Elizabeth Albuquerque

Tony Kulla

June 15th, 2014

Advisory

Habit of Mind Essay

Self-Advocacy: Being the director of ones own life; demonstrating agency to

become empowered

Collaboration: Working successfully with others by listening empathically, leading

sensitively, contributing meaningfully, and learning from group members

Organization: Giving structure to ones thinking, ones work, and ones life

Upstanderness: Demonstrating active compassion, even when afraid or

(especially) in front of a crowd; righting a wrong; helping those who are

situationally disempowered

Grit: Persevering despite difficulties; finishing what is started; working

independently with focus and intensity

Integrity: Telling the truth to (or being honest with) oneself and others through

ones words and actions, even when its difficult

Introduction:

There were some HOMs that I struggled with, others I did great in, and some I

need to work on again. I had to focus on the five HOMs that were assigned to me, which

were self-advocacy, organization, grit,integrity, and upstanderness (definitions above).

Then, I had to choose one HOM. I choose collaboration (definition above). Then,

following a summary sheet, I had to write an essay about them.

Strengths: Self-Advocacy, Upstanderness, and Integrity

When it comes to self-advocacy, I demonstrated this in school by taking control

of group work, speaking up for things that I needed/thought were important to me,

helping others, and asking teachers and students to help me when I needed it. I

demonstrated self-advocacy outside of school by taking control of my education by

emailing and/or texting teachers for help and by standing up for what is important to me.

At first, I didnt do good in this year. However, I came back quickly and perfectly, in my

own opinion anyway. Im very proud of the self-advocacy I put forth this year and I hope

to continue it in the years to come because it will help me with living my life. To live my

life and give it meaning, I need to help others and to take control when necessary.

Thats the rule of thumb.

I feel I demonstrated upstanderness the most this year. Ive always helped others

whenever they needed it (if I could) and Im always very kind to people. I do this

because I believe that you should treat others the way that you want to be treated- with

the kindness and respect that I deserve. If you act a certain way, thats how you will be

treated. In front of a crowd or others I spoke up for myself, others, and my values.

I feel that I also did very good on integrity. Ive come to learn many new things

about myself this year that I never knew. I learned how to reflect on myself and see the

areas of my life that Im doing good in and the areas that I need to improve on. For

example, I became very sensitive in middle school. Now I need to come back as the
tough little kid that I originally was. I can do this by getting out there, focusing and doing

things. Im very proud of the fact I can evaluate myself, make a plan to improve it, and

reassess it if necessary. Its a very useful tool in life. Im also very honest with others

and myself. These are very good qualities in life and will help me with everything in life,

like talking to people, improving myself, working at my job, etc.

Struggles: Grit and Organization

Grit was a quality that I contained yet buried this year, only to have it come back

like the rising of a phoenix. In the middle of the year, I went through some personal

events that caused me to not want to do my work, like I could just take some vacation

and nothing would happen. However, that turned out to be the exact opposite of what

would happened, and my As and Bs plummeted to Cs. Due to this, I came back greatly

and managed to get the Cs back up. I need to work on finishing what Ive started.

However, I also did great working independently. I hope to not go through a rebellious

phase again next year and to reach my goal of getting highest honors.

Organization also became something I struggled with a bit. I started off the year

with one inch binders in biology, world history, and English. Those one inch binders

soon became filled. World history I did just fine in by getting a bigger binder. I got help

from a friend to help take out the unneeded papers in my biology binder. However, I

had some major issues when it came to my English binder. I didnt get the help that I

needed for this binder. I was way behind in organizing it. The rest of the class cleaned

theirs out periodically, I never did. I kept all of my papers. Then, instead of switching to

a bigger binder because my papers were all over the place, I just started using a folder.
Due to this, I had to get help after school by a staff member here to organize my binder.

Organization, hard work and determination are the keys to success in this world. Next

year, I hope to do better in this HOM to help both me and my grades.

Improvement: Collaboration

In the beginning of the year, I was doing great in collaboration. So great in fact

that I even got a ticket for it. However, there was one project where I didnt have the

greatest group members. Instead of giving in and doing a ton of work, I only did what I

was supposed to do. Whenever we agreed to be online at a certain time or something, it

never happened. It is because of this group that I really feel that I need to improve my

collaboration skills or talk to a teacher when situations like this arise and I cannot gain

any control over it.

Big Picture:

I have to say that my greatest accomplishment this year was my MOS 2010

certification. I was able to achieve this goal through hard work, determination, and

getting all the tools necessary to succeed. It was my proudest achievement because of

all the dedication and time put into it and the outcome of it, which was the certification.

Im glad I took the class and did what I did because it will now help my to get a job in the

future and will also help me with my school assignments.

My greatest struggle this year was maintaining honors. Due to that rebellious

phase and not keeping organized, my grades started to slip. If none of that wouldve

happened, I wouldve probably maintained honor roll and maybe even highest honors.

Im not proud of this because I know I couldve done better. I just didnt want to at the
time, which was foolish. I know I couldve made it and achieved my goal, but I didnt. All

of this rests upon my shoulders and no one elses.

When it came to dealing with my organization, I did really well. I made sure that I

got the help that I needed. However, when it came to the rebellion of mine, I didnt do

what I couldve. I was so into it that I was lost. It wasnt until I saw my grades that I

awakened from my slumber and did what I had to do, which was get my grades up.

They did go up, but there was always one class that managed to keep me from getting

honors. If I could go back in time, I would take back the drama kids put me in and make

better decisions for myself.

My goal for next year is to improve myself and to get highest honors. The HOMs I

will need to accomplish these is all of them. Every single one of them will help me to

become a better me. All of them will help me to improve myself, my life, and my grades,

which will ultimately help me to obtain my other goal of getting highest honors.