Ashley Hood

10/13/04

PORTfolio

First of all, there was a paragraph at the beginning of the book, Successful Intelligence by Robert Sternberg, which really made me think, the paragraph about “successfully intelligent people defy negative expectations…They do not let other people’s assessments stop them from achieving their goals. They find their path and then pursue it, realizing that there will be obstacles along the way and that surmounting these obstacles is part of their challenge.” (19) The reason that this paragraph “hit me” is because I could relate to what Sternberg was talking about, I know what it’s like to have people not believe in you and put you down and call you worthless. That’s the way it was at my mom’s house, my step-dad would tell me I was worthless and say I’d never amount to anything, he wouldn’t even let me apply to colleges because I didn’t have a job; well, my step-mom found out and she started putting applications in for me, and now I’m here, and I want to prove my step-dad wrong and let him know that his words and actions haven’t affected me and that I will be something. I want to be something, no matter how great or significant, I want to make something of myself and prove to him that he didn’t hold me back from having a life and a career.

I feel that everyday, I use my three intelligences, unfortunately though, I feel that my creative intelligence has diminished somewhat, I was in photography for two years in high school, and now I have no creative outlet, basically because my classes are pretty cut and dry. However, I feel that PORTfolio is helping me to hang on to my creative intelligence and use it in more than just artistic work, I feel that it is helping me to figure out how I can use it in everyday life, from writing papers to solving problems I may be facing.

My analytical intelligence has never really been that strong I don’t think, I’ve never been one to analyze something that I felt didn’t need to be analyzed, but I’m noticing more and more that I’m analyzing things that I wouldn’t have even thought to before, due in large part to PORTfolio and also my 10^th grade English teacher. Ever since I took 10^th grade English with Mrs. Young, I’ve seen so much more to things than meets the eye, whether it’s a book or an incident/situation that occurred, since I’ve been in PORTfolio, the analyzing of things has become a part of my life again, which is something I’m thankful for.

My practical intelligence isn’t always on key, I’ll admit I sometimes find it hard to be practical, but if I’m thrown into a situation where I need to be practical, I can do it. When it comes to my practical intelligence though, I usually end up expecting someone else to be the practical one, because I feel that there’s such a big responsibility to be the practical one in the group, and I don’t always think I am the most responsible person in the world, I know when I need to be, but I don’t constantly want to be.

I feel that by learning about the three intelligences in PORTfolio, I have learned more about myself. I have learned how I use my different intelligences and how to use them better and more to my advantage. By learning more about myself in PORTfolio, I feel that I can better myself, by seeing flaws that can be taken care of and rid of.

I am honestly proud to say that I understand my intelligences, for the most part; I’ll admit I don’t understand them completely, but I enjoy and have enjoyed learning about them so far. I think that if more people read Successful Intelligence by Robert Sternberg, more people would understand how key it is to not let silly or stupid stuff stop you and that it’s a learning experience you can move on from. I know that I learned that one the hard way, and it took me quite a while to do it, but when I was living with my mom and step-dad, I would slip into depression-like stages that they kept telling me was my fault. It took my step-mom telling me over and over that I was a good person and that I wasn’t worthless, and then eventually, that sunk into my head and then from there, I kept repeating it and I’ve come to the realization that it’s true, I’m a good person and I’m not worthless. PORTfolio has emphasized it even more, because by reading the book and talking in class, it’s made me realize that each one of us is important in some way, I really learned that one at Silver Beach during the marlin exercise, but it has just been emphasized more since we started meeting in PORTfolio. By realizing this, it also helps me to see that we all think differently, but have the same ‘components’ and use them all, just differently. (If that makes sense)