Reflection- Autobiography Project

Thanks to my professor Cynthia Pittmann, I started to develop my own Autobiography Project.  The purpose of the Autobiography Project was to learn more about myself and my ancestors. I can say that the Autobiography Project worked for me. Through deep research from past memories, I found explanations to my present behaviors. Also, I remembered situations from my childhood that can help me now and in the future. With that being said, the activity that helped me the most in achieving the purpose of the Autobiography Project was the Timeline.

With the Timeline, I discovered emotional problems that I didn’t even knew I had. For example, how much my parents’ divorce had affected me. In my Timeline, I decided to visit (through my memory) every house that I had lived in. It was amazing to me how much important things I had forgotten. Luckily, with deep concentration I started to remember events as far as when I was four years old. Also, remembering my past relationships with my friends, family and neighbors, made me feel like a whole different person. It was like seeing myself, but not recognizing me. That, made me realize how much I had change, both positively and negatively. The Timeline also made me extremely grateful for all the good and bad things that had happened to me. Thanks to the Timeline, I now know why I act as I do in certain situations.

Nevertheless, other activities helped me as well. Through the Venn Diagram, I noticed how much I fought with my mom. Consequently, I’ve been trying to fix our relationship, so every day we grow stronger and not apart.

Additionally, with the Cluster Work, I realized that my name had many qualities that could either, distinguish me positively from other people, or make people remember my name for negative political reasons.

To conclude, I would love to keep the Autobiography Project, and read it again in ten or twenty years to see how much my life and the lives of the people around me have changed. Maybe many people that I have mention in this project will be out of my life or even dead. Therefore, I hope that I can grow from this project, have better relationships with others, and create stories that my successors will remember as well.

Ps: This project made me think of the song "If Today Was Your Last Day" by Nickelback, they share some similarities. For example, both make you cherish every memory you have, and motivate you to make the best of your time in Earth. Enjoy the song!

Life Compass Reflection: Know Yourself

My professor, Cynthia Pittmann, yet again amazed us with new writing techniques. I often compare this Literature class with a Yoga class, but with a little plot twist. Instead of exercising the body, we are exercising our minds. The Life Compass Activity is an example of such exercises. This activity consisted in grading four different aspects of our lives from one to three, one being the lowest and three being the highest. While doing it, some interesting things became clearer to me. I started to notice tendencies in my days, and how the different sections of my compass such as, body, mind, emotions and spirit, had influence on each other.

In my case, I noticed that when the quantity of my college work grew, my scores dropped. Especially, in the areas of mind and emotion. Usually, my spirit stayed with a score of three because I used my spirituality to strengthen my mood. Therefore, I always tried to have a strong spiritual life, in order to, balance my overall health. In other topics of the compass, for example, body, my scores were low (one or a two) only when I hadn’t slept as I am used to or when I exercised. I didn’t see a connection between my bad mood and my sore body. However, I did noticed a relation between the scores for my mind and my emotions. Usually, when I got extremely emotional, my mind lost focus. For example, I couldn’t study properly or concentrate for almost anything.
Let me show you a graph of my overall scores! 

Towards the end of the Life Compass Activity, I started to draw each compass differently. Some days, my drawings had no relation to what I was feeling, but other times I tried to connect the drawing with my scores and feelings.

In conclusion, I noticed through this project that when I’m not feeling good, the people that I like the most, are usually a good option to brighten my mood. Also, I’m glad that my body doesn’t get affected when my emotions are spiraling out of control and my mind is in planet Jupiter. On the other hand, I definitely have to improve how I channel my emotions because I can’t keep letting my feeling get in the way of me having a good and focused day. Furthermore, I’m also glad that I can always rely of my positive perspective of life (spirituality) to strengthen my other sections of the compass. In my opinion, the Life Compass helped me organize and analyze my feelings while developing my writing skills. 

(I did some research to look for other ways to get to know myself better. Surprisingly, there was one link that talked about a similar technique as the First Thoughts Activity that my classmates and I have already reflected in our blogs. Apart from writing your thoughts for a period of time, my favorite new thing to do was the idea number five. Take a look at the link and comment your favorite technique. Hope it helps you!)

The Mission of The English Department: My First Thoughts

               

   As you may already know, I am a first year college student. During this first semester, I am taking an English Literature class which focuses in the human condition. I would like you to know more about my course; therefore, though this article I will be giving information and my opinion about the mission of the English Department and my course in specific.
   The mission of the English Department, in general, is to help the student evolve both orally and through written skills. From my experience so far, the professor Cynthia Pittmann, has achieved both of the goals. Through a journal, she’s helped us with our written skills. The activity consists of writing for ten minutes every day.

   At first, it was a little hard for me to write for ten minutes fluidly. I usually take my time writing because I don’t consider myself a natural writer. I can assure everyone that with two consistent months of doing this activity, I have seen great results. My writing comes more fluidly and I don’t feel rushed anymore, I can take my time and still do a great job. Also, through this blog she is exploiting our creativity to our maximum potential, which is also a goal of the English Department. Pittmann reads to us in class, and gives us things to read on our own. In class, we can see how she analyzes a story, and then in our homes we can remember the techniques she used in class to do it on our own.
   The mission of the English Department states that their goal is, "the integral formation of students in all dimensions: intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, life long learning, effective communication, appreciation and cultivation of ethical and aesthetic values, participation in the processes of the society, as well as reflection and social responsibility"

   A student of Sydney Harris once said to him (Click here to view article), that he had so much work to do that he hardly learned anything. Pittmann, on the other hand, gives us plenty of time to read, write and create. I’ve spent weeks making this blog perfect for the class, and having so much time to do it, has given me more ideas to incorporate into my blog. Also, more time to fix everything that I have done wrong. 
(She has a blog too, if you want to see it, click here.)

   To summarize, even though people fight all the time about which is the correct way to educate, I believe that the current mission statement of the English Department is achieving its purposes. Through the human condition in specific, the students learn about ethical values that can be put into practice in the real world. Consequently, being prepared both academically and morally, which is very important in today’s society.