Category: Portfolio & Reflection

Unit 1

refection: For unit 1 I didn’t change much around except for the way I worded some things and typos. I feel like I did the best I could to explain the events that went down and how they effected my outlook on education and life.

Revised unit 1:

Education

Do you ever realise how much your experiences with school in general played a big part in how you turned out as a person? Well it does…and whether you notice it or not we’ve all picked up on certain habits and characteristics that directly came from what we were taught and/or the different types of people we’ve encountered as we were growing up. For me personally, my experiences with school have given me thick skin and resilience. This is because I’ve learned a lot about the way people act and why they do it and to never take it personally, to always keep going no matter how hard thing’s get, and most importantly, that things will get better with time so patience is key. Despite all the hurt and inconveniences I’ve faced there was really no other choice and I had to pick myself up and keep going even when I felt like giving up as a whole because at the end of the day it is my life and the decisions I make can take a huge toll on my future so instead of letting the bad things that have happened on the way there stop me, I have decided to use it as fuel to keep striving for what I really want in life.

 

Let me start off with my mishap in the first grade when the teacher called me stupid. Most of what the teacher said to me after saying I was stupid is a blur in my head now, but I do remember the moments leading up to it and the exact moment she lashed out on me. She was teaching us math and we were all sitting at our desks. A few minutes into the lesson some things fell out of my desk so I went to go pick them up and stopped paying attention to what she was teaching because I was distracted with all of the things that fell on the floor. I got everything up and went to sit back down and put everything back inside the desk as quietly as possible so I wouldn’t disrupt the class, as I was putting the stuff in she calls on me to answer a question, me not even knowing what she asked I say I don’t know and that I was fixing my desk. She pauses for a few seconds and you can see the anger brewing in her eyes, shortly after she screams “JAYLA THIS IS EXACTLY WHY YOU’RE GOING TO GET LEFT BACK IN THE FIRST GRADE YOU’RE STUPID AND GET DISTRACTED BY EVERY LITTLE THING”… I froze after she said that to me and only being 6 years old at the time I didn’t know how to react, I remember all my classmates turning their heads to look at me but that’s really about it. All I remember after that is being too ashamed to say anything to my parents or principal about it because I was too embarrassed and didn’t think they’d believe me, and for a while it made me not want to go back to school and I felt like what she said to me was true and that everybody around me believed it as well and it got to a point where I would perform poorly in all my classes because I lost all my motivation to even try because of her comment living rent free in my head. Looking back at this experience now, she probably acted this way out of frustration, some people tend to let things build up and lash out at the wrong moments without even realising so in some sick way I do forgive her even though it took a huge toll on me emotionally at the time, I can’t let what she said define me. Despite that, after the fog that left me unmotivated cleared up I started doing really well in her class once again so that school year ended on a positive note luckily and every school year after that I always try my best when it’s time to do the work just to reassure myself that I have put my all into what I did even if it got tricky. Nonetheless, this experience has taught me the importance of having patience as well as not making people feel bad about themselves for not knowing something right away. Now to this day, whenever I ask somebody anything I give them a chance to come up with an answer or take the time to explain to them what I’m talking about if they don’t know or understand what I asked. It’s the least I can do honestly.

 

Now moving on to my high school experience from hell. I honestly don’t even know where to start with this one because it’s just bad all around, if I took the time to break down every event you would probably be here for an eternity so i’ll just state some prominent factors. The teachers and principal didn’t really care about anything that went on, since it was still sort of a new technical arts school that’s pretty small, their main focus was polishing their reputation to get more people to want to go there so they never really took the time to address any problems occurring and instead swept everything under the rug like it didn’t even matter. Of course, this didn’t help at all when most of the students at the school were troublesome and had a shared desire to start problems all of the time. From having various rumors about me go around that resulted into having the entire school turn against me without actually knowing me to having a full blown panic attack right in front of the guidance counselor and it being disregarded with an “okay, but you have to leave my office now cause there’s another student that needs to come in” and even witnessing things that have happened to some of my peers. This school was no walk in the park but regardless of all of it (even when it got like. REALLY BAD) I still did what I could to stay on top of all of my classes and graduate because that’s what actually mattered at the end of the day. During freshman year I was one of the top students in my living environment class and got the opportunity to take the SAT early, I don’t really remember what I scored on it but it still gave me so much academic confidence that ended up paying off for the better which I’ll talk about how it did soon. I also had a few production class film’s that ended up on something they had called best of and I even ended up being one of the students that would score the highest in the class for regular tests and the regents to a point where all of my parent teacher conferences were mainly focused on my social issues at the school since my academic performance was spot on. Fast forward to junior year which was very overwhelming to say the least. We started to look at colleges and at the time I lost all interest in film so I didn’t even know what I wanted to do in college and this loss of interest also made me want to leave the school even more than I already did. So I looked into graduating early, I had to talk to my advisor to see if I had enough credits to do it so that’s what I did. Though it was sort of a hassle and the teachers tried anything they could to stop it from happening because they felt I needed to stay for “character development” my advisor finally pulled out my credits and it turned out that I exceeded the amount needed to graduate so I ended up getting to do it. After I left I decided to take a very much needed gap year  to better my mental health and look into colleges in a peaceful environment. Once this happened thing’s started to get so much better. I got into the school that was my first choice and got into a major which I really enjoy. I’ve also taken the time to analyze my experiences in high school and came to the realisation that most it was just projection and that I shouldn’t have let it beat me down as much as I did. Suddenly, even to this day I’m proud of myself for not giving up because it all ended up working out and making me stronger than I realise. Despite all the mishaps I still managed to put my education above it all even when it felt like there was no hope but now finally being out of that situation it’s helped me realise how you really can accomplish anything no matter the circumstances. 

