After discussing with Professor Mangini about my progress as a student in his class, he gave me some great ideas to think about in my next draft. In my Hiraeth Narrative, I need to focus on a place more and create a scene with my grandfather. Use that same scene, to create the differences there are without him around. Think about my age and the person I was, when this occurred, and how I reacted at the age I was, and how “my home that I long for” could still affect me, knowing that it is no longer there. I took into consideration when he gave me the reading, “Two Ways to See a River” by Mark Twain. “I lost something, something that can never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry, had gone out of the majestic river.” He used words so powerfully descriptive, making me feel like I was witnessing this scene as well. So, I will use this technique, in hopes i do the same thing as well as set the same scene, as it was, and the difference it had on me when he, my grandfather, wasn’t there the second time.
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English 100 Assignment #3: Film-Based argument Due date: Draft #1 by 11:59 on 3/23 I get it. In the film, Survivor, screenwriter, Philip Shelby writes about Kate Abbott’s struggles with saving America from a terrorist attack. Abbott is a security service agent who will discover of a plot where an illegal sniper will shoot a gas bomb in Time Square in an attempt to kill thousands of innocent civilians. Members of her team, through death, deception, and false assumptions, she must fight the battle of survival against these trespassers, in order to save New York in another possible terrorist attack. This movie relates very well for a point to be made for the United States in relation to terrorist threats. Should Americans allow immigrants into the country? Should it be this easy for terrorists to walk into the United States? Or even, why is it so easy for for people to enter the U.S. just because we are to be known for being a “melting pot” country. A country that invites diversity with open arms, needs to have somewhat of a boundary to that statement. Things that Americans go through every day for foreigners to come into the U.S.A are crucial into feeling like a safe citizen of our own beautiful land. Seemingly, getting attacked more and more. Things such as suspicion, over riding our population with non Americans, and bringing danger to our lives, as Americans, in more ways than we know are crucial aspects that we, as Americans need to think about to keep our land a better, and safer place. Suspicion itself is a powerful thing. After the 9/11 attack in 2001, suspicion and uncertainty across the U.S. has made people angry and hatred towards immigrants and Muslims in general. The responsibility that the Muslim group had on 9/11, gave them the reputation of being the most hated group of people in America because they caused the greatest tragedy in all of America. A big problem and a great target here in the U.S., are airports around the world. Americans are very weary flying around the world because of past events shown. How Muslims, specifically, use airports to create havoc among American citizens. So many people are trying to fight back against racial profiling at traveling that it is hindering and doubting at the lives of people who actually live in our beautiful county. I get it, we are supposed to be a loving, melting pot of all sorts of diversity. But when your country has been attacked by bad foreigners trying to disguise themselves as regular citizens? It is difficult to decipher between the two. Just like in Survivor, five men were questioned about their entrance into the U.S. They were claimed as being racially profiled and somehow allowed in the U.S. I get it. we should all be loving and kind to all people. But enough is enough. How many more innocent Americans are going to be killed because of these acts of “racial profiling.” Another issue as to why we should not let immigrants in our country is the over population. Watson Institute for International Studies from Brown University stated that if immigration continues at its current pace, more than fifty million newcomers will flood into the United States in the next half century, overloading our schools, hospitals, and other social services. High levels of immigration will deprive American workers of jobs while forcing government to spend more on the needs of immigrants. Leaving no space for our own citizens, to be left homeless and dead on the streets of our own country. Brown University also contributed the fact that The continual arrival of large numbers of immigrants, both legal and illegal, will eventually overwhelm American culture and contribute to the fragmentation of our society. In the NewsMax article, “16 reasons Donald Trump Is Not Wrong on Immigration,” It states multiple times how dangerous having immigrants in our country are, in more ways than we think about. “About 4.5 million illegal aliens in the U.S. drive on a regular basis, many without licenses or insurance or even the ability to read road signs written in English, The New York Times reported. In Arizona, 63 percent of cited drivers have no license, no insurance, and no registration for the vehicle, and 97 percent of them are illegal aliens. Of the 188,380 deportations of illegal aliens in one recent year, 23 percent had committed criminal traffic offenses, primarily driving under the influence. Rep. Steve King of Iowa has estimated that illegal alien drunk drivers kill 