blog
Three posts from this page will be included in my final assignments as informal assignments.
I wrote this essay by myself at first, and after finish it, I had it checked by my tutor. Because I worked by myself, I could think about my own opinion. It is hard for me to have my own opinion since I have never asked to state/write about it before. When I talk with other people about their opinion, I sometimes unconsciously take their opinion as mine. Thus, it worked for me to take my time alone and think about what I think. Also, it was good to have it checked by the tutor because I could find the weak point of my opinion and find the answer to it.
As I wrote above, having my own opinion was the most difficult part for me and to overcome, I spent some time alone and think about it. Also, I used paper to think about it. At first I tried to start the essay, but I didn’t know what to write, so I took a paper and write whatever came in my mind. I didn’t think it would work, but it was a good approach to organize my thinking. I worked this project in library after my classes, same as when I did the Hiraeth assignment, which was good. However, I couldn’t take enough time to reread and rewrite the essay since I took too much time on thinking. Thus, I need to be able to think in shorter time and have more time to think about the writing itself next time. I chose this topic because I thought both of the two authors insisted that we needed to change the educational environment and the differences of their claims were what we had to change, and Kohn doesn’t contradict growth mindset itself. Thus, I thought about my opinion toward what we need to change, and I finally got to the answer what we have to change is adults’ attitude toward children or students, not the educational system. My new writing process especially when writing about my opinion is:
(400 words) It is messy and have a lot of mistakes but this is the paper I wrote to think about my opinion.
2 Comments
I believe that to be better, being stressed is needed. When I was in the first grade in my high school, I was not good at my history class. I was not interested in the subject, so I didn’t want to study it and didn’t make any efforts to learn it, in which way I didn’t have to be stressed. I just studied on the nights before the tests, but I couldn’t remember most of the things and I failed on some of them. I thought I was not a person for this subject and gave up doing well at it. However, when I was in the end of the second grade, I had to study it for the entrance exam for universities. I wanted to get in to the university, so I started to study it more than ever. I tried to think that if I study more, I could get higher score and get a ticket for the university. I spend a lot of hours on the subject each day telling myself that I was going to be better. It was stressful to study the things I don’t like, but then I came to get much higher score on mock tests than I used to before and at last I got the highest score at the real test. Therefore, I believe that working hard is stressful but useful. Also, making mistakes is stressful but can improve you. I don’t like making mistakes especially in front of other people. I feel embarrassing. However, because of this, I won’t forget about the mistakes and won’t do it anymore. Therefore, I believe that you must be stressed a lot when you make mistakes but won’t do it anymore, so it will improve you. There are some kinds of stress during making efforts, but all of them are important to improve you.
(310 words) According to “Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners […]” by Chicago University, there are four academic mindsets; belonging (I belong in this academic community), growth mindset (my ability and competence grow with my effort), self-efficacy (I can succeed at this), relevance/purpose (this work has value for me). For me, self-efficacy is the most important to achieve academic success. Although people try to consider students’ effort, the result on test or assignment is still the most important point of judging students. So if I succeed in something, I will be seen better. I feel like I am worth when I could do well. So I can work hard to achieve good result on the things that I am good at. However, it is true that when I am working on the things that I am not good at, I can’t be as enthusiastic as on the things I am more likely to succeed. Getting over a challenge which seems difficult is stressing, but I know the joy of achieving it is great. Before I came to the United States, I was in a university which is in the top three in Japanese universities ranking. Everyone around me didn’t think I can really be accepted by the university, but I believed I could do that, so I could study hard. And when I got the result, I was very proud and wanted to have more challenge. At DCCC, my biggest goal is to transfer to the college that I want to go, and to achieve this goal, I have to get high GPA. To get high GPA, I have to do well on all of my classes; math class, sociology class, religion class, and English class. On math class, I am likely to do well because the things I am learning are the ones I did in my high school, On the other hand, on English class, I am less likely to do well since this is not my first language and I haven't learn how to write even in my language, but I believe that I can do well if I work hard in the right way.
At last, I would like to add that the most important thing for my academic success is enjoying learning itself, rather than mindsets. It’s hard to study religion since I don’t have any religion, but I’m interested in it and enjoying it, so I can work hard and am learning a lot. (407 words) In “Teachers, Parents Often Misuse Growth Mindset Research, Carol Dweck Says”, the three ways that parents and teachers misuse growth mindset are mentioned. The first one is to praise effort alone. Praising effort alone is useless when the child is doing in a wrong way and making no progress, so instead, parents and teachers should praise a child’s process and strategies. The second one is to tell kids to try hard. Instead of telling students to keep trying, adults should review with a child what he or she has done and what he or she has to do next. The last one is to repeat mindset jargon. Many parents and teachers use the growth mindset phrases but doesn’t change the ways they teach. To lead children to have growth mindset, they have to change how they teach and how they treat children. In “The perils of “Growth Mindset” […]”, the author claims that when a child praised for his or her effort, they might feel like he or she is not capable for the task. Also he states that the goal for children might become getting praised and wouldn’t care what they are praised for, and this is more about controlling than encouraging. At last, he claims that thinking too much about mindsets doesn’t work.
