Inquiry Final Video

Inquiry Final Assessment!

Allessandra Paglia

Professor Guarino

Inquiry

14 December 2010

Personal Inquiry Assessment

“This INQ section challenges students to immerse themselves in the college experience: juggle multiple tasks, be problem solvers, ask questions, take risks, grapple with difficulty, be creative, learn from failure, take ownership over their own learning, and apply abstract concepts to their actual everyday lives.”

            When stepping into our Inquiry classroom for the first time I did not know what to expect. I did not even really know what the class was going to be about, all I knew is that it was some type of course that helped ease the transition from high school to college. After a bit of confusion, I finally figured out that it was an immersion course that forced me to step beyond the boundaries of my comfort zone and fully participate in college life. It was designed to allow each individual student to take away new skills that they have been able to learn in the class. Although it proved to be difficult, it was an overall positive experience!

         During this first semester I was able to achieve some of the goals outlined in the syllabus and learn new skill sets that have helped me during this semester. In this class I was challenged in many different ways, especially the part that required me to step outside of my comfort zone. The campus safaris were one of the things that helped me the most. I was basically forced into doing things that I probably would have wanted to do, but never would have. I was able to visit Southern’s radio station, attend a football game, and even go to the health center to learn about some of the services that they provide. While I was able to step outside of my comfort zone I was also able to successfully transition from high school into college.

It was not an easy transition but it was not incredibly difficult either. Academically I felt very prepared and I was ready to take on the college work load. I also learned in this class how to begin to transform my mentality into a more analytical thought process. I began to take in information and ask questions about what I was taking in. I was motivated to do more research on an interesting topic outside of class rather than just taking in information and forgetting it after the exam. I think that this is a crucial step when determining whether you have successfully transitioned into college.

From a social perspective I have met a wide array of new people and I have made several friends along the way. This was a bit more challenging mostly because of my personality. I have slowly begun my transformation into a more social person and I would like to continue meeting new people and making new friends. I feel that another important step in college is having the ability to make friends and become a social person. In the real world it is not only about you. You have to be able to work with all different types of people and I think that Southern gives us the perfect opportunity to be with diverse groups of people.

This leads me to one of the most important things that I have learned in Inquiry and in college, and that is finding my voice. I have always had opinions but I have chosen to keep my comments during class discussion to myself. In this class and in other college courses I was required to work with groups of people that had different ideas than I did. I realized how important it is to express your own thoughts and ideas while respecting that of those around you. I can now confidently express myself without being judged.

All in all I think that this Inquiry class is necessary. I think that the assignments, especially the readings (online articles), can help students like me to adjust to college more easily. I have been able to experience both success and failure and I have learned my lessons along the way. One are for improvement is both increased class participation and better time management. I saw what the effect of pushing a paper until the very last minute can do to a person and I definitely learned never to do that again! My successes are my grades and my slowly expanding social skills. I have been able to maintain good grades this semester and I expect to continue until I graduate from this school. I have also been able to make friends and I will continue to do so.

I have been able to start to learn my place as a college student. I have taken the time to know most of my professors and I know who I can rely on if I ever have a problem. I think I have certainly become more responsible and independent as an individual. In college I have to be my own person and I have to do the things I need to do. There is no one reminding me when assignments are due or that the semester is coming to an end and that I should start studying for finals. I have to do most of this on my own.

I have also been able to find my own voice. In high school I was around people that were fairly similar to me and we shared many of the same beliefs. Here at Southern it is different because it is such a diverse environment, and that is by no means a bad thing. It simply means that I have been able to be myself around people that are not like me and we are all able to accept each other’s differences. I think that this is another crucial step in transitioning into college. You have to be able to find your voice and stand up for yourself and who you are while still respecting those around you.

This second semester will surely go much more smoothly now that I know what is expected of me. I now have all of the resources and tools available to me to continue growing as both a student and a person. I have friends and professors who I can go to for help with anything. Inquiry has certainly helped me on the path to becoming a successful college student and I hope that future students take advantage of all the benefits of this class. I wish all of my classmates and friends the best of luck this second semester; I know we will all do great!

On my last day of high school in my Theology class, my teacher Mrs. Mazz handed each of us an a plastic acorn and described it as our potential. We are all acorns and we all have the potential to grow into an oak tree, but it is up to us to do so. As we can see, hundreds of acorns sit in our backyards, but few of them grow into oak trees. Here in college and for the rest of our lives we must rise to the challenge and be the few acorns that grow into full oak trees!

**The link I inlcuded is a great article about always growing by getting out of your comfort zone. I think it is a wonderful article!

A New Set of Goals

College, just as life, is all about setting goals and working hard to achieve them.

