Ebone' Rhodes 4/21/14 Reflection This inquiry essay has taught me a lot about organization, personality, my topic and

so much more ! am really glad that ! stuc" #ith my topic because ! #as able to not only state the facts but state my opinion and personal e$periences #ithin my essay !n the %ery beginning my research proposal #as really a #ay for me to get to "no# my topic, and to see if ! #as really interested or not !t started off as me researching academia in general bet#een &merican students and 'apanese students ! soon changed this #ith the help of an article that ! e%entually used in my essay and also #ith the help of my peers, ! narro#ed do#n my sub(ect to performance bet#een these t#o group of students ! feel that this change really allo#ed me to research more aspects of my topic and it e%en allo#ed me to bring in personal accounts Researching performance specifically and #hy there #as a difference bet#een the t#o groups, opened up so many doors for questions and surprisingly many ans#ers !deas such as parent in%ol%ement, curriculum and more #ere things ! found that could be of a great effect on the differences in performance )y ideas stemmed hea%ily from one main source from the *ni%ersity of )ichigan, #ritten by )allory +chueller, #hich #as titled , )athematic education in 'apan and the *nited +tates This article #as %ery thorough, e%en to the point #here some information #as not that important for my topic, but in some #ay it still had a connection to education .ot only #as ! learning for the sa"e of my essay but learning for myself /ecause this #as so detailed and had information that #as %ery intriguing ! thin" o%erall all of my articles had this affect on me0 ! #anted to read more because the information #as presented in such an engaging manner 1ne engaging article #as one #here the #riter spo"e on her e$periences in 'apan and ho# she got to see ho# the school systems functioned o%er there &s a representati%e of the &merican school system, she #as able to ma"e clear distinctions bet#een the t#o education systems There #as only one article that ! did not use much of, and that #as because it stated similar information that ! had already gained "no#ledge on in my pre%ious articles +o ! do not thin" any of my articles #ere useless, ! (ust thin" that they presented some of the same information, that ! began to "no# frequently )y search basically consisted of me typing in "ey#ords such as education, *nited +tates, 'apan, performance, etc 1nce ! got results from these phrases, ! clic"ed on se%eral articles, read through them and chose the articles that ! felt #ere more related to my topic This process #as a challenging e$perience but re#arding because in the end ! found %ery effecti%e articles The fi%e articles that ! chose, as ! mentioned earlier #ere %ery engaging 1ne article that ! found also from the *ni%ersity of )ichigan actually had a brea"do#n of #hy performance in education differed bet#een the t#o main groups !t mentioned structural differences, cultural differences and more but ! "ne# that ! did not #ant to use the e$act structure +o ! read through the article and brain stormed on ho# ! could incorporate similar ideas 2ith this ! paid attention to information that #as similar in all of my articles and tried my best to organize my essay based on the similar information ! found 3or an e$ample, most of my research mentioned the national based curriculum in 'apan and the common state to state curriculum in the *nited +tates, soon to become a national based curriculum *nder these headings, ! included difference in distribution of resources such as te$tboo"s, and e%en teachers 1%erall, ! am proud of my researching process because ! can say that ! not only (ust researched and put it all on paper, but ! in fact #as engaged in #hat ! #as putting in my essay This does not happen often #ith formal research papers, and ! thin" that is #hy ! appreciated this essay more 2ith my former research e$periences ! either chose a topic that ! #anted to tal" about or it #as chosen for me Either #ay ! found it hard to ha%e personal opinion or %oice through the paper

Ebone' Rhodes 4/21/14 Reflection 2ith the inquiry essay, ! definitely felt confident in my craft and also in my #or"ing "no#ledge ! thin" being able to ha%e a personal touch, moti%ated me to "no# more about the topic, so that my readers could see that ! paid close attention to #hat ! #as learning ! thin" it #as also easier for me to organize my essay the #ay ! #anted to, because usually #ith formal research papers, ! felt that ! needed to ha%e an e$act format 2ith my inquiry essay, ! got to as" questions, that #ere either rhetorical or able to be ans#ered ! also got to start off my paper #ith imagery and a story that #as relatable to many ! tried my best to organize my article based on #hat ! thought #as the most important factor affecting a student4s performance ! start off #ith parent in%ol%ement then lead into curriculum ! chose to do this because ! (ust felt that it #ould be easier for my readers to follo# )y group #ho #ere %ery helpful in this process of #riting my essay, agreed #ith my organization of the essay They also #ere %ery helpful in helping me narro# do#n my topic at the beginning and helping me raise questions that #ould potentially be raised #hen going through re%isions &lso my indi%idual partner ga%e me a really good idea on ho# to re%ise my introduction, #hich ! agreed #ith and decided to use 2riting this inquiry essay #as a learning e$perience for many in many #ays ! learned ho# to balance opinion and facts #hen #riting a paper 2hat to say and #hat not to say that #ould be appealing to an audience 5i"e instead of using ,latter-, ! #ould use a phrase such as ,the last one - ! learned different #ays to start off a paper, and different #ays to end it 1ne thing that i learned that ! thin" #ill stic" #ith me fore%er is the sand#iching technique #hen quoting ! sa# #hat i needed to impro%e on, and the sand#iching technique helped me to ma"e that progress #ith my quoting The most that ! learned during this process, #as about my actual topic ! learned so much about 'apanese culture and ho# they %ie# education ! thin" the most interesting thing ! got to learn #as about the effort %s ability concept bet#een 'apanese and &mericans This concept shoc"ed me in a #ay, #here i #as able to e%aluate my past e$periences and agree in a #ay #ith this concept of &merican seeing success as ability rather than effort ! don4t belie%e that e%ery &merican student this is true but for most ! thoroughly en(oyed #riting this essay and hope to continue my lo%e for #riting as ! disco%ered e%en more hen #riting this essay