Growth mindset is to think one’s intelligence or ability can be developed by making effort. In other words, if you work hard, you will be better. On the other hand, fixed mindset is to think one’s intelligence or ability can’t be changed, so it is no use to make effort. I think I am a combination of two mindsets. I believe that making effort can make a person better, but also that there is difference of how much effort one need to be at certain level; there is differences of ability between people, but one can lessen the gap by effort. Like the story “The Tortoise and Hare”, even if someone has high ability, without effort, another might become better by making a lot of effort. (341 words) I worked on most part of the writing by myself, but when I write the specific scenes, I wrote this talking with my teammates. I think it worked for me. Talking with them reminds me clearly of the days and the feelings I used to feel while I was practicing with them. Also, I sometimes talked with my host mother to determine which words or phrase to use to show the scene of different culture in English. The most difficult part for me was to tell the feelings or to show the scenes that are not familiar with the audience. This is a story when I was in my country and the values or the way of thinking is different, so there are no phrases to express some feelings or ideas. To overcome this, as I write before, I talked with my host mother. I managed to explain the idea and she gave me some advices to express them better. It helped me a lot, but I think I have to make it easier to understand by putting more feelings or conversations. Also it was hard to reduce the amount of the writing. I had to choose the parts which I needed to express the hiraeth, but the focus easily got off and I ended up choosing the part I just liked. So I have to think about it again. I started this project at the day it assigned and finished in two days, but I completely changed it after the next class and finished in four days. I believe that it was good that I took more time to write the second one. After some while, the writing I had written sometimes seemed strange, so I fixed it. And I did this project in library after the classes I had, which I think was good too. I was rarely destructed by anyone and I wouldn’t be sleepy. The reason why I chose this Hiraeth is this is the days I miss the most and used to feel comfortable. I will adapt/revise my writing process for the future revision of the Hiraeth revision by following this new six writing process.
(415 words) About 60 years to 30 years ago, there were a lot of stores that sells wide variety of snacks in very cheap price in Japan. They could buy snacks at the price of about ten cents, so children used to go there like every day with their little allowance. They could get one more if they god a lucky ticket in the snack they had bought. The stores were often run by old women, and children enjoyed talking with them. The stores were the place to meet and hang out with friends for the children. For the people who spend their childhood there, these stores are the home to which they cannot return with a lot of memories of their youth.
Because of the spread of supermarkets, the number of this kind of stores has decreased a lot. We can buy the same snacks in supermarkets or convenience stores. However, there is no conversation between customers and the staffs, and it is no fun for children to hang out there. This picture is a store that opened recently. There are a lot of snacks that the stores in old days used to sell although they are not as cheap as they were. The retro design of the store reminds us of the old days. And the customers can talk with the staffs there. The reason why I think this picture is the example of “Hireath” is that this store is the result of people’s longing for this kind of stores and the memories there. Even though they cannot get back to the days, people go to the store to feel the taste of the memories. In fact, the customers are mainly middle-aged people (around 30s to 60s) and their children or grandchildren. (303 words) “Hajime!” (*1) With the captain’s yell, the practice (*2) started. Everyone shouted and hit each other. Older students taught how to do well to younger ones, and younger students followed older ones. Same as every day, but everyone was more powerful because the next day we would have a big tournament. I was one of the girls’ members of the tournament, so I was also more enthusiasm than ever. After warming up and practicing basic technique, we had some practice matches. At first, I did with a senior student, who was one of the members of the tournament. As soon as the match started, I noticed he was not like every day. He was more serious than ever; he didn’t go easy on me even though I was a girl. “How can I hit him?” “What is he going to do next?” I was struggling in my mind, but I couldn’t hit any parts of him. I ended up being crushingly defeated, but I enjoyed it. I felt like I became stronger through this one match. I had a few more exciting matches and took a break. Then, the hardest part of the practice started. I started it with full energy. I felt short of breath. It became harder to raise my arms. I wanted to give up. At that time, a junior student came to me and said, “Gambare!” (*3) with a big smile. He must have been tired too, but he encouraged me. I felt refreshed and surprisingly, my body came to move better. Looking around, there were a lot of teammates who was almost giving up. I went to them and did the same thing as the older student did to me. Like that, we all came over the hard practice. Working hard with my best with my teammates whose goal was same as mine was the best experience that I had. However strong I wish to return to this “home”, I can’t. Because we are not teammates anymore and our goals are different... (336 words) (*1) Hajime – Japanese word which means “Start”. (*2) the practice – the practice of kendo (Japanese swordsmanship. Players fight each other by hitting the opponent’s head (men), arm (kote), body (dou), and throat (tsuki) with a bamboo sword.*the Youtube video link) I was in the kendo club at Osaka University (*3) Gambare – Japanese word which means “Hang in there” in this situation. Japan nationals of kendo (2015) “Hiraeth – a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.” To me, this means “Hiraeth” is to long for the places or groups that you used to feel comfortable to be in but you can’t be in anymore, or that you wish you had been in.