13 Americans every day.” Suspicion, over riding our population with non Americans, and bringing danger to our lives, as Americans, in more ways than we know are crucial aspects that we, as Americans need to think about to keep our land a better, and safer place. However, I get it. I do. We are the land of a melting pot and a free country to foreigners who want to chase the “American Dream” and live a free life. However, if we keep getting these terrorist attacks, like the ones Kate Abbott did in, “Survivor,” the good guys, might not able to outsmart the bad ones the next time. Clearly, this whole, “melting pot” of a country is not working for us anymore. We are at war with Islam! It would be crazy if we did not stereotype a certain type of people who are trying to fight the world, and our country especially. Think about this. Anybody who are criticized Islam and Muslims are seen as racist or scums of the earth. When really, those who are, are the ones who are trying to prevent any possible terrorist attack and care about our own people. “The blood of our own citizens is in the hands of those who allow these things to happen.”Politicians and the media especially are allowing this to happen because our own citizens and people around the world are fighting so hard for equality, making it easier for terrorist to get in without question and possibly become your next door neighbor. We might not have a Kate Abbott on our team like “Survivor” did in possible future attacks. I get it. Do you? Prompt: Why is there a need of terrorism?
Why are people so mad at Americans? Since 9/11, 53 attacks have been stopped. Was this the story of one that was stopped? Why was the leading role, a female? Are people tramatically affected by soldiers getting killed, that they will kill to get revenge? Will people result to revenge of killing, to satisfy their own hurt? Is it okay, to have relationships inside of work? Is access to technology that important? How do people get access to things that shouldn’t exist? Purpose: to persuade Audience: Americans Students Teacher Military families Agents Citizens/passers by Focus: Identify a problem and solve it without getting killed or falsely accused. Style: Professional Highly technological Conversational Persuasive Survivor. A story about a young woman named Kate Abbott, working as a Security Service Agent, for the American Embassy, to cause of the effect, most of her friends died in the 9/11 tragedy. Suspecting that one if the people she comes across doing her job, is a suspected terrorist, she investigates. After getting rejected by her supervisor and her coworkers, they go out to lunch for their supervisor’s birthday, who doesn’t show up. The restaurant gets blown to pieces by a bomb placed on their table. Kate was the only one who survived this incident, because of having to leave, to go get a gift for their supervisor. She runs away from the scene as she sees she is wanted to be dead. She runs into her supervisor, who unexpectedly, pulls a gun on her. She refrains the gun from him in shooting her, to accidentally shooting Bill, and killing him. One of the world’s most wanted killers, “The Watchmaker” is on the hunt to kill Kate Abbott as well as most of her team, because they think she was the one who is doing the murdering. Through security cameras and the news channel, she is classified as a suspect for the bombing and the murder. The Watchmaker’s plot in the story is to blow up the ball, that drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve with his partner, Balan. Who wants to avenge his late wife’s death after he claims American’s killed her. After struggling to find The Watchmaker, she and him come face to face again, in hopes she can stop him from blowing up Times Square. I really enjoyed watching this movie. The only thing that I would critique about this film is the amount of unnecessary hitmen in this film. It was confusing to know who were the lowkey bad guys and who weren’t. There were a lot of similar scenes that could've been cut out, as well as deeper, more meaningful lines in the movie itself. “The fireworks in Dubai, that was you, right?” “You shouldn’t of asked me about Dubai” “Can it hit us from here?” “No, it shouldn’t” “Good” *stabs and kills his partner* “Time’s up!” I was scrolling through one of my social media sights, and I saw one of my friends post about a movie that they recently saw, Manchester by the Sea. He had a lot of comments underneath it saying it was a very good movie. It was talked about at very famous award shows and I wanted to see so for myself. I put the movie on, and I’ll admit, I was very lost at first, it seemed like the movie began in the middle of 3 different scenes. I googled the plot of the movie, so hopefully, better understand what was going on. I finally was able to piece together the scene that was appearing and who the characters were in the story. I am very picky about my movies, especially sad ones. This movie was very sad, but had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! It’s about a man, Lee Chandler, a poor man, who can barely handle life itself, became unbearable by events showing up in his life, past and future, stories that were involved. His older brother had died, and left his brother Lee, in his will, surprisingly, to care for his only son, Patrick. Events come up during the movie that are unfortunately life experiences for some people, and it's hard to imagine that stuff like this, happens every day, to good people, and can be too much to handle for most.
