research paper

Actually, my feeling for this class is not clear yet, because it is my first time to attend this kind of classes, which I was told that I have to take this class due to my low GPA. Honestly, I was not happy to know that I have to take this kind of classes because my grade, because I thought this class will be a time wasting for me. Also I do not like to be forced to do something that I do not like to do. However, from what we have discussed on the first class I am pretty sure that it is going to be a good experience for me in several ways such as writing journals, how to organize my schedule, and the most important thing is that how to succeed in college. Also, since I am an international student, I need to learn many skills, which this class will do it. For example, self-reflection is very important skill in this class, and it is a new skill that I need to improve myself on it by writing down my own ideas and thoughts to make a good piece of writing.

· Reflection:

As I have said on the first journal, my feeling was not that much good for this class because I thought it is going to be a time wasting, but through the semester I found out that it is really helpful and useful class, which has improved my skills and I have met many good friends and I was really glad to work with. I am sure that the time I have spent in this class was worth it.

· Journal B

Everyone has a blind spot in their personality that they don’t know about it. According to Lynn Little blind spot is “the grid that represents information that is known-by-others but not known-by-self”. There are some steps to find the blind spots in my personality that would do such as quick thinking, analysis my feelings, and ask others. First of all is quick thinking, which means to think about what I do not know about myself and others might know about me from my behavior. Second, by analyzing my feelings there is a big chance to find out some new things about my personality that I have never thought or felt about it before, which could make a huge difference. Third step is asking other people for a feedback about myself, and what they see on me According to my behavior. So, if I do like what I have found about myself by the previous steps, I would keep doing them and try to improve and develop these behaviors on my personality to get the best in myself. On the other hand, if I do not like what I have discovered about my blind spots, or myself, I will stop it immediately to avoid it or try to fix what it could be fixed by getting more knowledge about it. I believe that knowing my blind spots will support to change the way I think, behave and feel. Also, it will help me to reach more prospects for success in my college life and after college life.

· Reflection:

Since I have thought about my blind spot in my personality, I have discovered many things that if I changed them, I can improve my personality, which will help me to understand other people. Also, it can help me to improve the way I study and learn at school, by managing my time. I have done all of this by following the steps that I have mentioned above.

· Journal C

In my opinion, success can mean: the feeling that tingle of excitement about what you do, sticking with what matters through hard times, living a life you can feel proud of in retrospect. In fact, I am the key component to my academic success. In order to achieve it, I need to be willing to help myself by seeking out for help when I need it, making sure that I am doing what I need to be doing to be successful, and working hard as a college students do. To achieve the meaning of success in my life, I have some dreams that I want to achieve. First of all, graduated from ASU with a high grade, why? Because I will be proud of myself that I did something I wanted to do, and my family will be proud of me, because I will be the first member of it, who graduated from a foreign university. Second, I want to have a great job in the future, which will be the best result for the all-hard work that I have done at school and college. However, to achieve the success there must be some difficulties. For example, the difference of the education level in here and my country, USA has better education level, which is one of the challenges for me that force me to do much more work than the normal average to keep in track. Another difficulty is the language, because English is a second language for me. There are some steps that I Have take to make sure that I am on the right way, which will take me to the my goal such as learn English at a good English school, try to communicate with native speakers to improve my language and loss the shyness on me, go to the tutorial centers on campus to get more information about what I need to know, and contact my Advisor to know what is the next step on the way to my goal. I think there are many other ways to learn about how to be successful, which I will hopefully lean in this class.

· Reflection:

The success has a meaning for everyone, and for me it means to achieve my goals and dreams that I wanted to get, but as I want these goals and dreams to come true, there will be many challenges and difficulties. Also, there are many steps to achieve what I want and this class was the best start for a long way to keep on the track to the success.

· Journal D:

Henry Ford statement was indeed true because we tend to act and perform in accordance to what is in our mind. In most cases, when I think that something is impossible, it would be necessary not to commit myself to accomplishing that goal because my conscious and instinct are always true. People and I start saying harsh things to ourselves, especially when something bad happens. Most people fall prey to negative self-talk without being aware of what it is happening. For example, many people may say, “I am so stupid! I am a complete idiot! I knew I am going be a failure! I cannot do anything right!” It is high time that people should be aware of the negative self-talk because they can fight it and make their life better. When we fail to accomplish the goals or results we wanted, we start blaming others around us. I think it is important to understand the reasons behind the habit of blaming others. We blame others because of loss of control of a situation, I think we learned it from our parents or we may want to control others by blaming them and making them feel bad. On the other hand, people should have positive and supportive language that can help them move towards the outcomes and experience life they want through setting up priorities. For example, I should stop negative thoughts immediately; avoid absolutes and exaggerations, looking for the positive and self-encouragement among others. Setting up a priority will help replace our old negative habits and hence it changes our mind-set. Improving the quality of self-talk is a person’s own initiative because old habits or negative self-talks slowly die because an outdated mind-set drives controls it. In order to improve the quality of a self-talk, I think that we need to do the following: first, a person should identify the results they want. Second, they should create and develop actions that will accomplish the results they have selected. Finally, they should examine their beliefs about those actions they want to accomplish.