 

 Everything you were taught and the people you’ve encountered throughout the years have played a big part in making you the person you are today, school especially plays a huge role in this. Afterall, it is one of the first places that you meet various people and are exposed to different kinds of influences, but what matters at the end of the day is what you do with it and how you let it affect you in the long run. You can either rise above it or let it bury you underground, just remember that it’s your life and that at the end of the day you can come back from just about anything if you really put your mind to it. My mother once sent me a quote that said “You’re not responsible for the programming you received as a child, but you are 100% responsible for fixing it as an adult” do what you will with that the world is your oyster after all!

 

Unit 2

Reflection: Unit 2 was the most complex by far. While doing it it took a while to gather all of the information and type it out in a way that was unbiased as well as trying my best to make accurate citations and be on point with all of the details. But at the end it came out really good in my opinion and hit all of the points that we were supposed to make during this assignment, therefore, I have not changed anything about this final piece.

revised unit 2 :

   The Manson Family Cult

 

Pop culture has its fair share of interesting controversial stories…but one in particular that always catches my gaze is The Manson Family Cult. We all know Charles Manson was an everything but normal person but what exactly was it that drove him and his members to do what they did? This alone intrigues me so much just because everything they did was so brutal and left such a huge mark on Hollywood history for all of the wrong reasons. It’s one of those things you don’t just forget about overnight. Even though I only know a vague description of some of the things that happened I would like to fall in the loophole even more and get an in depth look into the entire thing. When I do my research for this topic, I expect it to mostly be surface level descriptions of the events that occurred that don’t really bother getting into the provocations and everything else that led up to them. However, if I do end up finding some in depth information I’ll be surprised and stand corrected.

 

Serratore “What You Need to Know About The Manson Family Murders” Smithsonian Magazine, July 25th, 2019

 

This article starts off by giving a quick description about the Quentin Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” that’s based off the events that actually took place with the cult in the late sixties and how Tarantino’s main goal of the film was to dig deeper into the case. The writer then starts to talk about Charles Manson’s rocky upbringing and how when he grew up he would purposely get himself in and out of prison because he was so used to being institutionalized and even enjoyed it. But one time when he got released  he took it upon himself to jump around different cities in California to search for “young people looking to embark on a new way of life.” so that he could obtain a group of followers and be able to make them do whatever he wanted by manipulating them. Him and his followers that were mostly women would then flee to Los Angeles in hopes of pursuing music careers and since Manson had a way with words it led him and his followers to end up charming, mingling, and befriending high end celebrities including Dennis Wilson who was a member of The Beach Boys. “Through Wilson, Manson met other music-industry players and grew increasingly fixated on stardom, all the while exercising greater and greater control over the group that came to be known as the Manson Family.” , and since it was mostly girls that were in his cult they were known as the “Manson Girls” and Charles would use them to “lure other men to both join the group and to support it.” The family would eventually reside in a ranch where Charles reportedly “instructed others at the ranch to take LSD and listen to him preach about the past, present and future of humanity.” and the members were restricted from wearing glasses or having their own money. After having his music career flop, “Manson became increasingly focused on violence.” and that is when all the killing started. The writer then gets into The Manson Family’s most infamous killing which was the murder of Sharon Tate. “On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson Family members Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Linda Kasabian (who would later turn state’s witness against the others) drove to Tate and Polanski’s home (the director was out of town working on a film). The eight-months pregnant Tate, who appeared in 1967’s Valley of the Dolls and was considered one of Hollywood’s most promising up-and-comers, was relaxing at home with her friends: celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and Folger’s boyfriend Voytek Frykowski. None of them had any tangible connection to Manson or the Family other than being physically in the house previously occupied by someone Manson knew (Terry Melcher)…Tate and her friends all died at the hands of Watson, Krenwinkel, and Atkins, as did Steven Parent, a teenaged friend of the house’s caretaker who happened to be pulling out of the driveway as the killers arrived.” Earlier in this article, it is mentioned that the house Tate purchased from Manson’s former friend Terry Melcher was where his music career flopped and the house was a constant reminder of the failure. The day after those killings, The Manson Family went out to commit more murder’s. “They drove to the house of grocery business executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. LaBianca was totally unknown to the Manson Family—some of its members had reportedly been to a party in the neighborhood. According to Bugliosi, the LaBiancas were chosen at random after several hours of driving around upscale Los Angeles neighborhoods.” Afterwards, the writer then concludes the article by talking about how The Manson Family murder’s shook up hollywood because of how it “touched upon some of the deepest fears of the American psyche—the idea that you might not be safe at home, for one, and the idea that even ‘good girls’ are a few moves away from committing unspeakable crimes.”