Writing reflections on the work accomplished, makes me believe I can become a better writer just by asking myself a few questions. Sometimes, YOU can be your own worst critic. So criticizing yourself to great lengths, you know, you can always do better. Here’s a list at to what I saw could better and what I did, to write my own personal academic mindset.
There are many examples in life as to why habits are hard to break. Your mind is a powerful structure that allows things to be prevented or accepted. Beliefs and behaviors come into action when it comes to the difference between a fixed mindset compared to a growth mindset. A fixed mindset has the power to praise the outcome, whether it be negative or positive result. A growth mindset is the “praise of the process.” I believe in the benefit of having a growth mindset. If you believe you have one mindset over the other, keep reading, because I may be able to convince you otherwise.
Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, backs up my beliefs with the research behind it to show how a growth mindset can really change one’s thinking and be beneficial for us all. “When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world (the world of fixed traits) success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other (the world of changing qualities) it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.” In her article, ‘Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’, she makes a point that I have been debating myself about the schooling system most of all, and what type of mindset I have in an educational way. “In order to make them feel good in the moment: “Great effort! You tried your best!” It’s good that the students tried, but it’s not good that they’re not learning. The growth-mindset approach helps children feel good in the short and long terms, by helping them thrive on challenges and setbacks on their way to learning. When they’re stuck, teachers can appreciate their work so far, but add: “Let’s talk about what you’ve tried, and what you can try next.” What she means, is to try and motivate students to learn, instead of caring about grades. To have a grade say, “not yet” instead of “you failed.” It gives students the opportunity to succeed and to see the future of a passing and successful outcome of what they were trying to achieve, rather than having the same outcome if that student passed or failed, and not do anything about it. It is what it is, is what a fixed mindset would possibly say. “The education system is flawed!” says, Alfie Kohn. An American author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting, and human behavior. Carol Dweck also goes on to say, the quote that I most agree with in her studies, “Cheat vs Study” So many times in my high school years, would most of my teachers, just give us credit for doing the work. Not looking over it, going over it, just having an assignment due. Of course to save ourselves from the work because we knew the teacher wasn’t going to check it anyway, we would copy all of our work off each other. Our test scores would be bad, but that only made the teacher want to put a curve on the test so we all would pass. However, that only lead us to cheating more. I can’t remember a damn thing I learned in that class, and I’m very regretful that I didn’t take the time to learn the subject instead of cheating my way through. I did that for most of my classes throughout high school. Why put out the work when you can get the same, or even better grade, getting to the same goal as you would studying? I had struggles learning with my I.E.P. involved, so why make my life more difficult? Was it my interest level? My drive for school? I just figured my mentality was a fixed mindset student. That's how the system is flawed. You can’t judge someone’s intelligence by the grades that they get. They could be earned by cheating or studying (the Cheat vs. Study method.) The process of a growth should be the key goal for every teacher to make with a student. Finding a way to encourage students to do it themselves, the drive to achieve greatness by themselves and for themselves. I’m gonna ask you a series of 7 questions. If you say yes to any one of these questions, you are more than likely, have a growth mindset: Are you accepting and embracing challenges? Are you seeing mistakes as learning opportunities? Are you seeking and listening to feedback? Are you persevering with difficult tasks? Are you practicing and using strategies to improve? Are you asking questions to drive learning forward? Are you taking risks and trying new things? If you say yes to all or most of those questions, you have a growth mindset mentality. Most fixed mindset people believe in Individuals who adopt a fixed mindset rarely excel at anything. Because they believe their intelligence and abilities are what they are, they invest their energy in looking smart instead of learning and developing. In a fixed mindset, if you try something you’ve never done before, say ice skating, you’ll likely give up after falling a few times. This “failure” will feel humiliating and you’ll probably avoid ice skating for the rest of your life. You’ll make an excuse like, “Ice skating