Intro
My name is Kaitlyn Hope Francisco and I am a senior at ACLC. Prior to going to ACLC, I went to Alameda High School for my freshman and sophomore year and attended California Virtual Academies, an online school, for one semester during my junior year. I joined ACLC at the start of the second semester with barely any knowledge of the school. Throughout these passed four years, I’ve had many different experiences and was able to develop skills and interests through my classes; the knowledge I’ve gained will definitely help me in the future.
Personal Qualities
During my first two years of high school, I was a pretty diligent student who was able to manage everything and all the homework I had. However, nearing the end of my sophomore year, I allowed personal problems to affect my school performance. As a result, I started to slack off in my classes. I would have multiple missing assignments that my teachers were generous enough to give extensions for and my grades dropped drastically. Once I switched over to online schooling, I knew I had to step up and be more responsible because I was in an environment where I would be more tempted to do other things. However, even then I began to do poorly because I took advantage of my teachers’ more loose deadlines. It wasn’t until I started going to ACLC that I really started to take school seriously again because I was in a new environment and had joined in the middle of the school year. Despite some struggles that I faced, I was able to prioritize school again and began to strive to be the type of student I was before. No matter what I faced, whether it was asking where to turn in a late assignment or gathering the courage to talk to a facilitator about a two-week overdue project, I kept myself going by keeping a more positive outlook and reminding myself of the good that would come if I continued. The more effort I put into doing my work and interacting with others, the more confident and assured I felt. I was able to start thinking more about my future and what I wanted to do and also began to plan out what exactly I wanted my future to look like. I set goals for myself, both small and large, and was constantly assisted by family and friends on my plans. Having developed all these skills helped me both as a learner as a person who will soon reach adulthood.
New basics
In elementary school, I was the kid who would get myself and others in trouble for talking when a teacher was talking, or would raise my hand and yell whatever answer came to mind even if it was wrong. That confidence was something that mellowed down drastically when I hit middle school. By the time I was in high school, I struggled with things such as group discussions or even simply raising my hand during class. Through my first two years, I focused first on trying to figure out how I could push myself to be more comfortable enough to be able to communicate better with my teacher and classmates. I told myself that rather than worry whether what I said was wrong, as long as I could put my ideas out into the open, they could be revised and added onto. After going to ACLC, I still struggle with not hesitating to speak up, but am much more comfortable with being able to discuss in class and ask for help when there’s something I don’t understand. Communication became an important aspect of my time during high school, and of course for there to be communication, I had to learn to be not only a speaker but a listener. Before, I absolutely hated the concept of agreeing to disagree. Rather than try and see what the other person’s perspective was on certain things, I did my best to avoid having conversations where opinions would clash. Of course, this mindset grew older as I did, and the more exposed I was to people with differing opinions, the more open-minded I tried to make myself. It started as a small, friendly, half-serious (serious on my part, extremely silly on the other) debate in class over whether Romeo and Juliet were actually in love or simply infatuated, and extended to speaking to someone casually about our different religions. While I was still slightly uncomfortable, I did my best to keep an open mind, and found that being able to see the opposite side of what I strongly believed in was a good experience and helped to shape how I saw the world around me.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills
Even though I haven’t been around ACLC for as long as some of my classmates, I’ve learned to adapt to the environment and this school. Because I wasn’t able to break out of my shell until a month or so into this semester, I struggled with learning how this community works and how I was supposed to fit into it. The more I involved myself with the people around me, the more I was able to develop the skill of system thinking. Being involved with senior store forced me to have to cooperate with my classmates and talk to people of different grades. The more I talked to them, the more I was exposed to hints of how the community acts as a whole. The closeness was a result of learners being at ACLC for a while and because it’s a smaller school, it feels like everyone knows each other. Another skill I was able to develop was my creative thinking. Although I’ve always been a creative person, I was always terrible at executing them and I had always worked on my own. However, I’ve met people here who have inspired me to continue pursuing my ideas, not just for school but for personal work as well. When I took Art, I had more inspiration and motivation to create drawings because I was being graded for it; however, I always enjoyed it because it was something I loved to do. Even in English, the essays I write improved the more I was able to expand my ideas and plan them accordingly, which will definitely benefit me in the future.