 

I must say that this article is quite informative. It does a good job at breaking down significant events into different parts in a way that helps whoever is reading it understand what exactly went on. It even gave me new information on things I didn’t know before, like the fact that Manson had a music career and that his cult was mostly girls. Also the fact that Sharon Tate was a victim of his simply because she bought the house that used to be his former friends. Though this was a well executed article, I still do have some questions, like why didn’t the writer get more into what happened when they got caught and went on trial for it? After they talk about the murder of the LaBianca’s they just move on to the conclusion where they talk about how it stunned hollywood. I’m also curious as to why they only discussed two of the murders, I would have liked to hear about more. Regardless of that, this read was still really easy to understand the writer did a good job at getting their point across, this article informs my research because it gave me a basic rundown of why Manson became the way he was and how he started his entire cult in the first place. So it’s safe to say I finished this article more informed than I was when I started it. 

 

This writing is a magazine entry, so I’m assuming one of the writer’s for that magazine were the one that wrote this. I feel like they did a good job at writing this entry. However, they probably only looked for the fundamental information and wrote about that to give a simple rundown since it’s a magazine brand that’s mainly focused on science, history, and nature so most of its readers would probably rather hear about something else. 

 

“Charles Manson and the Manson Family” Crime Museum, August 19th,2019

 

This article starts off by listing all of the members of the Manson Family as well as their victims. They then get into discussing 3 of the murders, first one being the Hinman murder. It starts off by talking about how one of the members of the cult scammed Bernard Crowe in an effort to get some money for Manson. After the failed attempt, Crowe threatened the Manson Family and “soon after, Manson shot Crowe under the false pretense that Crowe was part of the Black Panthers, an African-American leftist organization. However, Crowe did not die, and Manson feared retaliation from Crowe. In order to escape and move into a new territory away from the Spahn Ranch (The Manson Family compound), Manson needed money. In the midst of Manson’s escape plan, he was told that his friend Gary Hinman was coming into some money from an inheritance.” So Gary shortly became the main target, and in order to get what he wanted Manson sent 3 of his other members to go and try to convince Hinman to give them the money but it didn’t work. So Manson took matters into his own hands and held him hostage for a few days. “ After being held hostage for days, Manson came over with a sword and slashed Hinman’s left ear. Ultimately, Beausoleil murdered Hinman by stabbing him twice in the chest. Hinman’s blood was used to smear “political piggy” on the wall along with the Black Panther’s paw to implicate the Black Panther party.” After this murder, Manson didn’t get arrested but “Beausoleil was arrested when he was found sleeping in Hinman’s vehicle, wearing the bloody clothes worn during the stabbing, and with the murder weapon concealed in the trunk tire.” The writer then moves on to the families next murder which, once again, is about the most talked about one that’s about Sharon Tate. This paragraph starts off by talking about how Tate and her friends were hanging out at her house at night when her husband was out of town “Those spending the night with Tate were Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Jay Sebring.

