Katherine Brown

8/26/09

Letter of Introduction

I am writing this today to tell you a little bit about myself, and to inform you of my attitude towards reading and writing. I like to write, mostly about my day, my personal feelings, and the problems that I encounter on a daily basis. I normally write in a journal, where all my worries are safe and only my eyes can see. So this class should be interesting for me.

When it comes to English, it’s definitely not my favorite class. I have been told that I’m pretty decent at writing, I just wish I liked it more. I hope to improve drastically in writing, and learn how to put together a good thesis and organized essay. I enjoy reading more than writing, but only if it’s a book about things I am interested in. I like books based off true stories, books about people overcoming big issues in their life. I also enjoy reading about animals. I am extremely passionate about animals and wildlife, which is why I decided to come to Humboldt and major in wildlife. I feel very happy about my choice in coming here. It offers me everything I need to get an excellent education, and the components I need to grow with my schooling. I hope to become a park ranger from my schooling, or even possibly an exotic animal trainer. Humboldt gives me the advantage of having a teaching place in my own backyard. I would love nothing better than to just sit in the forest and observe nature at its best.

I love being outdoors, which is what I think my biggest weakness about school is. I have a hard time being in classrooms not doing things that I feel are productive. Its hard for me to make things interesting, or to find the motivating side of English. Hopefully this year in college I can develop good study habits, and push myself to get all my work in on time. I hope to have a good outlook on English after this class.

Learning Styles and Insights

After taking the Vark-Learn assessment, I have changed my mind on what provides me with optimum learning. Until I took that test, I always believed myself to be a visual learner. I thought that I understood things best when I saw the actual task or problem being performed in front of my own two eyes. I have come to understand that I am a better learner when I actually perform the task and/or problem myself.

As a dancer, I have always done well from watching and observing my captain perform routines, and then slowly picking it up on my own. I have trained my brain to pick up on just watching people do the moves, and then trying it myself. I always considered that to be a visual learner, but when I look deeper into the situation, I was learning as a kinesthetic learner. I could pick up on the choreography by watching, but I actually could pick it up faster by doing the moves myself. The more and more I tried, the easier it became for me to pick up the moves.

I feel like the test really helped me, now I know that I will succeed most when I am doing hands on things, and getting to do things on my own. When I was in high school, I always did very well in the science and chemistry labs. Labs provide me with kinesthetic learning, and I have always done better when I can perform with my own hands. For this English class, I am going to start trying new ways of learning. Now that I know what I’m best at, I am going to think of new ways to train my brain. Im going to need to think of how to make English more hands on for me. As for my other classes, like Wildlife, I am going to try in go into the forest as often as I can. So I can experience wildlife at a hand on level.