Personal Reflection
Intro:
Although wary and extremely unprepared for what ACLC had to offer, I'm glad that my parents had made the choice to move me out of my previous school earlier than later. Throughout my Middle School and High School years at ACLC, I have been given many opportunities that I hadn't experienced in previous schools. One of the most important, arguably, is that I felt safe in the environment and the people that surrounded me. Not something I can say for some of my previous schools. Along with that, many of the skills that I've either learned or had to improve have helped me reach an understanding of what I'm capable of and what I want to move towards for the future. The good balance between learning important life skills while also working through a studious lifestyle in my junior years is what has encouraged me to stay. And I have yet to regret it.
Personal Qualities
ACLC has given me many opportunities in academics and personal growth. Before coming to ACLC, I had already needed to learn responsibility and self-management. Having come from a Montessori environment from elementary, I had already been introduced to the idea of taking responsibility for my work and my actions. Things such as planning my schedule, getting all of my work done in a timely manner, self-motivation to accomplish my goals, and working through struggles in both school work and my personal life were encouraged. However, it wasn’t until I transferred into a higher level of education when entering Middle School that I realized how important the skills I have been developing in elementary were. At ACLC, it was hardly a struggle to develop a steady, healthy work pattern for turning in on-time and good-quality assignments during my first year. Unfortunately, the change in the school environment presented some struggles in my personal life and my relationships with others. Thus, I was introduced to the need to grow in sociability; also known as my social skills and what it means to be aware and compassionate with others. Relating well to others and cooperating in group settings didn’t come without its struggles, mostly because I can be very stubborn when it comes to ideas about how projects should be done and I wasn’t used to working with more than one person at a time. Staying at ACLC during my Middle School and Highschool years has given me the chance to grow and develop more patience, understanding, empathy, and an open-mind to various ideas or opinions.
New Basics
Communication, in any form, has taken time to develop over the years. As an essential skill, the necessity of mastering the art of listening, reading, writing, and speaking has been with my entire life. Listening or reading to absorb information has always been something I enjoy, as I have a need to analyze every detail so that I may properly comprehend the messages behind the text. There have been times where my mind has tended to wander away from what was in front of me in favor of envisioning everything that I was learning from or about the text, but it has been relatively easy to drawback to focusing ever since I started Highschool. However, writing and speaking have been more difficult, though practicing one has been shown to lead to an improvement in the other. Being articulate with ones’ thoughts and words has been something I’ve loved practicing through the years, though it started out as a more creative passion for fiction rather than academic essays or emails. As time has passed and I’ve grown older, I’ve learned how to properly convey my thoughts in a way that people can easily understand. An example could be when I’m explaining an idea for a poster project, from how the format should be to what information should be presented on the paper as opposed to verbally.
Interpersonal Abilities
When it comes to working with others, I have learned that there are a lot of different skills or roles that one can easily fit into or struggle with more. When I first started at ACLC, I was used to working in a much smaller class or working alone. So things like working with individuals who had diverse backgrounds or teaching others new skills easily transferred over from my previous years of elementary. Even though my previous class was small, we all came from different racial and cultural backgrounds which helped give more perspective to understanding different concepts or incorporating specific information to presentations in creative ways. Likewise, as one of the oldest in that small class, I was expected to hold some more responsibility compared to everyone else. That included helping those who were younger than me learn. Skills such as patience, perseverance, an exercise in creativity, and keeping an open mind were built up over time which I thought would have helped with serving colleagues. Sadly, it didn’t and serving colleagues took a bit more practice. Molding around the needs of more than three individuals in a group project took more effort in remaining patient and understanding of everyone’s learning needs than I had originally been prepared for. Though, as with everything else, time and practice helped me work through the initial struggle.
Technology
Technology has been very inclusive to my education ever since I was in elementary. As a result awareness of technology, applying technology to a task, and maintaining/troubleshooting equipment was introduced before ACLC. Touch typing and lessons in other languages were done over computers as much as they were person-to-person taught. For older learners, such as myself, we were also required to practice creating digital presentations for teaching younger learners or as fun homework projects. When it came to maintaining or troubleshooting, that normally applies to when I entered Middle School. That’s when I learned about the different glitches or problems that may arise when working with computers, phones, or other electronic devices that can be used for communication and presentation. Because of those issues arising, learning how to work around them or fix them was important for continuing to work in a technology-advanced society. A common problem that could be used as an example could be a file not saving properly. The solution was simple, if not a bit irritating in practice - always have at least two other copies ready in different locations to call upon.
Conclusion
Overall, my experience at ACLC has been a thrill of ups and downs in terms of personal life and my educational path. However, it's been one of the most needed elements in my life - going forward into the world that we live in today. I've been given chances to improve my confidence in how I want to proceed in life and open about different areas of study that can be explored if an interest runs its course. Admittedly, moving on from ACLC (an environment that I've felt safe in for so long after years of harsh Elementary memories) and going to college is extremely daunting. It's scary in ways that I haven't felt since I first transferred to the school. Yet, I know that I can't remain forever and need to continue learning in an area that will explore my passions more if I truly want to grow. Though ACLC has been good to me throughout the years, it's time to move forward so that I can make a life for myself.