just isn’t my thing.” If you believe someone is just a “natural born dancer” or that you “just can’t dance,” you’re holding a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, you avoid new challenges like the plague because you’re afraid of being judged. As such, when obstacles arise, you tend to give up quickly. (Scott Jeffery) If you don’t have a growth mindset, I hope this has opened your eyes as to how much improvement is being made in everyday life, and hopefully, has made you, the reader, see the difference your life view changes as a growth mindset, living in this world and the impact it really has. I belong in this academic community. I believe this is the most important attribute of my schooling education. Why? Research shows in an article about evidence on mindsets, “the experience of belongingness is associated with important psychological processes. Children who experience a sense of relatedness [in school]... perceive themselves to be more competent and autonomous and have higher levels of intrinsic motivation [than students with a low sense of belonging]. They have a stronger sense of identity but are also willing to conform to and adopt estab- lished norms and values. These inner resources in turn predict engagement and performance... [Students who experience belongingness] have more positive attitudes toward school, classwork, teachers, and their peers...They invest more of themselves in the learning process” I completely agree with this concept after experiencing it first hand.
I was in the 7th grade when my mom saw on my school grades, how I seemed to be struggling on tests on when I shouldn’t be. She kept me back a grade, by repeating the 8th grade, even though I passed it. Even though, I didn’t need that to happen. She decided to sign me up for testing, to see where my level as a student was. I remember the document of the results saying I was exceeding in math compares to other students, but I was not at the same level as other students in the class. I was given an I.E.P.The IEP is meant to address each child’s unique learning issues and include specific educational goals. It is a legally binding document. The school must provide everything it promises in the IEP. Going into high school, I was given this document saying how I can take tests at a later time, be given study guides to help me, turn in work late, even sometimes given answers on home works to help me as well. You would think most students would strive off of the fact they basically never have to do work, given this benefit. I absolutely hated the fact that I was getting different tests and different homework packets, just because I had a learning disability. I would get pulled out of homeroom every Tuesday with another kid, who also had an I.E.P., just to check up on us to see how we were doing, monitoring our grades every week. I hated it so much, I would never use it. I would struggle so much with high school, keeping up with everyone else, just so I wouldn’t be seen differently from everyone else, and treated like a normal student. I worked my ass off at school, but on the down low of course, just so I could be seen as a normal student. I graduated high school as an honor roll student. I worried a lot about college in general to see if I could keep up with an even higher level of schooling. I had a teacher in high school, named Mr. Lavery. He really motivated me to find a career path and do what I want to do, even though, what I want to major in, needed a lot of schooling, and one of the toughest majors to major in. Even though, I wasn’t necessarily like everyone else, in terms of intelligence or knowledge retaining ability, I still wanted to be seen like everyone else, and had to create my own way as being seen like a smarter student. I found ways that worked for my studying abilities, while remaining on track as a normal student who attended classes and never missed any time in homeroom. Fixed mindset versus a Growth mindset? The different sides and comparisons faced between both Carol Dweck and Alfie Kohn. Carol Dweck's article and Alfie Kohn's article. Carol Dweck’s main focus about a growth mindset, is to praise strategies and results, not efforts alone. “Kids with what she calls "fixed mindsets" stop trying when when confronted with a challenge because they've convinced themselves that they're not good at math or writing or whatever the subject is. She argues that adults can, instead, help foster a "growth mindset" – the belief that the brain is like a muscle that can grow stronger through hard work.” She states later in her article that praising effort alone, does not work. Regardless as to if the answers were right, “at least you tried hard!” What if they didn’t make progress or didn’t learn? Alfie Kohn states in his article; “things like grades, tests, and, worst of all, competition — to become more focused on achievement than on the learning itself. Training them to think about effort more than ability does nothing to address the fact, confirmed by several educational psychologists, that too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement. Just as with praise, betting everything on a shift from ability to effort may miss what matters most.”