Into the late hours of that night, Tate’s neighbors claimed to have heard suspected gunshots but did not alert the authorities. There were also reports of a man’s screams coming from the Tate residence. Later in the night, a private security guard hired by property owners also heard gunshots coming from the Tate residence and proceeded to notify the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).” The morning after it was reported that the housekeeper came home to all of their dead bodies, the writer then gets into detail about what exactly went down and how Tate and her friends were brutally murdered. After that, they move on to the third murder they write about which is the LaBianca murder. “On August 10, 1969, the night after the Tate murder, Manson and six of the Manson family members (Leslie Van Houten, Steve Grogan, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Charles Watson) committed another murder. Unlike the Tate murder, Manson joined in on the LaBianca murder because he felt that there was not enough panic among the victims from the Tate murder.” They drove around looking for a victim in a neighborhood where they attended a party a year back, eventually, they arrived at a home close by that was owned by the LaBianca’s. “There are the several differing accounts from Manson and six Manson family members, so the exact happenings of the murder are not certain. Manson claims that he approached the home alone and returned later to bring Watson along. When Manson and Watson were in the residence, they tied up the LaBianca couple with a lamp cord and with pillowcases covering their heads. Manson reassured the couple that they would not be hurt and that they were being robbed. All the cash was collected and the bounded Rosemary was returned to her room. Soon after, Van Houten and Krenwinkel entered the premises with the instructions from Manson to kill the couple. Manson left the residence and instructed Van Houten and Krenwinkel to follow Watson’s orders.” Watson along with Van Houten and Krenwinkel then proceeded to stab both Leno and Rosemary Labianca in the stomach multiple times despite their cries for them to stop. After they were finished “On the walls of the living room, “Death to pigs” and “Rise” were written in Leno’s blood. On the refrigerator door, a misspelled “Healter [sic] Skelter” was smeared.” Then the three members fled the scene. The day after the killing, Rosemary’s son, daughter, and her daughter’s boyfriend went to the house where they then discovered the bodies and alerted police immediately.  The writer then talks about the investigations for each case that then resulted in warrants being sent out for Watson, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian. The writer then talks about Manson’s motives towards starting a cult which is based off “Manson’s philosophy of the upcoming Apocalypse was the true motive behind the killings. He told his family that “Helter Skelter” was coming. According to Manson, Helter Skelter was the uprising of a racial war between “blackies” and “whiteys”. He would gain from the racial war by hiding himself and his family in a cave located in Death Valley until the “war” ended.” They then write about the Manson Family when they went on trial and how they all ended up being guilty and were sentenced to life in prison but afterwards they get into what all of the members are doing currently and it turns out that most of them are still in prison, Manson passed away in 2017 from gastrointestinal bleeding, Steve Grogan was paroled, and Kasabian was granted immunity.

This read was far more informative than the last one was. I say this with confidence because I have no questions to ask because the writer already went in depth enough and answered all of my initial questions surrounding this situation. However, they could have written about all of the other victims’ murders instead of only writing about three, so in future sources I hope to find more information surrounding those. Otherwise, if I could say anything to the author I would tell them they should have done that but regardless, they still were spot on about explaining everything. 

This article was written on the website for The Crime Museum so it’s clear that they know what they’re talking about and made sure to share this information with people who are into crime stories like this which I can also assume would be their target audience. The authors writing style was unbiased and mostly fact based which makes this source highly credible.

 

“How Charles Manson Got Under America’s Skin- For Nearly 50 Years” History.com , December 1st,2017

This article starts off with a three minute video discussing how Manson orchestrated the horrific murders and manipulated his followers by making them use drugs and have group sex with eachother. It also mentions how Manson’s prophecy also known as “Helter Skelter” was based on a Beatles song that he was convinced confirmed his sick beliefs and fueled him to enforce them onto his followers harshly. He even brainwashed his followers into thinking he was a messiah. The video then mentions how The Manson Family’s reputation made hippie commune life during the 60’s look bad by “confirming” all the negative stereotypes about drug use and living freely like they did. After the video finishes, the article then gets into how the ranch they lived in got raided and the followers were taken into custody but Charles wasn’t there when it happened so he got away with it, and in an interview with one of the ex members in 2013, she says “Charlie said that if he was in jail for a few days or even for years, he’d start acting like ‘Crazy Charlie,’ being strange and not making sense until (the authorities) got so frustrated with him that they’d let him go.” and she later goes on to tell the interviewer that Manson told them not to believe it because it was just an act. Manson kept his word, because while in prison “Charles Manson held the world in fascinated thrall for more than four decades of high-security incarceration, right up to his death on November 18th. Though he was a prisoner, Manson orchestrated everything. And the world couldn’t help but ogle.” It’s also mentioned that “He’d already had considerable practice. In previous prison stints, and in juvenile-delinquent facilities before that, the tiny (5 ft.-3 in.) Manson was often confronted by much larger inmates. Too small and weak to fight them off, he startled them instead with wild rantings and gyrations. This apparent insanity often unsettled the bullies enough for them to leave Manson alone.” So not only was he infamous for running a cult and killing people, he was also known for turning heads and causing scenes whenever he felt it was necessary to do so, and he kept this up by doing multiple interviews and even getting engaged to a 27 year old superfan of his named ‘Star’ that would visit him in prison every weekend when he was 80 years old – but he shortly called the engagement off. There was also another follower in 1975 named Squeaky who attempted to murder the then president Gerald Ford, “ failing only because her semi-automatic handgun failed to fire. Manson denied putting Fromme up to it, but most people believed he’d surely had some influence on the act—that his malignant reach extended far beyond his prison walls. Not even the president was safe from Charles Manson.” The article then talks about how when Manson was convicted for Sharon Tate and the LaBianca murders, it gave him the publicity he truly craved and his reputation got him a best selling book and a spinoff movie. The writer concludes this article by saying “Ultimately, Manson didn’t care what we thought of him, only that we did. He made sure of it.”