Interpersonal Abilities
Although I don’t consider myself the type to be a leader, I have confidence in calling myself someone who is able to work with others and put in a lot of effort to do so. When I’m in a group, it’s a lot easier for me to work because I can generate ideas and have feedback given me to. Of course, before, I would struggle with any assignments that had to do with working with others due to my lack of desire to communicate. However, now I can see the benefits in being able to, even if my other group mates aren’t as into the work we’re supposed to do as I am. Along with being able to work with people, I’ve always learned to work with diversity as well. There are always going to be backgrounds that I’ll never fully understand, ideas that come from minds that see things in another light, and customs that are different from mine. However, in the end, to be able to have differences is what makes the best group, because of all the perspective that work together to come to an agreement.
Technology
Technology is something that’s incorporated into our everyday lives, whether we want it or not. I was lucky enough to have grown up with it. Because of that, my knowledge of technology and how it works, mostly for computers, is enough for me to able to use it in order to complete tasks. Just like other learners, I rely on computers to use in order to do things like writing essays or doing research on certain topics rather than going to the library or writing down on paper. Computers have always interested me, and while problems with them can be annoying, it’s always extremely satisfying to figure out how to fix them and knowing that I have the ability to do so. Of course, it’s easy to be able to simply google how to fix problem and just follow the solution being provided, but doing so still helps me to understand how it works.
Conclusion
Despite all the changes that I went through during high school, being able to go to ACLC has brought to me a lot of experiences that helped me grow as a learner. Along with the people that I was able to work with, the environment was very encouraging and assisted me through me last year and a half of school. These abilities and skills I’ve obtain will be and grow with me and into whatever lies ahead.
My name is Kaitlyn Hope Francisco and I am a senior at ACLC. Prior to going to ACLC, I went to Alameda High School for my freshman and sophomore year and attended California Virtual Academies, an online school, for one semester during my junior year. I joined ACLC at the start of the second semester with barely any knowledge of the school. Throughout these passed four years, I’ve had many different experiences and was able to develop skills and interests through my classes; the knowledge I’ve gained will definitely help me in the future.
Personal Qualities
During my first two years of high school, I was a pretty diligent student who was able to manage everything and all the homework I had. However, nearing the end of my sophomore year, I allowed personal problems to affect my school performance. As a result, I started to slack off in my classes. I would have multiple missing assignments that my teachers were generous enough to give extensions for and my grades dropped drastically. Once I switched over to online schooling, I knew I had to step up and be more responsible because I was in an environment where I would be more tempted to do other things. However, even then I began to do poorly because I took advantage of my teachers’ more loose deadlines. It wasn’t until I started going to ACLC that I really started to take school seriously again because I was in a new environment and had joined in the middle of the school year. Despite some struggles that I faced, I was able to prioritize school again and began to strive to be the type of student I was before. No matter what I faced, whether it was asking where to turn in a late assignment or gathering the courage to talk to a facilitator about a two-week overdue project, I kept myself going by keeping a more positive outlook and reminding myself of the good that would come if I continued. The more effort I put into doing my work and interacting with others, the more confident and assured I felt. I was able to start thinking more about my future and what I wanted to do and also began to plan out what exactly I wanted my future to look like. I set goals for myself, both small and large, and was constantly assisted by family and friends on my plans. Having developed all these skills helped me both as a learner as a person who will soon reach adulthood.