· Reflection:

The negative thinking does not affect only one person, but it does effect all people around that person, because he/she will start to think that they can do better than what they are doing, which will stop the ship of moving forward to the goal they want. The negative thinking can change everything we want to achieve in the way that they will not even get close to it. But if they tried to understand others and work more hard and believe themselves they will get what they want in the end.

· Journal E:

There are very many experiences that I encounter in ASU. However, some of these experiences may be complicated to understand and to apply. In college class, I encountered students that were very good at math and physics. I really wished I could know how to reach their level, but I could not because of the language difference and I think that I am not an outgoing person. I had encountered many students who knew both math and physics but I did not bother to ask them to show me, I think that I thought it was not compulsory. Again I did not want them to underestimate me for not knowing, since this would take away my self-esteem. I secluded myself from other students since I could not communicate with them. I realized that I was always alone and fellow students were wondering why I did not mix with them during group discussions. I dropped in my academic performance, since I did not get good grades. After that, I realized I needed some assistance. Hence I me a student that I found was an expert in these subjects. I asked her to assist me with math and physics and she agreed. I found it interesting and relieved since I could now mingle with all the students in class. Each time I was unable to explain she could come and assist. I went back to my top performance in Academic and I was really grateful to her for the assistance. I learned that I have to ask in order to know even for the things that I need to know if I could not understand it. One day, students asked me to explain in math how I had come to an answer of a question for the homework. I explained to them and I was happy to be able to do that. I felt good to be asked since this is something I could handle as I have always been best in math class. I explained everything to the students and I realized the whole group was paying attention to my work. I felt like a humble hero.

· Reflection:

They always say that if you do not understand something, ask about it. So, being shy to ask is one of the most things that make me does not do well on my classes because I feel shy and nerves to ask about what I do not understand such as my example above, I was not good at math and physics, but after I have asked my friend and got the help I need it, I did very great job in these class, which made me feel like a hero.

· Journal F:

The career services offered at ASU help students to build and nature our career development. I recently went to the career service department to get some advice on which professional field I could venture in with the degree I am taking. I got a career counselor who advised me on how the university supports the career development of all their students. He advised me on how different opportunities exist depending on once career. The career development specialist advised me that whether I am choosing a major, looking for an internship, seeking advice on interviews and resumes. He also advised If am looking for a full-time job, the university had the necessary linkage to ensure I get the necessary advice and service. Also, he said that the university could create an internship program for a firm where I could develop my career. Moreover, he advised me on how the university would access my skills and interest and would prepare me for a suitable job market. All this would be according to the course I am taking. The career adviser gave me internship planning guides, resume builder, mock interviews, career assessments and different industry guides. The ASU career department is well organized and very helpful to the student, I would make use of the resource anytime again if I need them. I would recommend the career service resource to any other student who wants help with the career. The University is equipped with the resource; they offer quality advice and service, and they ensure you get the necessary career advice.

· Reflection:

One of the things that helped me a lot on my career plan is the career services offered at ASU. This place offers many things to help stands to know what are the requirements that their future job is asking for. Also, people who works at this place always try to make sure that students are fully know what are the choices they have to improve their skills such as the internships. From my experience I think it is really important to visit it at least once a year.

· Journal G:

My personal goals are some of the desired results that I envision to achieve within a finite time hence I plan and commit them. Some of my personal goals are; first, learn ten new words in Japanese a week for the next one year and making new friends with locals who are bilingual. Second personal goal would be to engage with many people, which is a key to personal growth. My third personal goal would be to become more open-minded and expose myself to new experiences and different ways of living. I have also set aside academic goals for my study, the first, which would be to graduate with a Bachelor degree, and then continue to get the Master’s in my field of study. My second goal would be to take classes on programing, because I think the future will be on this field to ensure my skills are up to date. A longer-term goal for me is to graduate at the end of my study period and pass all programs. Another long-term goal would be to develop the core skills, which are necessary for success in my field of study. Towards my aim of achieving success, my action steps would be; first create a vision for Success. The second step would be set achievable objectives, since after a vision for success has been created, this is the most viable step and the objectives will be grounded on the vision statement. Some of the qualities required to complete these action steps and all of which I possess as a student include, a push, which gives me the determination to achieve my set objectives to complete the action steps. I always drive myself with purpose and support myself with excellence. Second quality is self-reliance, whence I am able to shoulder great responsibilities independently and am also accountable to all that I do. I am hence able to make hard decisions and stand by them. Third quality is willpower, which comes by having the strength and determination to see things through. The fourth and final quality is patience, by understanding that in everything we do there are frustrations and failures. I sometimes tend to be Over-Confident, Greedy, Impatient, Stubborn and Lazy. To extinguish these negative behaviors I have to manage and confront the negative behavior to prevent it from happening again.