This read was the most interesting one by far. It did a good job at describing Manson’s personality and how he never hesitated to do just about anything to get what he wanted. Though it doesn’t really go in depth about the actual murders like the other one did, it still did a good job at giving details about the way him and his followers acted and a rundown of what they would do together outside of the killings. This document informs my research because it gave me an idea of who these people (especially Charles) were and helps recognize how not okay in the head they were.

This writing was made on the History website so it’s clear that their target audience is anybody interested in all types of history. I feel like the writer did a good job at explaining how Manson got under peoples skin (hence the title of the article) and everything they wrote matches up with the way it’s advertised on the home page.

To sum everything up, I found so many things in this research that I would have never suspected to find when I first started this paper. For example, Manson’s prophecies being based off a Beatles song and him making his followers take huge doses of LSD while they listened to him preach about it was quite the shocker, also the fact that after the groups killings they would write stuff on the walls with the victim’s blood after killing them. I learned that this cult was darker than I anticipated, and the fact that I didn’t even need to hear about all of their killings to come to that conclusion say’s a lot about their cult. What I learned is important because it fed my curiosity as well as kind of reminding me to always keep one eye open when I sleep because you never know what kind of crazy is lingering around you. Overall, I feel like people into crime, cults, and pop culture would like to hear about this stuff just for the entertainment and intriguement of it all. 

Unit 3

Reflection: For Unit 3 I decided to change up the song lyrics a bit just to make it sound better an have more rhythm. This was the most fun unit due to the fact that we were allowed to get creative with it.

revised unit 3: Oh Charles

(acoustic guitar playing)

Charles was never a normal kid
Nobody payed mind to what he did
Because he grew up always being ignored
The prison cell was a place he grew to adore
Up until one day they set him free
He went to different cities for company
Charles made some friends with the help of his charm
It’s surprising how his presence didn’t set off alarms

Oh Charles, why did you have to be this way, oh Charles, pop culture thinks about you every day

Suddenly they became family
Sitting in a ranch doing LSD, listening to him preach about humanity
They tried to pursue music but it didn’t work out
Violence and murder became what they were about

Oh Charles, why did you have to be this way, oh Charles, pop culture thinks about you every day

One day they wanted some money
The initial idea was to scam Bernie
Bernie caught on and told them to get out
So the next target became Gary and he knew what it was about
They wanted it so bad they locked him in for three days
Gary refused to budge so they took his life away

Oh Charles, why did you have to be this way, oh Charles, pop culture thinks about you every day

Starting to fill up with violence and hate
The family’s next victim was Sharon Tate
Some friends were over while her husband was out of town
Never did they know what was about to go down
Her house was the place their music careers flopped
They weren’t going to leave until all bodies dropped

Oh Charles, why did you have to be this way, oh Charles, pop culture thinks about you every day

After taking the lives of five people, not four, not three
The family wasn’t over their killing spree
Driving around LA looking for some fresh meat
The LaBiancas were the next to fall to defeat
Before the family could go any further
They finally got arrested for all their murders

Oh Charles, why did you have to be this way, oh Charles, pop culture thinks about you every day

Unit 1

Although it didn’t hit the required word count, I didn’t add anything to it. I struggled to find any additional information that wouldn’t make the essay sound redundant. I believe I was able to effectively get my point across otherwise.

Education Narrative: “There is no end to education,” and “Learning is a Lifelong Process” are quotes that I appreciate more over time. As of recently, I’ve been developing interests in different hobbies outside of my field of study. While learning about these hobbies I realize the value of these quotes and the mindset behind them. Education goes beyond school. It is equally as important to educate yourself outside of class than it is inside of class. Even if it’s something not as significant like watching a youtube video, reading small articles, or just picking up on certain trends, regardless you are teaching yourself about that topic. I find this valuable because you gain additional knowledge on the subject. This compliments learning in class because you can make connections and tie loose information you may not have realized before. It will also deepen your overall understanding and propel you as a learner not only in school but in life.

