SHANDA WANG

Personal Qualities, Work Habits and Attitudes

After 3 years of studying at ACLC, I have learned many things such as independent learning, good learning habits, and indepnedent living ability. I used to be afraid of doing many things in my life, such as the following; talking to strangers, presentations and making new friends. After a few years at ACLC, especially after I passed the engineer graphic & design class and biology class, I have learned a lot and I have become much more brave. During engineer graphic & design class, I faced my first big presentation in my life, I presented to over 300 people in a unfamiliar environment about our bridge design. I was shaking but after that I learned to be more positive and confident on presenting through the science fair projects, and many other opportunities that have been provided to me as a  chance to improve my communication skills. Now I have become less afraid to talk and to present to others about my thought. Also I learned to take on my own responsibilities. I learned to complete work earlier so I will never need extra time and preparing for the upcoming tests. I think I am now able to take on my own responsibilites of being a good student.

Thinking and Reasoning Skills

ACLC is my first school in the US. My English was extremely poor and I could barely speak English before I came  here. I still remember the date I arrived school, everything was new and everything scared me. After a lot of hard working and practices, I was able to reach an A in my English class in the 9th grade. Beside learning English, I have used my math skill in China, even sometimes I don’t understand the question, Carlton explained it to me again and again. After I passed Algebra 2, I skipped Pre-Cal and got into Calculus. I was proud of myself and I wanted to say “Thank you” to Carlton, but I don’t have the chance any more. Science was another accomplishment for me. I have gotten "A"s in all my science classes such as: Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I am really proud of my grades in science.

I have learned a few skills to keep up my grades that I have mention above. If I got a B in any classes I took. Usually before the end of semester, I would do my best to fix it, such as extra credits, redo assignments etc. After that, my English skills have improved a lot. A few techniques that I learned was problem solving, creative thinking etc. Problem solving is involved in math. Sometimes I forgot the method Carlton taught us in class, then I will search online and solve the problem. But while I was doing that, I would try my best to understand the question and the method to solve it, so I can answer it next time.. Creative thinking is used in writing essays. I needed to think of at least 3 personal opinions in the process of writing an essay for English class. Furthermore, the science fair projects also required a lot of creative thinking. To come up with a creative topic is very hard. I also had to think of many possibilities for my hypothesis and an great experiment to test on my topic.

Interpersonal and Collaborative Ability

ACLC is a big family, I had to learn how to communicate with others so that we don’t always create conflicts in our community. CCC was a good way for me to improve my communication skills in ACLC. We’ve had a lot of games that involved team buliding within small groups. Beside working with my small groups, I have also helped other learners and teachers, and I have become an active member in our ACLC community.

Technology

Mathematics is one of my strong skill. I have passed Calculus in College of Alameda which bring me the skill to teach other learners if they have any problem with their math homework. Computer helped me in lot for my success in ACLC. I never use google drive to save any homework before, but when I came to ACLC, I did use google drive to save all my homeworks I have and I can review them later.I don’t think I would be as successful without a computer assisting me for my homework. Many different programs such as: Desmos, Jupiter Grades and Digtal Frog helped me to improve my overall life qualities.