Intro
My name is Marielle Cunanan, and I am a Filipina-American who is now in the 12th grade. I first came to ACLC in 6th grade, which was during the 2011-2012 school year. At the time I was much more reserved and did not possess many of the skills I have now. Fast forward to six years later, I am now a senior and have grown so much, both academically and mentally. I have been introduced to many new ideas and have gained so much skills that I hope I will be able to use in the future.
Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes
Over the years, I’ve gained many personal qualities that I did not have prior to attending ACLC. Among these qualities are responsibility, self-management, and selflessness. Responsibility and self-management were qualities I have learned the hard way. I didn’t really demonstrate either quality beforehand. In the past I took a lot of things for granted and wasted a lot of time. Eventually I started to fail my classes, making me realize that I needed to manage myself better and become more responsible. I started to discipline myself to make better use of my time. I stopped messing around and wouldn’t go out unless my work was finished. I have also become more selfless than I was before. I started doing community service, and have also helped other learners if they were having trouble on assignments I’ve already completed. These qualities have been very beneficial to have during my time here and I hope that I will continue to grow and acquire more qualities over time.
New Basics
I’ve always thought my listening skills were decent, but going to ACLC has definitely improved them. Listening is something we do every day, simply because there is no off switch on our hearing. However, there are two types of listening: passive listening and active listening. Passive listening is where we just hear things but don’t really put effort into it or really think about what we are hearing. Active listening, on the other hand, is when we hear things and then try to make use of that information that we have heard. Going to ACLC has allowed me to improve and make use of my active listening skills. Socratic seminars are one example of how I was able to do so. During a socratic seminar, I use my listening skills to understand what the other people are saying, so that I can build off of their ideas and add to the discussion. This leads into the next skill that ACLC has helped me achieve, which is speaking. I’ve never been great at speaking, and would always feel too nervous to do so. While my speaking skills definitely wouldn’t be considered the best, they have come a long way from where they used to be. I no longer feel afraid to convey my thoughts to others. I also no longer feel like my speech is awkward or meaningless whenever I speak. The last skill that ACLC has helped me achieve is social awareness. Before, I was very ignorant of all the events that happened throughout the world. Through classes and other students, I have become more educated on all these events. ACLC has allowed me to become more aware and involved on all the social issues that are occurring in the world.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills
ACLC has allowed me to acquire better thinking and reasoning skills. One skill that helps me to improve my thinking is visualization. Creating pictures in my head to make sense of certain information allows me to have a better understanding of that information. I especially use this skill when I am reading. I am able to take text from a passage or story and then create images in my head, so that I can understand what the text is trying to describe. Another skill that I have been able to improve is reasoning. I’ve been thinking about information in a more logical way. This way, it is easier to make conclusions and understand why one conclusion is better than the other. This ties into the last skill, which is decision-making. I’ve been able to make better choices based on the reasoning skills I’ve achieved. One specific example is how I spend my free periods. I used to just waste my free periods and not get any work done. Because I have learned to make better decisions, I’ve realized that I need to start using that time more wisely.
Interpersonal and Collaborative Ability
Many of the skills that I have gained while attending ACLC also pertain to working well with my fellow learners. As a team member, I am able to communicate my ideas to other learners in order to suggest ways to improve our work. Before, I would never really express my ideas to the other learners and just go with whatever they want regardless of whether or not I agree with their ideas. In result, I would present work that I wasn’t really happy with. Now, I am able to express my ideas to other people, so that my team would come up with work that reflects both my teammates’ ideas as well as mine. Another skill that I have gained that pertains to working with others is negotiation. If I have one idea while a team member has a completely different idea, we would both work together to find something that we can both agree on. The last skill that relates to working with others is the ability to teach them new things. In the past few years, if my peers and I came across a difficult math concept that I understood, I would try to explain it in a way that is easier for all of us to understand. The ability to take what I learn and explain it to others is really useful, because it shows how much I understand that topic.
Technology
Technology plays a huge role when it comes to my productivity, and I have gained a few skills regarding the use of it. For example, there were many times where I had to utilize technology to complete my assignments. Luckily, ACLC has many readily available computers and printers in the center for us to use in getting these assignments done. We also have chromebooks and other laptops that are used in classrooms. I am able to go on these computers for those assignments by using programs for presentations, spreadsheets, documents, and so much more. I am also able to figure ways around certain problems involving technology. For example, there are times where I have to watch a Youtube video to complete an assignment. Youtube is blocked on the school internet, so I can’t use the school computers to watch any videos. The solution to this problem is to use a phone. While phones can be used for entertainment and many other counter-productive activities, there are also ways we can use our phones to complete assignments. Using my phone to complete assignments shows my ability to apply technology to a certain task in order to get things done.
Conclusion
Going to ACLC has allowed me to improve for the better. Through ACLC, I have gained many different types of skills and qualities that I did not previously have. These qualities have been very beneficial to have during my time here and I hope that I will continue to grow and acquire more qualities over time. I also hope that I will be able to keep improving the qualities that I’ve gained, such as speaking. Overall, I am extremely grateful to have spent all these years at this school and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me.