Growing up I haven’t always been the most focused child. I didn’t dislike education, games and TV were just constantly on my mind. That being said, I wasn’t always conscious of these ideas or how effective it was to study on my own. However there were times where I would go out my way to learn more about a topic that really interested me. During my elementary school years, I had a self revelation that I could draw pretty well and so I chose to pursue art. My school at the time didn’t have any art classes or programs so I decided to learn more on my own. I began by searching for “how to draw…” videos. Those videos turned into “drawing tips and techniques” and then “helpful drawing exercises”. I would find myself drawing all the time in class and at home. I would draw the characters I watch on TV or that I played with in my video games. I decided that I wanted to go to a school majoring in fine arts. Once I enrolled, I quickly found myself at home. Having an instructor put me in a more clear direction with my art. However, I also realized that some of what I learned and practiced on my own were being taught in lessons. I felt like I was learning at a greater rate because certain information taught in class were things I knew and were being expanded on. Having those habits of practicing, studying, just overall experiencing these methods propelled my learning and made me a better artist.

Leading into high school, I was more focused on being social. I stirred away from education and more into hanging out and goofing off. Even in these times I found the value in the quotes. Something everyday like communication I found myself expressing these very ideas. Growing up, it use to be difficult for me to articulate my thoughts or express me feelings. However, over time, as I got to meet people and experience different personalities, I got a better understanding of how to communicate. Schools sometimes teach communication when saying “Say you respectfully disagree” in a debate, or “Make sure to ask politely” when you need help, however, it goes deeper than that. It taught me to be observant and to study how people react in different situations as well as how I act. This is important because I can better understand what I want and how to appropriately portray that to who I speak to. Whether it is my professor when teaching a lesson, cooperating with my peers on a group project, or connecting with a supervisor at my job. As a result, me learning to better communicate still helped me grow as a person and as a learner even though I was struggling as a student.

In conclusion, education goes beyond what a student learns in class. Education is extracting lessons gathered in life and applying that to anything they do. Coming to this realization, quotes like “There is no end to education,” or “Learning is a Lifelong Process” have become a concept that I now live by. As for my hobbies, not only will I continue to learn more, but learning more will continue to be a hobby.

Unit 2

After reading comments on my essay, I realized where most of the mistakes came from. I wrote this essay as a thesis with evidence when it was essentially a piece to digest the research and break it down for the next unit. My changes revolved around taking the focus away from the thesis and more towards the articles and my annotations of them.

Annotated Bib.: I’m a serious NBA fan. I like to listen to/read a lot of stories about young players and their journeys to the NBA. When I hear these stories, I would often hear about the endless work ethic these guys have and the time and effort they put in to perfect their game. I noticed that these players would often be described as gifted players or generational talents. The way they are described makes it sound like their gift/talent is a result of their hard work and dedication, and not so much something they are born with. Growing up, I always thought being gifted or talented was about being born with certain abilities or skills considerably above average. When I first started drawing, I would always show off my work to my parents and they would compliment me by saying things like “wow you’re talented” or “you have a real gift.” Of course they were just being supportive, but this made me believe that I was born with this natural ability to draw and that because of this natural ability, I can become a great artist. Hearing these terms used differently, made me think about the concept of being gifted and being talented; their true meaning along with the similarities and differences between them. This also lead to the connection of other terms like mentality and mindset.

Google’s definition of these words are: Being talented is to have a natural aptitude or skill for something, while the definition of being gifted is to have an exceptional talent or natural ability: essentially an elevated version of talent. The definition of mentality is the characteristic attitude of mind or way of thinking of a person or group, and mindset is the established set of attitudes held by someone. Essentially, the characteristics of a mentality make up a mindset.

When I was doing research, I was mainly looking for how these terms were being used and defined by people. I came across this article titled “What Is The Difference Between Gifted And Talented?” written by an elementary school teacher named Ray Fitzgerald who talks about the differences of gifted and talented. In this article Ray Fitzgerald states “While a test that identifies a gifted child looks more at broad cognitive skills, testing for an academically talented child focuses on the nitty gritty these students are ones who score in the top percentiles of all students on individual subject-area tests for math, science, reading or any other topic.” This quote is stating that tests for children identified as gifted, focuses more on their mental action, tendencies, and process of understanding information while testing for talented children focuses more on them applying their smarts to different subjects. This didn’t line up with the definitions from google. This article is essentially saying gifted it about one’s process of thinking while talented it the application.

When continuing the research, I wanted to focus more on mentality and mindset. I decided to look into Kobe Bryant’s book “Mamba Mentality.” Kobe Bryant was a professional NBA player that spent his entire 20 year career on the Los Angeles Lakers. Besides the successful career he had, one aspect about him that he will always be remembered for was his “Mamba Mentality” (Black Mamba was his nickname). In an excerpt of his book, it states “When it came to basketball, I had no fear. What I mean by that is: if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind…” Bryant breaks down and describes different characteristics of his mentality. He explains how he was never in fear of losing or failing. He didn’t care if he looked bad or felt embarrassed. He explains how eager he was; he had the urge to constantly learn and apply new material. He also explained how focused he was; he stay focused and keep his long term goal in sight. Another characteristic that wasn’t directly stated was his high work ethic which kind of glued everything together. When reading this I began to realize that all of these characteristics, among others unmentioned, are characteristics of his mentality, which built the foundation of his mindset. He talks about applying himself, and that when applied, his mentality made him the generational talent he was. What Kobe says in his book links more with what Ray Fitzgerald said in his article about gifted vs talented. Gifted is more about the mental while talented is more about the action. Gifted, talented, mentality, and mindset all have some type of connection.

