MARISOL SILVA'S DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
Celebration - socializing, advocating, and participating
I improved my social skills this semester. Before Highschool, I was really shy and not very social. I never felt comfortable being that kind of person because it’s not who I am. I was also homeschooled so that made me become even more antisocial. Now that I’m in a public school, I've learned that it's ok to be your weird self no matter what. I saw how my friends were being themselves and they didn’t care what people thought or said and this encouraged me to do the same. My friends have changed me in good ways because now I have qualities that I didn’t have before. They have made me the person that I am now. My social skills definitely have improved, and I am not the shy and super antisocial person I was before. Now, I am eager to meet new people and I feel comfortable doing so.
Advocating in Spanish class has improved my skills. I am fluent in Spanish, but I was having trouble with putting accents in my writing. On the back of our starters, there is a slot where you can tell the teacher what you need help on. I decided to advocate for myself and write in that slot that I needed help on accents. My Spanish teacher saw my comment and sent me many links that would help me with my problem. I used these links to my advantage and now I have a better feel for where to place the accents. I'm still not an expert on this, but I'm getting there. I plan practicing more so I can get it down.
Participating more in class is a huge improvement I’ve made this semester. In my first Humanities seminar, I didn’t contribute to the conversation very much, and as a result, I got a C-. I only talked two times and I didn’t ask clarifying questions. In the Next seminar, I talked a lot more and this earned me an A. The recent seminar we had, I got an A- and I found this as a decent grade. I've seen how I've made growth and I want to continue making progress. I wasn't comfortable with the group that I was put in at first. I was still getting used to everyone so I didn’t feel confident enough to contribute to the group conversation. In the second Seminar, we choose our groups and the people I was with were people that I felt comfortable with. This gave me an opportunity to speak more and act like a leader. I helped the people that didn’t talk by asking them questions so that they would feel included. In the third seminar, I was put in a randomized group. I didn't fully feel comfortable but despite that, getting a good grade motivated me to talk at least enough to earn a B. Whenever I didn't agree with someone, I would say why and I would provide evidence with it. Because I applied these skills, I earned a good grade and it helped me see the areas where I could improve.
Growth - procrastinating and advocating
Procrastinating has been a challenge for me. I have three late assignments in Humanities and two in Biology. These assignments are the longer and harder ones. I felt pretty stressed with them and so I didn't have the motivation to complete them because they were challenging for me. Because I procrastinated, I didn’t turn them in on time and points were knocked off from my grade. In order to make sure that I don’t procrastinate again this next semester, I want to make a schedule and stick to it.
I would like to change the fact that I don’t ask for help in math. My statistics test proves that I didn’t understand this unit very well. My poor score shows that I didn’t understand certain topics. Whenever I didn’t fully understand a topic, I wouldn't ask anyone for help. This was because it seemed like everyone understood besides me. Even if this is true, I would like to ask for help. Coming in for office hours would be a good habit that I could get into. I plan on making this change at the start of next semester.
Question
What can I do so that I participate in every seminar no matter who I'm with?
I improved my social skills this semester. Before Highschool, I was really shy and not very social. I never felt comfortable being that kind of person because it’s not who I am. I was also homeschooled so that made me become even more antisocial. Now that I’m in a public school, I've learned that it's ok to be your weird self no matter what. I saw how my friends were being themselves and they didn’t care what people thought or said and this encouraged me to do the same. My friends have changed me in good ways because now I have qualities that I didn’t have before. They have made me the person that I am now. My social skills definitely have improved, and I am not the shy and super antisocial person I was before. Now, I am eager to meet new people and I feel comfortable doing so.
Advocating in Spanish class has improved my skills. I am fluent in Spanish, but I was having trouble with putting accents in my writing. On the back of our starters, there is a slot where you can tell the teacher what you need help on. I decided to advocate for myself and write in that slot that I needed help on accents. My Spanish teacher saw my comment and sent me many links that would help me with my problem. I used these links to my advantage and now I have a better feel for where to place the accents. I'm still not an expert on this, but I'm getting there. I plan practicing more so I can get it down.
Participating more in class is a huge improvement I’ve made this semester. In my first Humanities seminar, I didn’t contribute to the conversation very much, and as a result, I got a C-. I only talked two times and I didn’t ask clarifying questions. In the Next seminar, I talked a lot more and this earned me an A. The recent seminar we had, I got an A- and I found this as a decent grade. I've seen how I've made growth and I want to continue making progress. I wasn't comfortable with the group that I was put in at first. I was still getting used to everyone so I didn’t feel confident enough to contribute to the group conversation. In the second Seminar, we choose our groups and the people I was with were people that I felt comfortable with. This gave me an opportunity to speak more and act like a leader. I helped the people that didn’t talk by asking them questions so that they would feel included. In the third seminar, I was put in a randomized group. I didn't fully feel comfortable but despite that, getting a good grade motivated me to talk at least enough to earn a B. Whenever I didn't agree with someone, I would say why and I would provide evidence with it. Because I applied these skills, I earned a good grade and it helped me see the areas where I could improve.
Growth - procrastinating and advocating
Procrastinating has been a challenge for me. I have three late assignments in Humanities and two in Biology. These assignments are the longer and harder ones. I felt pretty stressed with them and so I didn't have the motivation to complete them because they were challenging for me. Because I procrastinated, I didn’t turn them in on time and points were knocked off from my grade. In order to make sure that I don’t procrastinate again this next semester, I want to make a schedule and stick to it.
I would like to change the fact that I don’t ask for help in math. My statistics test proves that I didn’t understand this unit very well. My poor score shows that I didn’t understand certain topics. Whenever I didn’t fully understand a topic, I wouldn't ask anyone for help. This was because it seemed like everyone understood besides me. Even if this is true, I would like to ask for help. Coming in for office hours would be a good habit that I could get into. I plan on making this change at the start of next semester.
Question
What can I do so that I participate in every seminar no matter who I'm with?