New basics
In elementary school, I was the kid who would get myself and others in trouble for talking when a teacher was talking, or would raise my hand and yell whatever answer came to mind even if it was wrong. That confidence was something that mellowed down drastically when I hit middle school. By the time I was in high school, I struggled with things such as group discussions or even simply raising my hand during class. Through my first two years, I focused first on trying to figure out how I could push myself to be more comfortable enough to be able to communicate better with my teacher and classmates. I told myself that rather than worry whether what I said was wrong, as long as I could put my ideas out into the open, they could be revised and added onto. After going to ACLC, I still struggle with not hesitating to speak up, but am much more comfortable with being able to discuss in class and ask for help when there’s something I don’t understand. Communication became an important aspect of my time during high school, and of course for there to be communication, I had to learn to be not only a speaker but a listener. Before, I absolutely hated the concept of agreeing to disagree. Rather than try and see what the other person’s perspective was on certain things, I did my best to avoid having conversations where opinions would clash. Of course, this mindset grew older as I did, and the more exposed I was to people with differing opinions, the more open-minded I tried to make myself. It started as a small, friendly, half-serious (serious on my part, extremely silly on the other) debate in class over whether Romeo and Juliet were actually in love or simply infatuated, and extended to speaking to someone casually about our different religions. While I was still slightly uncomfortable, I did my best to keep an open mind, and found that being able to see the opposite side of what I strongly believed in was a good experience and helped to shape how I saw the world around me.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills
Even though I haven’t been around ACLC for as long as some of my classmates, I’ve learned to adapt to the environment and this school. Because I wasn’t able to break out of my shell until a month or so into this semester, I struggled with learning how this community works and how I was supposed to fit into it. The more I involved myself with the people around me, the more I was able to develop the skill of system thinking. Being involved with senior store forced me to have to cooperate with my classmates and talk to people of different grades. The more I talked to them, the more I was exposed to hints of how the community acts as a whole. The closeness was a result of learners being at ACLC for a while and because it’s a smaller school, it feels like everyone knows each other. Another skill I was able to develop was my creative thinking. Although I’ve always been a creative person, I was always terrible at executing them and I had always worked on my own. However, I’ve met people here who have inspired me to continue pursuing my ideas, not just for school but for personal work as well. When I took Art, I had more inspiration and motivation to create drawings because I was being graded for it; however, I always enjoyed it because it was something I loved to do. Even in English, the essays I write improved the more I was able to expand my ideas and plan them accordingly, which will definitely benefit me in the future.
Interpersonal Abilities
Although I don’t consider myself the type to be a leader, I have confidence in calling myself someone who is able to work with others and put in a lot of effort to do so. When I’m in a group, it’s a lot easier for me to work because I can generate ideas and have feedback given me to. Of course, before, I would struggle with any assignments that had to do with working with others due to my lack of desire to communicate. However, now I can see the benefits in being able to, even if my other group mates aren’t as into the work we’re supposed to do as I am. Along with being able to work with people, I’ve always learned to work with diversity as well. There are always going to be backgrounds that I’ll never fully understand, ideas that come from minds that see things in another light, and customs that are different from mine. However, in the end, to be able to have differences is what makes the best group, because of all the perspective that work together to come to an agreement.
Technology
Technology is something that’s incorporated into our everyday lives, whether we want it or not. I was lucky enough to have grown up with it. Because of that, my knowledge of technology and how it works, mostly for computers, is enough for me to able to use it in order to complete tasks. Just like other learners, I rely on computers to use in order to do things like writing essays or doing research on certain topics rather than going to the library or writing down on paper. Computers have always interested me, and while problems with them can be annoying, it’s always extremely satisfying to figure out how to fix them and knowing that I have the ability to do so. Of course, it’s easy to be able to simply google how to fix problem and just follow the solution being provided, but doing so still helps me to understand how it works.
Conclusion
Despite all the changes that I went through during high school, being able to go to ACLC has brought to me a lot of experiences that helped me grow as a learner. Along with the people that I was able to work with, the environment was very encouraging and assisted me through me last year and a half of school. These abilities and skills I’ve obtain will be and grow with me and into whatever lies ahead.