In an article titled “Is There a Mindset Misconception with Giftedness?” By Emily Mofield speaks more on the affects of a mindset. It states “The buzz about mindsets, what we believe about our intelligence, has captivated parents and educators in recent years. Its message is powerful if you believe your intelligence can grow, you will embrace challenges and achieve more… this mighty notion of mindset can be misinterpreted. In discussions about giftedness and mindsets, there may also be misconceptions. Research about praise tells us that when we praise students for their intelligence, they are likely to develop fixed mindset beliefs—the belief that your abilities do not change and so, they are more likely to avoid challenges in order to maintain a smart identity…” This quote identifies 2 different types of mindsets, 1 being a growth mindset and 2 being a fixed mindset. A growth mindset is a mindset that regardless of any limitations, one’s intelligence can still grow and achieve more. A fixed mindset is where one believes that one can’t grow beyond the gifts they have. This article brings up an idea that when an individual has a certain mindset/gift, they are able to perform or achieve certain things faster and/or at a greater level than others. However, with the right mentality, anyone can still achieve anything they desire even if it’s outside the domain of their gifts. This sort of relates to the excerpt from Kobe’s book.

This is what I’m understanding so far. The first mindset is the mindset everyone potentially has. Anyone can develop new characteristics of their mentality to accomplish things even if there are setbacks. For example, let’s say there are 2 people: person A who has is gifted with math expertise; and person B who is gifted with language arts expertise. They are both equally gifted in their own right, but what if they both are striving to become authors? Both can do so however person A will have to work harder to achieve this feat. This is because their characteristics don’t compliment the goal they’re after as well as person B. However, along the way, person A will develop their mentality to accomplish the goal they’re after.

After researching, I learned that having a gift is the result of a mindset that allows one to be proficient in something. Being talented it the application of said mindset. Mentality is the building blocks to one’s mindset, and that anyone’s mentality can grow and add more.

Unit 3

I liked the result of this unit. I didn’t want to change much in this, the only thing I did was include a more clear argument towards the end.

Reddit Post/Written abstract:

What is the true meaning behind being gifted and being talented?

A question to ponder to all viewers on this Subreddit.

There are two ways I’ve seen the terms gifted and talented being used:

• Associated with possessing a natural born ability/skill.
• Result of high work ethic, fearlessness, determination, and other attributes alike.

When I was growing up, my parents would call me “gifted” or “talented” whenever they would see my drawings (they were just being nice). It gave me the impression that being “gifted” or “talented” meant having some special natural ability. In other cases, I hear stories about successful people would be called those terms get praise for their hard work and dedication. So what does being gifted and talented really mean?

Google’s definition is this:

• Being talented is to have a natural aptitude or skill for something.
• Being gifted is to have an exceptional talent or natural ability.

Essentially, being gifted is like an upgraded version of being talented.

Before I get to my definition, I want to define mentality and mindset.

• Mentality is the characteristic attitude of mind or way of thinking of a person or group.
• Mindset is the established set of attitudes held by someone.

Essentially, the characteristics of a mentality makes up a mindset.

The reason I included mentality and mindset is because I believe there is a connection. I believe that being gifted identifies more with the mentality of an individual while being talented focuses more on the application of an individual’s mindset. Being gifted is the foundation of being talented.

I decided to look up any instances where those terms were being used. There’s an article titled “What Is The Difference Between Gifted And Talented?” By Ray Fitzgerald who was an elementary school teacher. He spoke about how he’d answer a question similar to this one, what he told parents, and the purpose behind different tests. I’m focusing on what he said about the test.

“While a test that identifies a gifted child looks more at broad cognitive skills, testing for an academically talented child focuses on the nitty gritty these students are ones who score in the top percentiles of all students on individual subject-area tests for math, science, reading or any other topic.”

Tests for children identified as gifted, focuses more on their mental action, tendencies, and process of understanding information while testing for talented children focuses more on them applying their smarts to different subjects.

One person that came up in my research is Kobe Bryant. He’s one person that if you didn’t watch basketball you would still hear his name and that’s because of his “Mamba Mentality.” He’s the type of person that gives his all in everything he tries. In his book “Inside the Mamba Mentality” he goes into depth with his attitude and approach to challenges he faced.

