so why spend so much time on his assignments?. All it takes to get an excellent grade is to have the assignment completed and organized”. Even if Mr. Sutherland did base his grading on these two rules, this gives me no reason for me to become a slacker. Unfortunately this has blinded me into thinking English class as a club instead of a class. I have become lazier in this area of English than I ever have.

I am to change a few things if I want to be eligible to enroll into college and this change is to happen at once. Being a sophomore, colleges already are examining my grades and records. There is no more turning backs. To overcome my issues I thought of some goals that I an to attempt to succeed in this new quarter. One of my main goals this quarter is to become the best student in every class which includes English. I want my work to be used as examples by the teachers. This will be an extremely difficult goal to achieve and will require me to dedicate loads of time to my studies especially since I have a long way to go. Though this will be in no doubt tiresome, the great labor and stress will pay off. Colleges all over the United States and beyond will admire to enroll me, even MIT, all the UCs, and military colleges even though I have a poor health condition. To achieve this difficult mission so I arranged some changes that I am to follow this quarter. I decided to avoid hanging out with my friends after school. Instead, I will go to tutoring and/or the library to do my work. Even if I clearly understand and I am in no need of help, I could at least complete a large chunk of my homework there. This will lower the need for rush in completing my work and it will provide some extra time to edit my work. I can go to the computer lab after school and start on my blogs instead of spending time with my friends and playing chess. Until I get the grades I aim for, I will not do anything unproductive and focus on my work. Due to the extra time that I will gain from tutoring, I will be able to jump ahead and be more prepared for the next day. One habit that will make it easier for me to achieve this goal is to start planning and making a productive schedule and follow it. In the past I have tried to make a schedual that I can follow but I eventually become distracted and go out of order. Though I have gone a far way, I still have a long way until I reach the goals I set out for.

Self Control if possible

Self Control if possible

Torture is dreadful which can impact one’s character. It can blind one’s judgment. An example is the survivors of the holocaust. Though at their early days of torture they did whatever it took to stay with their loved ones, it became more difficult to stick with this challenge. This horrible event made many loose controls over themselves will to only do what was right for them. In the book Night, a survivor known as Elie Wiesel tells his experience through the holocaust and explains some challenges he fought. As Elie struggles to survive in the holocaust it become more challenging for him to control his thoughts, proposing that the main issue was self conflict.

Before being tortured at the holocaust, Elie Wiesel was strong in faith and even thought about becoming a rabbi. However, his strong faith did not last for long. He was trying to believe that God was still with him, but the horror made him question if that was truly so. After Elie witnessed many innocent being hung, he wondered in a thought “Where is He [God]? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows…” p62, believing that it was God who was hung on the rope. This is possibly why there is an image of three being hung. He said that God was “hung because he thought that He left Elie and the rest of the victims. It was from this point Elie did not say anything about his religion.

During Elie early days at the concentration camps, Elie did whatever it took to keep his father alive and satisfied. He brought him food and water and did everything for his health. But in an environment of the holocaust, it is not so easy to help someone else while trying to survive you. Due to all the effort it took to keep his father alive, Elie began loosing control over his thoughts. After hearing the SS doctor’s advice, Elie thought “he was right… it’s too late to save your old father”pg 103. Here Elie is loosing control and going in the wrong direction. Though eventually he thought twice and changed his mind, it became more and more difficult to stick with what was right. His body was beginning to rule himself since it was becoming more difficult for Elie to survive and guide his father.

But the conflict he had with controlling himself became too great. He now had to care for himself more than he had to help his father. While being greatly ill with a fever, his father also had a lack of attention. When the officer approached Elie’s father, he gave him a blow, “I [Elie] did not move. I was afraid. My body was afraid of also receiving a blow”p 106. This shows that Elie no longer desired to save his father. He did not truly care that his father was murdered. The conflict with self and others was too great so he decided to defend himself instead of his father.

The holocaust blinded many into becoming totally different. Many of the survivors were pushed to the limits and decided to quit trying to win control over them. They were living like wild animals with only the fittest to survive. Though we are not in such a dreadful environment like the holocaust, we today still experience difficult with self control like through pure-pressure, stress and anger.

attitude is Key to Success.

Your chances for success are not based on what we can do but rather what we are willing to do. Anyone can succeed in anything if they are willing to put some time and effort to their goals. After reading Eric's piece Outlier reflection, I found a line that I strongly agree to.

 I think that attitude is more important than ability. When doing something easy or simple, a lot of people can complete it.

Our study skills are not determined on our abilities but rather on our attitude. We all at ASTI, for example, have all the resources we need to succeed in school. We have a tough and some feet, giving us the ability to ask questions, ask for help, and go to tutoring. We have the ability to do so, but we do not always have the willingness of standing up for help. A successful student is willing to do what ever it takes to achieve some successful grades, even if it requires some time to be sacrificed.
But this does not only refer to our studies. It also refers to our daily life and activities. One attitude that has prevented us from succeeding and giving our best effort is laziness. It distracts us from focusing on our work and blinds us into searching for the shortcut to all our problems. Because of a lazy attitude, it becomes extremely difficult to get the most out of our jobs. If we, or more accurately, when we, are lazy, we obviously do a lousy job (not what you want to do while doing a task that determines your future). We all share similar abilities such as the ability to see/read, to speaks, and to focus. True we sometimes lack in them, but if we have the attitude to add some additional effort and time, the impossible suddenly becomes possible. This is what the world’s greatest dare devils did and managed to victoriously win. Some examples are battles like the battle of Battle of Kircholm where Poland had only 3,600 men while the swedes had 11,000. yet even with the huge ratio disadvantage, poland managed to win in only twenty minites.this victory shows that the great ratio ablity was not what

Why Waking Up Early Is Best

Why Waking Up Early Is Best

Time is precious and we should try to never waste it. Unfortunately many of us do waste it and large amounts of it. Whenever we have days off school or work, we usually want to sleep in and stay in bed for a few more hours. Some of us even remain in bed until noon time and even beyond. Though this might be a relaxing activity and sleeping is important for our health, I do not think it is best for us remain in bed for more than what is required. All you get from sleeping is rest, and all you get with oversleeping is a waste of time. What use does oversleeping do to our lives? Staying in bed makes it more difficult to catch up with our day, making us stay behind.

Waking up early is far better than staying in bed. True waking up early can cause some cramps, but by oversleeping you waste precious time that can be used for more productive things. Waking up early can give you a head start on your schedule, making it possible to accomplish more. By waking up at seven or eight, you get a few additional hours in your day. True it would be difficult to do so during the first attempts, but eventually it will become a habit and a very useful one. We frequently think in our minds “a few more minutes. That would not interfere with our schedules” once the alarm clock wakes us up. Well following that though that is not the best thing to do. There is a lot you can do in just “a few minutes” like dressing up or fixing the bed. Waking up early is the first step in creating a productive schedule. And having good reliable schedule is one crucial step to having a successful career and job. Waking up early makes it possible to dedicate more time and effort to your studies. No boss would like to employ someone who is late and never completes his/her assignments on time. True this might mean you will need to go to bed earlier, but what is your choice? Have a successful productive life with waking up early, or would you rather have an easy one but one that keeps you behind.