· Reflection:

Each goal in our lives that we need to achieve has a finite time to make it real. So, My goals are graduating from the collage with the master degree so I need to study hard to achieve it. Then, I wanted to learn another thing like a programing language, because I think the future will be on this field to ensure my skills are up to date. Also, there is some bad side in my behavior that I think I need to change it, to get what I want. However, all of these thing need too much and very hard work to achieve them.

· Journal H:

Stress is a feeling that arises a result of pressure; it makes a person to feel strained. Minimal amount of stress can motivate a person to work hard while excessive stress can negatively affect an individual health, both physically and psychologically. This will result to poor work performance, low motivation, low concentration, anxiety, and depression; in some extreme situations a person may feel suicidal. Stress triggers vary from one person to another. Most common triggers include: being to too busy, too much responsibilities, job security and poor environment. Since an environment dictates the state of our physical and psychological comfort it is major cause of stress. The most stressful situation that I have experienced was when my family lost their estate that my family had it for years. This estate had been very important source of income. At that time, I saw my father sinking to depression because we owned them for years. I really was not happy to see my father in this situation, but since then, I understood that in order to avoid more stress in future I have come to accept that life full of challenges and we are not able to solve all of them. It is therefore important to accept situations instead of living in denial, and at same time we need to work hard to achieve what we want.

· Reflection:

Stress is one the thing that makes me very tired, and makes me delaying my work or homework that it must be done. One of the reasons that make me feel so much stress is having too much thing to do at same time. Stress also can happen when we lose a thing that we really wanted or have it for a period of time, but to avoid more stress we just need to move on and continue out live and work harder to achieve what we want.

· Journal I:

My personal rules are

• I will go to gym three times a week.

• I will always finish all my tasks before I go to sleep.

• I will apologize whenever I do a wrong thing to somebody.

• Being able to check my email twice in a day

• Never be late to work.

From the list above that has my five personal rules, which help me to spend the day without getting bored, these are some of the personal rules that am still following; First rule is that never be late to school, and I always make sure I never get late to attend classes. To do that I make sure that I sleep early, sit up my alarm to woke up early, and be prepared to everyday. Second, I always finish my tasks before I go to sleep, and make sure that am done with all assignments on my schedule before I go to sleep, which help me to be more organized. Third rule that I am still following is I apologize whenever I do a wrong thing to somebody either a younger or an older age person. The reason that I am doing this is just to be respected from others too. Another thing, which make me connected with my friends and teacher, is checking my email and messages at least twice a day. In fact, I feel good and motivated to get better when am able to abide and follow my daily rules. In addition, following my rules has affected my self-esteem, because when I follow my rules it gives me more confidence of myself that make me able to do what I plan for. However, there is one rule that I could not keep following is go to gym three times a week, due to the homework and other assignment. To be honest, I feel bad when am not able to follow my rules and at times it really discourages me because I feel that am not able to follow what I can do. Also, not following the rules affects my self-esteem because sometimes I see as if am not able to do what I plan. I am sure that my situation would change if I committed to live closer to those rules I am not following because it would make me more organized and learn how to manage my time.

· Reflection:

Having personal rules helped me to organize my time to finish everything on time. For example, finishing all my tasks and homework on time was my top priority, which I must do, however there is also other task are not for collage and school, so my personal rules made me more able to deal with all of them, and do all of them, which am really glad that I have learned it on this class.

· Journal J:

Education has been widely described and viewed as the means towards achieving success in life, in aoristic the process through which knowledge, values, as well as skills, are passed on to people. In his analogy, Socrates viewed education as the kindling of a flame and not the filling of a vessel. In this way Socrates basically laid emphasis on the fact that education is meant to be a source of knowledge that leads to mental development of an individual scholar by developing their perception about the world around them and making them acquire new insights that they did not have previously. It views education as a continuous process that is aimed at receiving the maximum possible development of oneself and leading a more meaningful life. About my long time learning, it has been a longtime process of kindling my flame by endeavoring to acquire new knowledge and applying the knowledge in encountering my daily life encounters as well as and also helping in the situation of others Therefore, I can continue to kindle my flame by being passionate about and endeavoring to use consequently this knowledge for my betterment and the betterment of the world and others around me. I can also choose to fill my vessel by not utilizing the skills learned. I am so passionate about long time learning because I believe that knowledge has never been enough and at no point will I fail to learn something beneficial or that will add up to my knowledge. There are incidences that I have been so passionate especially when a particular topic touches on the real life situations of the nature of social life and the various aspects why people display different sets of behavior and others when I have been not passionate especially when the am faced with time constraint and a lot of work to cover within this short period. I can ensure that I keep kindling my flame by instilling in me an internal drive and setting certain targets to be met, this will ensure that I keep the flame kindled even when the passion is not there.

· Reflection:

Education is the most important thing to improve and developed the humanity and the world. Without education we wont be able to achieve all of the things that we have done now. With our education we could discover the universe, and recover the most dangers deceases that affected many people before. I am sure that we need to learn more and more to make this world a better world for out next generation.