“When it came to basketball, I had no fear. What I mean by that is: if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind…”

Kobe breaks down the different characteristics of his mentality and how it played a part in him practicing to get better. His fearlessness, eagerness, and focus, where all aspects that contributed to the foundation of his mindset, leading him to become the 18x All-Star, 5x Champ, League MVP, and overall great person he was.

In addition to my concept of mentality and mindset, there is also the idea that when an individual has a certain mindset/gift, they are able to perform or achieve certain things faster and/or at a greater level than others. However, with the right mentality, anyone can still achieve anything they desire even if it’s outside the domain of their gifts.

One interesting article I found is titled “Is There a Mindset Misconception with Giftedness?” by Emily Mofield. It speaks about the concept of mindset and growth of intelligence as well as a common misconception about them.

“The buzz about mindsets, what we believe about our intelligence, has captivated parents and educators in recent years. Its message is powerful if you believe your intelligence can grow, you will embrace challenges and achieve more… this mighty notion of mindset can be misinterpreted. In discussions about giftedness and mindsets, there may also be misconceptions. Research about praise tells us that when we praise students for their intelligence, they are likely to develop fixed mindset beliefs—the belief that your abilities do not change and so, they are more likely to avoid challenges in order to maintain a smart identity…”

This article identifies 2 mindsets:

• Growth mindset – being a mindset where one believes in growth of intelligence; expansion of their mentality.
• Fixed mindset – where one believe they can’t grow beyond the mentality they have. I believe people can break out of this fixed mindset. People can add to their mentality.

Let’s make up a hypothetical situation: There are 2 people: person A who has is gifted with math expertise; and person B who is gifted with language arts expertise. They are both equally gifted in their own right, but what if they both are striving to become authors? Both can do so however person A will have to work harder to achieve this feat. This is because their characteristics don’t compliment the goal they’re after as well as person B. However, as long as person A keeps a growth mindset and believes that they can complete their goal, they will.

All in all, I believe that having a gift is the result of a mindset that allows one to be proficient in something. Being talented it the application of said mindset. Mentality is the building blocks to one’s mindset, and that anyone’s mentality can grow and add more.

So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts on the meaning behind gifted and talented? Comment below.

Reflection

Over the course of this semester, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that as a reader, I like to make connections with other pieces and with my experiences in life. I often try to relate to things I’ve read. When reading ” Liking is for Cowards, Go for what Hurts” I tried to relate the the argument the author was making. This ended up affecting how I went about other assignment; for example, my unit 2 essay took on a similar approach and topic as the article. As a writer, I can become a bit of an over thinker. I tend to re-read what I have written 4-5 times before continuing even if what I have written down is only a couple sentences. I constantly stress about whether I was able to get my point across effectively without leaving out information or repeating myself too many times. I also struggle with formatting. When I’m towards the end of including all the information necessary, I constantly re-arrange the paragraphs for better cohesion. It sometimes takes a while until I’m satisfied. This can be seen in all my unit essays. Between my first draft and the final piece, lots of information was moved around in order to have a better flow for the reader. As a scholar I learned that I can still do good and have fun in a subject I struggle in. With all the oddities that comes with working online, I can say that I still enjoyed reading, discussing, and writing about all the different, interesting topics in this course although I may struggle with this subject.

There were also lots of technical things this semester taught me. I learned how to look a writing in a different light; whether it be mine or someone else’s. When I read, I not only process the material but also pick up on tools used, why they were used and the effectiveness it had. Taking this knowledge to other writing situations, I will be able to better understand the argument, the purpose, the author etc. in other’s work and understand how to convey those very elements in my work. I learned how to go about writing a first draft. Learning that it’s okay to have many mistakes in the beginning stages of an essay and to continue perfecting my arguments. I’ve learned to get comfortable when sharing my ideas. Being online influences me to be more conservative, so it was difficult, but when given an interesting topic to talk about, it helped me break out of that and speak my mind, whether it was in discussion or in writing. I’ve learned to power through things I find difficult. Unit 2 was something I found difficult. Writing an annotated bibliography was foreign to me, and A lot of writing techniques I’m used to using did not apply to it. Although the result may have not been the best, I was able to complete it, have fun, and learn a lot from it.

With that being said, I realize that I still have a lot more work to do as a student. I didn’t always apply myself like I should have. But with this semester now in the books, I feel like I can come back with the motivation to improve. Thank you!

My favorite writing piece was the Unit 2 assignment because I took a lot of time and notes to make sure I wrote the best explanation for the film without leading away from the message I wanted to express from the film. I feel like My work from units 2 and 3 are better than the once I did at the beginning of the semester because I was passionate about them and they actually meant something instead of just a due date. My writing technique  changed into not just writing anything that sounds good but what makes the story make sense. I feel like what I learned a little bit was that a good story doesn’t leave the listener or reader speechless but instead leaves them in competition to top it with their own experience/story.