Mrs. Lane
English 105
February 04, 2015
My Life as a Student
Every student faces obstacles and achievements during their whole school education. I have came across many things, as being a student. Mrs. Larson from my senior year was a positive influence during that time. I have also had many hardships along my education and have fallen into some gaps. But, after the positives and negatives I have gained a growth-mindset and I can relate to Carol S. Dweck’s “Brainology” article on Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn. To begin with, I am very thankful to Mrs. Larson, my high school teacher in 12th grade from Visions In Education independent school. She was a very awesome teacher and I can say that if it wasn’t for her support and her motivation for helping me motivate myself I don’t know if I were to obtain my high school diploma in 2010. She has influenced me in a great way. For example, she would keep me going by laughing and talking about an interesting topic just to keep me encouraged and focus on my school duties. Furthermore, she is a dedicated teacher who will continue to monitor my work in school in order for me to be consistent in my writing in English. Lastly, Mrs. Larson is a good coach on my English and reading that she would even slow down and be super patient in order for me to comprehend on my reading and writing materials. I can even go to her for personal and educational counseling. In the end, Mrs. Larson was a great mentor to me through out my last year in high school, and for her support today, I believe that I have become a better reader and writer. Have you ever fallen into the “ The Academic Sustainability Gap”? I would like to tell you that I have seen myself on more than one occasion “in the gap”. I can easily say that I can relate to Katie Hern’s paragraph of “ Low motivation and/or High Competing Demands”. I am a young mother of three small children who need my attention constantly. I also have some “academic insecurities” in my college success; I tend to be too shy to ask the teacher for answers or help. I think that my peers will judge me right away and think that I am stupid if I answer something incorrectly. In addition, sometimes I even feel a bit insecure of some assignments or even a college course and think that “this is too hard to accomplish” which it will lead me to drop the class or work assignment. However, I also have the power to get myself on track and not let this “setbacks” get too much in my career path. I can try to make arrangements for my young children to be taken care of, so that I can focus on my assignments. In addition, I should try to be more talkative to my instructors and classmates in order to get help. Finally, I can motivate myself on not dropping a class if I would find a mentor and have someone encourage me to keep achieving my career goal. I remember when I was a little girl back in elementary school, I used to love being in school and I as grew older into junior high things really changed to bad. I enjoyed very much being in school and doing all those fun activities little kids do and playing with friends. Meanwhile, transitioning into middle school and junior high things had gotten much more difficult for me as to schoolwork, friends, and even my family. It got complicated in my schoolwork, and I wouldn’t really understand some of the teachings thought by my teachers and I was afraid I guess to ask for help. So I really just did “whatever” in my homework, class assessments, and tests. Thus, bad friends then got in my way of school as well. I would hang out with the wrong crowd and ditch school even start fights with other girls in school too. I admit that my behavior was out of control back then, and school wasn’t the thing for me. I wish time can go back and I would have done things differently. But, I am glad that is just now the past. In Terms of my intelligence, today I have a growth mindset. I have learned many things form my previous mistakes and I am working very hard to obtain my associates degree from Yuba College and transfer to Sacramento State and work my way on achieving my bachelors degree in business because one day I will be that entrepreneur I eager to be. I am currently in a stable relationship with my family and can manage my schoolwork as well as, play time with my little ones. I have a very positive way of thinking on my future and my family’s future too, I believe that the harder I work the more good opportunities I will have in my career. In “Brainology” by Carol S. Deweck, growth-mindset in students believe that intelligence is a potential that can be achieved by learning. Indeed, I sincerely believe that I can relate to this fact; I like to learn new things that will benefit me later in my goals. My children are my number one priority in my life and I want to give them the very best of me and my hard accomplishments, I want them to look up to their mother and also become great achievers themselves. In the end, My educational goal is to work hard on my studies in college and not let things that can be carefully manage get in my way nor, bad people who say that it can not be done. Therefore, I am determine to access my bachelors degree in Sacramento State University and be a successful business owner.