Academically I would like to maintain a high grade point average and hopefully all straight A’s. I would like to make the Dean’s list; it would be such a wonderful honor! As I said in a couple of earlier posts, I want my academic career in college to be different from the one I had in high school. It took me two and a half years to become an Honor student. I am promising myself that I will maintain above average grades in college. This of course requires a lot of studying, something that I am certainly willing to do. Of course, everything requires balance. So while I wish to achieve good grades, I also want to have a social life and hold my job.

Socially I would like to make more friends. I have met many people this semester and I have made several new friends. However, I would still like to meet new people and keep making friends. I would also like to participate in a couple of different clubs here at Southern. When this first semester started I did sign up for a few but with my schedule I was not really able to fully participate. Now that I have improved my time management I am hoping to participate more.

Personally I would like to continue growing as a person. There is a lot in life that I have yet to learn and I hope that some of my daily experiences here at Southern help me to grow more as an individual. I would also like to find the time to volunteer as a tutor where I was last year. With my new schedule it is hard to find the time to tutor, go to school, and work. I am really hoping that I can work out a way to start working as a volunteer again! I miss my kids!!

Success and Failure

As they say, with success comes failure, and that is certainly true for me. I have seen success in many areas and I have failed along the way.

My first semester has been a very interesting and mostly positive experience. I have certainly grown more independent and even more personally responsible than I was before. One of my greatest strengths this first semester has been academics. I have been able to maintain A’s and B’s in all five of my classes and this is a big deal for me. It was extremely important for me to start my college career strong because I do not want a repeat of the beginning of high school.

I have been able to maintain the balance between school and work. I have the ability to both attend school and work and not have to choose one over the other; both receive my best.  

Personally, I think my greatest weakness has been my lack of participation in class discussions. My personality is that of a more quiet and reserved person. I find it fairly difficult to talk out in class and I know that this is crucial for some classes. It is odd because I find that the smaller the class the easier it is for me to participate. It also helps when I know the people in my classes better.

My Spanish 305 class is the class that I participate most in. I attribute this mostly to my level of comfort in the class. I truly enjoy the class, there are only eleven people and we have all come to be friends, and I absolutely love my professor! I need to work on participating more in all of my classes.

Overall I am content with how my semester has gone so far. I still have work to do and with patience I will soon be where I want to be!

Life After College

This is something that I constantly think about: my future! I have goals set for myself and plans for my future.

I would like to graduate from SCSU with my degree in Spanish and my certification in teaching at the secondary (high school) level. I would really like to teach at Sacred Heart Academy, my alma mater. This school holds a very special place in my heart and I truly feel like it is where I would like to end up teaching. I hope to end up teaching either Spanish or Religion or maybe even both!

Eventually I would like to get a degree in Theology and counseling. As funny as it may sound I would truly want to be a religion teacher at some point in my life. My religion has been a big part of my life and it has defined part of who I am. I hope that I can use my faith to teach others and help them to understand the same things that confused me. I would also like to volunteer time at a community center to help counsel at-risk youth.

On a more personal level I would like to get married and have children some day. Having a family of my own is definitely something that I want. I think marriage is something very sacred and being able to totally share yourself with another person is a special gift. I hope to have two or three children, as they too are very special gifts!

One other thing I would like to accomplish is the opening of my very own restaurant. One of my dreams is to carry on the many family recipes that I have learned. Growing up in a bicultural household has been a blessing! I would like to share the fusion of food with others.

So….this is basically my future! I have a lot of things that I would like to accomplish and with patients I know I will be able to!

“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.”

Thank you to my senior year Theology teacher, Mrs. Mazzariello, for being my source of inspiration!

A Time of Reflection

I have truly enjoyed my time in this learning community! It made the transition a little more comfortable because we were able to be around the same people and we grew together. As a group that spent so much time together we had the ability to make friends and feel confident asking each other questions if we saw each other around the campus.

Personally, it helped me and I was able to make a friend and get to know other people. I know that even though I am not close friends with everyone, when I see someone I can say hi and have a conversation. Everyone in the class has been very kind to me and even though they might not have known it, they have helped me in my transition into college.

I will miss this class for many different reasons. We have shared many laughs and have felt the stress of completing projects for both, English and Inquiry. We also grew fairly close and got to know each other. We completed activities with Lee that allowed us to know things about each other that we may have never known.

Lee is definitely someone that I will miss! It was wonderful getting to know her as a student, role model, and eventual friend. She has taught me a lot about life, not only in college but also outside of college. She is a very bright young woman and I wish her the best!

All in all I think the learning communities are necessary in transitioning into college. They provide some sort of stability to this change. I will certainly miss my classmates and it will be different not having classes with all of us together!

“Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.”

Yellow rose of friendship <3