Honors 397 Assignments

Introductions:
Hey guys! I'm Aishwarya, a freshman from the wonderful Bay Area (definitely missing the sun
today) and I'm a premed with my intended majors to be Neurobiology and Psychology! Here are
some fun facts about me:
I've been dancing for the last 14 years and joined UW's Bollywood dance team this year. We've
competed in three national competitions last quarter and those have been some of the best
memories I've made at college so far!
I call Suzz's reading room the Harry Potter room and I'm not kidding when I say it was a major
reason I chose this school :)
I'm falling in love with Seattle (despite the rain) and love to explore the city with my friends on
the weekends.
Whenever I get the chance, I like to practice piano in the lounge of my dorm because I think it's a
great way to destress!
I can't wait to meet all of you and I'm excited for this class!
GoPost #1:
Deresiewicz defines moral imagination as choosing to find new ways to live life, and not
following a predetermined path. Brooks defines morality in terms of inner values and depth of
character. Both authors emphasize the importance of following ones own path, rather than the
one society has taught us to strive for.
Dereseiewicz talks about the pressure that is put on students from their parents, peers, and
educators. Students are taught that to succeed means to add another bullet point to your resume.
It means to get into the next program, the next job, or the next internship. However, students are
not taught that there is another path to take, and that is to make their own. It is hard to go against
what you have learned your whole life. To deny convenience and comfort and choose the road
less travelled creates instability, and we are taught to stray away from that. The author mentions
not to fear failure, but rather to think of it as an opportunity to grow and expand yourself. I agree
that we should learn to step out of our comfort zones more often, but I dont agree with the
extent the author wants us to. Dereseiewicz says that specialization limits the range of skills one
can learn, but I think it is not practical for one person to be a master of everything. However, I do
think it is important to keep curiosity alive and keep striving to learn and expand ones horizons.
Brooks contrasts the idea of external success with internal acceptance. He talks about the
importance of achieving generosity of spirit and depth of character as well as career success. Life
is a balancing act of both of those things and he thinks that having moral goodness is more
important that the resume success.
Both these articles contrast the idea of societys version of success with their own idea of
moral success. They both argue that societys norms stand in the way of us learning how to
achieve other types of success, such as choosing our own paths in life or focusing on bettering
our inner character. Moral courage is having the power to go against the norms and redefining
ones own version of success.
GoPost #2:
From the mini-teaches, I learned that I was most engaged in the lessons that had some
component of visual aids. It gives the students something to focus on and keeps them more
interested in the lesson. Something I did that worked well was demonstrating what it is I was

teaching. I taught my group how to braid with four strands, and I demonstrated on Katies hair. It
was helpful for them to see what the result was supposed to look like. I also think food is a very
good incentive for students to learn, and Grace creatively incorporated Skittles into her lesson
about punnet squares. To improve for next time, I would spend a little more time on each step
instead of moving through it so quickly.
GoPost #3:
The two practices Ive experienced at UW so far are First-Year Seminars and
Collaborative Assignments and Projects. Back in fall quarter, along with the Honors 100
freshman seminar, I also took a First-year Interest Group. In Honors 100, I learned the value of
reflection and I think that will be a very good skill to have in the future so that I can look back
and see what I did to get where I am. In the FIG, I learned how to interact with a group of people
with such a diverse range of interests, and I think its really important to be exposed to different
kinds of people, because I will meet so many people in my life and will need to be able to
interact comfortably with them.
Ive experienced collaborative learning my whole life, whether it be for group projects or
team sports. At UW, its no different. Ive worked in groups in labs and small classes and dance
on a team, so needless to say, Ive collaborated on many projects so far. The dynamic of a group
allows people to solve problems together and combine knowledge from different perspectives.
While individual work definitely pays off as well, group work is often times better because it
gets ideas from a variety of people.
GoPost #4:
I think our teaching session went pretty well. I think our group divided the work pretty
well so that everyone had an even amount to present. What surprised me was how innovative
other groups were. I really enjoyed the creativity of all the activities and I know an Honors 100
student would appreciate the change from worksheets and discussions to interactive activities. If
I taught the same lesson again, I would think of more creative activities and spend longer on the
slides because we had to go through them fairly quickly because of time constraints. I would also
print out summary sheets to give the students a good overview of the curriculum. It compared
pretty well to the mini-teaches because the more engaging teaches were the ones with creative
activities.
GoPost #5:
I really enjoyed the retreat! I loved getting to know everyone and all the unique
leadership styles. I learned that I was a relationship master and I agreed with most of the
statements about that category because I do put others before myself most of the time and Im
currently working on making sure I dont do it to my own disadvantage. I found that I also
matched a lot of the statements in the analyst category because I like to know all the
information required to make a decision. One idea that Im going to incorporate into my class in
the fall is asking questions and having everyone answer them in a circle, because a bunch of us
did it last night and it was a really good way to get to know people. I think it definitely bonded us
in a quick way and only having a couple classes with my section next quarter, hyper-bonding is
required to build the Honors 100 community.

PE Profile:
Hi! I'm Aishwarya, a sophomore from the wonderful Bay Area. I love my hometown, but
I have to say over the last year Seattle has been stealing my heart! My intended majors are
Neurobiology and Psychology and I am on the premed track. Some of my hobbies include
traveling, playing piano, and dancing. I've been dancing for the last 14 years and am part of UW
Kahaani, UWs nationally competitive Bollywood dance team. We competed in three
competitions last year and those have been some of the best memories I've made at college so
far! I am so excited to be a peer educator this fall to the incoming Honors class and be a resource
for them to explore UW and the Honors program.