Naima's English Blog

The single story I previously believed was about Africa and how all the countries there were impoverished and had no water or food. I believed the people in all those countries didn't have the basic necessities. I always felt pity for the people there, but a few years ago I found out that that was not true. Majority of African countries have the things we do in the US; They have food, water, clothes, houses, schools, businesses etc. This single story made me believe that all the people in Africa were in need of help when that was really not true.  Summary: We continued decorating our masks. Reflection: I reflected more on my culture.

My experience in this class has been decent. I believe I'm doing very well at turning in my work on time. I'm trying to stay on top of that. Something challenging for me is that  I've realized I have trouble fully interpreting some discussion questions about a text. I guess I just have trouble making connections between questions and the text sometimes, so I will often need to ask for help. One thing I need to improve on is asking for help more whenever I need it. That's something I've always had trouble with. Summary: We decorated masks to represent our cultural identities. Reflection: I'm learning to understand what things make up my identity.

I think the part of my family that always stays with me is my manners. My parents made sure to instill in me to always being respectful and understanding toward everyone. I always treat people the way I want to be treated and be understanding of people and situations. Summary: We learned about how single stories can be dangerous. Reflection: I learned that single stories can make people have oversimplified views of certain cultures.

I think I prefer class discussions because it allows for different perspectives of situations or questions to be brought up. It also, personally, helps me by getting me to think in a different way than how I previously was. It can also aid in steering my mind in the right direction on how to think about answering a question, especially because I sometimes have trouble thinking about questions critically in multiple perspectives or interpreting information from a text in the correct way. Summary: I checked-out Reflection: I checked-out

There wasn't really time when someone stereotyped me, but I had a former friend call me "white-washed". I don't recall why he had said that, but I remember being very confused. I had questioned why he said this, and they said it was because I never cursed, I kept to myself, and just the way I acted in public. I can only assume that he said that because he expected me, as a black person, to be loud and have no filter. I, unfortunately don't remember what happened after that, but I do remember thinking differently of him because of that.   Summary: We learned about stereotypes Reflection: I learned about the different kinds of stereotypes different groups of people have.

We don't really have gender expectations in my house, so I have never had to experience this, but there was a time my dad tried to tell me how I should sit. He didn't tell me in a demanding or scary way, he just told me to close my legs because girls aren't supposed to sit like that. I just asked him why does it matter how I sit in the comfort of my own home. I told him that I just still like that sometimes and other times I don't, and that I was just sitting however I felt comfortable. Him saying that saddened me a bit because I didn't expect him to have that mindset, but now he doesn't really comment on things like that anymore. I just sit however I want in the comfort of my home.   Summary: In class we read a story about gender expectations Reflection: I learned that in some cultures girls and women have expectations that suppress their own identity.

 The inspiration behind my poem was my experience and thoughts during elementary that I had, and still sometimes have, due to my undiagnosed ADHD at the time. A lot of my teachers would tell me I'm a good student, but I was too slow or wasn't applying myself enough when it came to doing any form of work. It ate away at my self esteem because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't maintain focus and I would take too long to do assignments and tests. I now know that it was because of my ADHD, but sadly I didn't know that yet. Summary: In class we presented our "I, Too" poems". Reflection: I was very nervous presenting my poem, I didn't really want to present something so personal to me.