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Personal Qualities, Work Habits and Attitudes

I already had some of these personal qualities when I came into ACLC, while others were developed during my time here.  I’ve always been able to take projects seriously, wanting to put forth my best effort in what I do.  One example of this at school is when an assignment titled Says Who? during my sophomore year.  It was an assignment that had to tell a story from two different viewpoints, which in mine meant me and my mom.  I got 220 out of 200 on that assignment, and Lynn noted it, “Extra credit for extraordinary writing! Fantastic stories here!”   I also scored 110 out of 100 for both the biography of Frederick Douglass and the book A Yellow Raft in Blue Water that same year.  However, I had (and sometimes still have) trouble starting immediately on a project, exaggerating its difficulty in my mind and being paralyzed by it.

However, that is a feeling that occurs much less now, and I’m usually ready to start working right away, one step at a time.  I’m also good at giving and receiving criticism, taking every comment as a way to improve, and giving them in the same way.  I won’t be hesitant to name what I think is good in a project nor what I think is flawed, which could be both a benefit or a downside.  For example, a friend of mine asked for help critiquing a draft of their essay, very similar to the one you’re reading right now.  They were hoping that I would give them a more favorable review than someone else, but I marked it as “Needs more substance in the intro and first paragraphs”.  They didn’t hold it against me, though, because someone else marked mine the same way.  The point is, I’m always happy to help someone, whether it’s helping them improve their project, work through a problem they have, or simply be a sympathetic ear for them to rant at.

New Basics

I was looking at the rubric for this section of the essay, and thinking “Sweet, I can put in all of these!” Of course, this led to me smacking myself in the forehead when I realized that all of them were ACLC graduation requirements.  Anyways, I’ve achieved or gone beyond the criteria listed there.  For Communications and Languages, I have three years of Spanish under my belt, even though the required amount is only two.  Funny story: I tried to apply to learn American Sign Language as my foreign language freshman year, only for David Hoopes to tell me that’s not recognized by UCs as a foreign language.  That might’ve been true then, but I looked it up recently, it turns out it does qualify in 30 states, including California and New York.

For Reading and Writing, I read Farewell to Manzanar and All Quiet on the Western Front freshman year.  I also read To Kill A Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, the script of Antigone, a biography of Frederick Douglass, and A Yellow Raft in Blue Water sophomore year.  Junior year I read articles written by Descartes and Nietzsche, a script of The Tempest, The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hamlet, Frankenstein, The Spirit of the Beehive, and Jane Eyre.  This year (2017-18) I read articles from Transcendentalist writers like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, other writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, The Left Hand of Darkness, Serial, The Things They Carried, and Othello.  I’ve written essays for almost every one of them.  In addition, I spent freshman and sophomore year trying to write a novel on my own time.  I’ve done four years of English, and took Honors English in my Junior year.

For Math, making it to Precalculus senior year means that that requirement is fulfilled, although I wish I could’ve done Calculus in high school.  This looks really short after English, but there’s really not much to say about Math.

My capacity for Listening and Speaking has improved during my time at ACLC, largely thanks to the frequent Socratic Seminars in Lynn’s and Molly’s classes.  I’ve improved in both formal settings, such as giving a presentation, and informal settings, like social interactions with my classmates.

In History, I’ve taken five classes of History: Geography, U.S. History, World History, Government, and Economics, in that order.  All of them were two semesters long, except for Gov and Econ, which were each one semester.  Thanks to these, I have enough knowledge of U.S. History to pass a U.S. Citizenship test simulation, which was more than half of my Government class could do.  As for the Arts, I haven’t taken many classes in it, because the requirement is only one class.  I only took two, Digital Video Studio and Creative Writing.  However, I did become involved in Speakeasy, and became very involved in the Poetry Club, enough to become Poet Laureate.

I haven’t been as involved in Science as I would like at school, because while I enjoy Science, I either haven’t had enough time or wasn’t sure how to become more involved in it.  I’ve taken 4 years of Science classes at ACLC.  Basic Physics freshman year, Chemistry sophomore year, Biology junior year, and Environmental Science senior year.

Thinking and Reasoning Skills

Similar to personal qualities, I had some of these skills before I came to ACLC, but the school helped to both introduce new skills and improve the ones I have.  The great thing about ACLC is that they aren’t teachers that just lecture you; they’re facilitators that make sure you’re understanding it.  With their help, I was able to improve my ability to think creatively and come up with new ideas due to open-ended projects that gave me room to figure out different methods, such as Science Fair Projects, or the Presentation Assignment in English (where we could give a presentation on anything we wanted, as long as it was class appropriate).  At the risk of sounding redundant, I also learned how to learn through Learning to Learn.  The class taught things like keeping with a consistent schedule and how to analyze articles with the weekly Current Events assignments.  Yet at the same time L2L also taught how and when to relax in order to help be more productive when necessary, through occasional breathing and meditation lessons.

Through History and Science classes, I learned more analytical thinking: how to solve problems, use logic to reach conclusions, and examine the system we live in (whether school, or government, or universe).  I was already capable of these things, but ACLC helped me bring them to new heights.

Interpersonal and Collaborative Ability

I remember the first time I started swearing.

It was in a group project for Digital Video Studio, my freshman year.  I was making a fake commercial with my groupmates, who were not taking it seriously at all.  I was kind of freaking out, because I’m an overachiever and it was looking like one of my projects was going to go badly for the first time ever.  I started talking at them saying “We have to do this or our grades are going to $#*+!” Unfortunately, it had no effect, we all got a bad grade anyways, and I haven’t really worked with them since.

Since then, I’ve grown a lot in many ways, one of which is choosing my teammates.  I’ve become better at being a team player, and helping my teammates along if they’re stuck.  I can work with people from all walks of life, and can negotiate through difficulties and miscommunications.  I’ve learned to gently encourage if necessary, but also when to be pleasant but firm, and exercise leadership skills.

Technology

Technology is a tool, a valuable one in today’s society, but still simply a tool.  It’s necessary to know when and how to exploit it, which is something I’ve learned at ACLC.  I know whether to use a Chromebook, a speaker system, a projector, or many other tools, depending on what is necessary.  I can also deal with the finer differences to make sure the two systems I’m using are compatible with one another, and usually know what to do if something in the system breaks down.  As with some other paragraphs, I had many of these skills before I arrived at ACLC, but the classes and the environment helped me hone them to new levels.

Before I arrived, I knew how to connect a computer to an external monitor, but I didn’t have a solid grasp of the sharing capabilities of Google Drive, which helped a lot throughout the past four years.  I learned about Chromebooks, and the login system for both those laptops and the computers in the Center.  I learned what to do when the monitor on a desktop wouldn’t boot up, or when the keyboard or mouse seemed not to be operational, and that hooking up a projector is a lot like hooking up an external monitor.

Conclusion

All in all, ACLC has helped me to grow out of my shell and become ready to take on the world.  It has helped me go from shy to outgoing, timid to confident, and unsure to ready.

I’m not going to pretend that there won’t be challenges in the future.  There definitely will be, and sometimes I don’t know if I’ll be able to take them on.  But what I do know is that thanks to the Alameda Community Learning Center, I feel more capable than ever before, ready to take on college and whatever else comes my way.  Good luck, future reader.  This is Tay Lew, signing off.