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Bryce Madrid
Race & Social Justice
Professor Lo
March 2016

Second Term Reflection

My first winter term at Portland State University did not go as planned
or as well as Id hoped itd go. I found winter term to be my hardest thus far
in my entire school career. There were lots of papers, lots of tests and a lot
expected out of me.
Things that went well in Winter Term 2016 were I did learn quite a bit in
all of my classes, I learned a lot about myself, had a lot of new experiences
which is never a bad thing and I was fairly organized the whole term.
Chemistry was by far my hardest class. Class averages on midterms were in
the range of 50%-60% with me being in that average. The class had been
told that final grades would be curved after the final exam however most of
us being freshmen were still freaking out. This last term of chemistry I got
my first ever C as a final grade. I feel okay about it still kind of a shock, but I
am happy to have just passed the class. In Biology, I got my first ever A on a
final exam although it was not enough to take my overall grade to an A; Im
still happy to know I am capable of getting an A on exams. I found Race &
Social Justice to be slightly stressful in winter term. It was difficult to get the
amount of things needing to be done in the amount of time with all the other

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classes. Last term definitely made me realize what a lot of professors and
mentors have been telling me Its okay to go over four years for a Bachelors
of Science. I couldnt agree with that statement more now than ever. I think
lowering my credits from 14 to 12 credits for next year will be wise since I do
plan to continue and take any classes I wasnt able to get to during the
school year in the summer time. I still have not quite figured out my learning
style I have found some things that work and some things that dont. As far
as study tactics, Ive learned that spending a tremendous amount of time on
notes for each class is not possible nor the wisest study strategy. I think this
term I would like to do a combination of notes and textbook studying.
Something I did in Race and Social Justice that I think could help me with
other classes is rereading and expanding on the comprehension of the text.
It will be a lot more time efficient and I can really pack in the information. I
want to work on reducing the amount of stress and anxious in my life by:
starting things ahead of time, planning my work schedule out better, and not
sweat the small details of school and life.
To be more specific about this term reflection, Race and Social Justice
was definitely among the more challenging classes. I found myself applying
what I used from Fall to Winter term. We learned a lot about deportation and
it really opened my eyes up to the process of it all. I really enjoyed the movie
about black history in Portland because I really didnt know that much about
Portland and now I can apply that knowledge. A few things that made it
difficult were: confusion on the research assignment sort of caused me to get

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a late start and I had never done APA style writing so it took me quite a bit to
figure it out. The group project is what made the class really stressful for me
because a lot of my group didnt show up for valid reasons or dropped the
class. Luckily with this term itll be a personal project which Im very excited
for although I dont know the parameters for it yet I have a few activists Im
interested in which are: Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, Harriet Tubman, Nina Simone
and Maya Angelou. Im really hoping I can do Harriet Tubman since she was
an Abolitionist and Im interesting in the Civil Rights acts pertaining to the
1800s. I am also excited to visit the exhibit about Chinese Americans and I
cant wait to see what information it offers and interesting photography, art
and objects it has. A few things I think could be done on Maries and Miriams
end to make the class run more smoothly are: keeping peer edit
opportunities and clarification of assignments. On the students end, we
should be coming to class with reading done and printed or in some way
present while discussing readings.
I have been waiting for this term of Race and Social Justice because its
about activism and rights. I really enjoyed learning about the Civil Rights
movement in high school. My favorite part about the Civil Rights movement
was the Black Panthers because they inspired a lot of people and impacted
the United States in multiple ways other than just black rights. Watching an
in class video on the Black Panthers makes me even more excited to read the
novel about Malcolm X since I know who he is and what he does but not so
much his thought process and his thoughts during the Civil Rights

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movement. Although I hope we branch out from just African American
activism because I think itd be interesting to see other activism with other
ethnicities and also more about the history of activism in Portland. I am
really nervous for this upcoming term just because of the way last term
went. Also Im nervous because there is a lot more going on in Race and
Social Justice this term such as the three books, four papers and the eportfolio. But I did get through last term and I know I can make it through this
one.