A growth mindset is explained as that people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment,” by miss Dweck. A fixed mindset is described as people believing their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. After reading both of these articles, I agreed with both statements as they somewhat pursue me as to what type of mindset I would classify myself under. I agree with the fact that the knowledge you are born with is your natural intelligence. However, with practice and different strategies to go about things, can increase your basic knowledge. Some people have more of a natural skill when it comes to others. However, I do believe that believing that you can do something can dramatically affect the outcome when trying to complete the task at hand. The Process. How did I do it? What was my thinking process up to that point of the final sentence of my project? From start to finish. Who did I work with? A better question, who was my inspiration? We had a class period when we had to write about loss. I didn’t realize how much of an impact that night had on me as a child, and still to this day. Hearing people in class talk about their stories, made me want to share my own experience with it. I wrote this fully off of what I could remember from that night and prior memories that stood out to me, leading up to that moment.
What was the most difficult part of the process? I think people struggle with the thought of actually picking the topic, but for me, it was actually sitting down and gathering my thoughts and feelings of that night that he died. Memories of pure fear and panic. Writing about it made it more like a realistic flashback. When did I write this project? I wrote it in class a week before and felt like it was a subject that intrigued me because I haven’t really talked about it, and that is a memory that comes back to me so easily because it was so traumatizing for me. I believe it was a good approach. I had my thoughts written down from a week before that I only had so much time to write on, so it hit the main ideas of the story that I used to write and tell my story with. Where did I write this project? I wrote the idea and notes down in class in a short story form, then carried over to my bedroom, where I sat peacefully and quietly to gather my thoughts. Fully focusing on the memories I had in my childhood that stand out, both good and bad. It was a good approach, I was concentrated in my own thoughts, seeing this memory like a movie in my head, and telling the reader, the plot and what happened throughout it. Why did I choose to write about this topic? It is something very dear to me and something I think about often as it was over ten years ago now. The last grandfather I have left,my dad’s step-dad, is not doing well at all at the moment. It just makes me think of my other grandfather and how taking time for granted is actually a real thing. My only, actual blood-related grandfather that I knew. How involved he would to be in our lives and really showed that he cared for each of his grandchildren. It was a time in my life that I truly remember being so scared, so afraid, and so sad, all at the same time. I wanted to reflect a time in my life, now that is has been some time, to reflect on the past that I haven’t thought of thoroughly, for a while. How will I revise my future drafts to come? I hope to be more descriptive in my emotions I was feeling that night. Reminisce more on memories I can get from my head, without having to look back at some photographs or home videos. Talk about more of the fact that every time I see Monopoly, the board game, I think of him and how he was the one who taught me how to play this game, and win! I wasn’t distracted like I thought I would be, writing my hiraeth, however, it took me a while to start it. I knew what I wanted to say, so it wasn’t gonna take me as long to write it then a story that length would normally take. Stick to picking a day of the week, starting early, and write that day. That way, if you get distracted or can’t do it that day, it’s not a big deal, because you are not cramming and doing it last minute. |
Melanie
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