When I first heard this word, I thought about my grandfather. He was in a nursing home since I was five because he had dementia and passed away when I was ten, so I have few memories with “real” him. The only scenes I remember of him are when he couldn’t do anything by himself, when he didn’t remember about everyone, and when he was lying on the bed after he died. However, I know a lot about him. Everyone, especially my mother and my grandmother, tells me about him. He was always smiling. He liked the women’s bottom. The soup he used to cook on the new year’s day was good. He could drive a truck. He loved eating sweets. My mother told me that she used to eat sweets with him at night. This is what I like to do with my mother. We eat sweets in the dining room and talk about a lot of things like my school days, her job, my father, and my sisters. Even after I moved to America, we do this through the phone. So I thought what it was like if my grandfather hadn’t died and we could eat something sweet and have a lot of conversation. This story can be the topic of the yearning for “a home which maybe never was”. Next, I thought about “a home to which you cannot return”. I have many moments that I want to return, but the strongest memory is the days in the kendo club in Osaka University. For the four months before I left Japan, I was in the university. I had practiced it for six years before going to the university, so I wanted to continue it and find the place to practice, but I didn’t think I was going to be close with the teammates. As I spent the days with them, however, I came to feel comfortable to be with them. The older students taught me a lot and often took me to dinner. I hanged out with the freshman students like every day. More than anything, we came over the hard practices and went through the joy of winning the tournaments. The last day I spent with them is the strongest memory; the last practice, the party the freshman students held for me, the presents they gave me, and the moment I said good bye to them. I still keep in touch with them, but we are not teammates anymore, so this can be the topic. (485 words) I had never tried to climb this mountain. The reason is simple; it seemed tough. But now, after 18 years of avoiding to challenge, I started to climb it. I made up my mind because I thought the time had come. However, the journey was much harder than I have ever expected. My leg hurt. My heart was beating. I couldn't breathe well. Then I found a small house. I went there to ask for a help.
"Hello..?" I walked to the door and said. "My name is Katsuki and I'm climbing this mountain.." “Come on Katsuki, let’s have dinner!” someone said. They introduced themselves. Then I realized that they were the writers who had been introduced in an essay called "The Dairy Writing Routine of Great Authors" by Maria Popova; E. B. White, Jack Kerouac, Haruki Murakami, Don DeLillo, William Gibson, Susan Sontag, and Simone de Beauvoir. “So, what’s wrong with you?”, one of them asked. “I don’t know how I can improve my writing. First of all, I can’t concentrate on my work because of the destructions.” White said “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper,” and smiled, “The members of my household make all the noise and fuss they want to. If I get sick of it, I have places I can go.” Then, Kerouac looked at me and muttered “If you have no home, make a home out of your hotel room or motel home or pad: peace.” Thanks to these two men’s words, I came to think that I have to do something proactively to set the conditions. After a little silence, Murakami started to talk. “I keep my routine every day without variation.” “The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.” “Then, what kinds of routine do you think is going to help me?”, I asked. DeLillo said, “I write about four hours and then go running. This help me shake off one world and enter another. Trees, birds, drizzle – it’s a nice kind of interlude.” Some were nodding. “For me,” Gibson said, “Naps are essential to my process. Not dreams, but that state adjacent to sleep, the mind on waking”. I was surprised that even such great writers need diversion from writing. Then, it is natural for me to feel tired and need some rest while writing, I thought and asked “How about the way of writing? Do you do anything special to make a good writing?” “I write with a felt-tip pen, or sometimes a pencil, on yellow or white legal pads, that fetish of American writers. I like the slowness of writing by hand,” Sontag expressed her preference. Beauvior said “If the work is going well, I spend a quarter or half an hour reading what I wrote the day before, and I make a few corrections. Then I continue from there.” Many of the authors agreed with her. A lot of writers seem to do this way. Thanks to them, I felt refreshed and leave the home. I know the top of the mountain is far away. But I'm going to keep climbing because I know the way that people who are in the much higher positions have taken. I don't even know the top really exists. But I'm going to keep climbing because as I go higher, the view would become more and more beautiful and shining. (584 words) Carolyn Chute explained her life as a person as well as a writer in her essay “How Can You Create Fiction When Reality Comes to Call”. Her life as a writer is interrupted by the life as a wife, a dog owner, and so on. Like her, I am destructed by the life as a college student when I’m writing.
The first destruction is my mother’s (or my host mother’s) screaming “Dinner’s ready!” Of course I know she cooks for me, so I must prioritize dinner more than my writing. The next interruption is tiredness. I have classes from early morning, so that in the afternoon, when I usually write, I am so tired and sleepy. The last and the biggest destruction is my friends’ talking or texting to me. Relationship between friends is one of the most important things for students, so I sometimes can’t stop them and end up talk with them. I mentioned some destructions that I have encounter while writing. Then, how can I avoid these interruptions? In “6 Ways to Be a Hemingway-Level Productive Badass”, the author Drake Bear listed 6 ways that Hemingway did to avoid destructions. For me, the following things are the way to avoid them.
(451 words) |
Katsuki Iio
Born in Osaka, Japan in 1997. Archives
December 2016
Categories
All
|