A) Reflect

When reading Spare Parts we were given reading resource

journals (RRJs), which made us, work really hard. We had to dig deeper
into what we read to really figure out what it means. We also had to
choose lines that were important to us or related to us. In the end all
the hard work made us really learn and understand what we were
reading. Because I read this book I learned aspects about myself that I
didnt know before hand. I realized how lucky I am and how I take
things for granted. I relate to Lorenzo out of all the characters because
he had father issues, as do I. I may not have gone through all of his
specific life struggles but I do relate to him and have my own
variations.

B) Reflect Beyond College One

Because of my College 1 class it became clearer in what

directions I want my life to go in. After reading Spare Parts I learned to
conquer my fears in the things I felt I wasnt good at but after reading
the book I learned that just because your not good at something
doesnt mean you cant get better. In the beginning of the semester I
often fell behind in the reading assignments because I would wait too

close to the day the reading was due until I read. Something that was
hard for me when reading the book was that there were just certain
words where I didnt know what their meaning was, not even the
context clues could help, but having a dictionary at hand doesnt hurt
anybody.

C) Artifacts

Below are two assignments that I turned in while in College 1.

Chapter 1

Golden Lines

1. He soon found that watching Bob Vila had improved his English.
By 4th grade, he was fluent, & by 5th grade he was getting
straight As. (pg 25)
2. When he turned five, he announced that he wanted to build
robots. Nobody in the family knew what to say. (pg 20)
3. A pair of tennis shoes hung on electrical wires over the
entrance, signaling that drugs could be bought in the vicinity.
(pg 25)

The reason I chose the lines

1. I chose this line because it amazed me how by watching
television shows you can really learn a new language. It shows
how much dedication a person can really have.
2. I chose this line because it just honestly amazes me how a young
child can already know what they want to do with their life. Like
Im 19 year old and I have clue what I want to do or be.

3. I chose this last line because it just simply shows that every city
has a hood and that even the kids knew what certain things
meant at a young age.

5 Un-understood Words

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Assimilate
Buoyancy
Gusto
Decrepit
Stoically

Summary
In chapter 1 all the boys are introduced. They all came from
different backgrounds and different places but all had one thing in
common. They are all smarter than the rest of the kids in their class.
They were all interested in making things and the science seminar
class grasped all their attention. They all ended up joining the same
class on their own. They got creative science freedom to create and
make whatever they wanted. They made a catapult for a contest and
got second place.
Also in chapter 1 was a lot about the immigration police and how
they wanted to get rid of a lot of the aliens who are in Arizona. The
kept calling what they were doing Operation Restoration saying that
they were restoring neighborhoods. But really they were going to
anybody who doesnt look or sound like the rest. The immigration
police stopped a random women and her family because they

overheard speaking Spanish with her kids and they wanted her to
prove that she was an American citizen.
Metacognition Article
In the article, What is Metacognition? the first thing that stood
out to me was the definition portion where the author, Michael
Martinez, was trying to find the right definition to tell his readers. I like
the definition he chose to use because it stands out to me.
Metacognition is the monitoring and control of thoughts. I dont fully
understand yet what metacognition really is but the definition
definitely sparked some interest. Another key point in this article for
me is the word automaticity. They say that when you do certain things
you carry it out with a cautious mindset (cognition) and you think
before you act where as things that are sort of muscle memory is
called automaticity.
It would help students if they coached themselves, for example
Dont give up! or You can do it! Its all about having a growth
mindset. Metacognition isnt only about how you think it is also about
our emotional and motivational mindsets. Ive never heard of the word
metacognition until today but after reading this article I realized that I
have been doing things that correlate to the word. When the article
states three major steps in which a teacher should take for their
students to know and understand what metacognition is and how to
think in that kind of way, I quickly realized that teachers have ben
preparing me to think in this way all along.