Academic Success as a Measurement of Success in Academics

Every since I was a kid, I was always fascinated when I could gather something together and create an object. As I grew up, I developed a liking for building and construction and started taking some classes in middle and high school. As for many students, some tend to lean onto certain subjects that they do great in. Myself, Math and Art were subjects that I exceed very well in. Taking design classes made me realize that Architecture was a career and educational path I wanted to achieve. When it came to deciding on what I wanted to have a career in; Architecture was the one that was no doubt the path I wanted. For me, I have found that educational success will carry throughout life and through my career. The knowledge and experience gained from school will go with what goals are in mind for jobs or careers. My success throughout my educational path wasn’t easy. There were many troubled times where I didn’t think I could get past my obstacles, then there were times where I felt I was just flying through school and having a wonderful time doing it.

Going through a rough spot during school is very hard to get over, especially when at a higher educational level. I have experienced a lot of success and did well in my classes but I had habits of thinking that if I had an A in a class I can take the blow of not turning in a couple of assignments or not studying for a test I think I know enough to pass. This usually happens after the winter break, going strong the first couple months of school and then struggling down the stretch. In “When Capable Students Fail: The Academic Sustainability Gap” by Katie Hern, she states that “..students who are on track to pass the class getting solid grades. And then, usually at the end of the term, they do something to blow their chances completely.” She says that students who do well get comfortable and think that not doing assignments or not studying for tests/exams, won’t hurt them at all. I get used to doing well in class and then starting to feel confident that if I miss a couple of assignments or not do well on tests that it won’t hurt later. Towards the end of the school year, I’m panicking because of what grades I need to get up and it's mostly the ones that I’m blowing off because I did well in the beginning. Then exams come and I have no idea what to study or prepare for them. Falling into a gap was always a returning concern that happened every year especially in high school. I know that asking for help from the teacher would help me but I thought that getting help would make me feel weak and not smart enough to understand.

Since I was young, finding what I enjoyed was easy; attaching towards art and design was my strong suit. It was fairly easy seeing art and understanding why design is a huge key in normal life. Finding classes in high school that was proposed to me because of my skill was rewarding. When challenged for my skills in different levels of design I at first didn’t do well, but trying again and learning what to do and prepare myself more made me achieve what I loved. In “Brainology” by Carol S. Dweck, she states that “Students with different mindsets also had very different reactions to setbacks. Those with growth mindsets reported that, after a setback in school, they would simply study more or study different the next time.” When I was challenged to set my skills for the tasks and failed the first time, I had to go back and learn what I did wrong and come back stronger and pass. The experience of loving what I want to do with art and design in high school was rewarding in my position. I had so much learning and testing experience going through and testing what I could be capable of doing what I want to do for my career.

My experience through English class throughout middle school and high school wasn’t very smooth. Growing up and having to write papers about any subject was difficult for me to do. When it came to reading the subject, I could barely comprehend what the text was saying or what it was about. I was never really good at reading a text and understanding the context of the reading. There wasn’t any real motivation for me to read something out of my liking. Since the beginning, I had a mindset that I was never good at writing for an assignment and reading a subject. Having a fixed mindset that I couldn't improve in each matter was what I believe that it wasn’t going to change. Comparing to subjects that I took, English and Design were polar opposite when having a focus or liking towards the subject. In “Brainology” by Carol S. Dweck, she states that “Students with a fixed mindset worry about how much of this fixed intelligence they possess.” She relates to students who believe that intelligence is fixed and making challenges hard because they know that their fixed ability won’t go far for them. I never was excited or had the encouragement to write a paper or essay and execute it very well. Having the same bad experiences of writing a paper or essay and learning that I can’t improve the challenge of trying to break out of the fixed mindset.

Success through people who want me to achieve my goals is what is going to help me success to improve my writing skills. Since writing wasn't my main focus during school, I hope that this class achieves my goal. I always feared that doing bad in school with continue and become a habit I develop throughout high school. Getting help from my English teachers in high school always left me asking for more questions rather than helping with improvement. Having a brother that goes to college and having to write a lot of papers and essays for his degree was more helpful to improve myself in writing. I felt that being assigned a paper to write gave me a requirement that I have to follow rather than me wanting to express what I want to say. The feeling that there was a strict attention to the requirement and following has to be done giving me thoughts of restricting what I write. In “College Fear Factor” by Rebecca D. Cox, she states that “ For many students, past failure provide objective evidence of their academic inadequacy.” She explains that past failure in areas of school have indicated that make them lack confidence when trying it again. While taking this English course already have I learned a lot about how to make a confident discussion posts and learning about citing as well with paragraph structure. I’m wanting this class to boost my confidence in writing a paper especially executing paragraph structure.

Ultimately, finding what interests me and how I use motivation in those liking and apply it to making me a better writer. Even with having bad experiences with having to worry about following guidelines on an essay, it leads to just people that can help me improve will achieve my goals. Using what I have learned in my bad experiences in school can help me succeed in my future. With this class, I see that it will help me with what I fear about writing and will help with what my goals are.