Personal Reflection

This reflection will discuss personal diffidence and how it has influenced my academic studies, including my practice within placement settings. Gibbs reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1998) has been utilised as it illustrates a clear structure for the process of reflection. To conclude this reflection will draw together the themes which have emerged and highlight a clear action for future learning that will be used in order to enhance my future practice.

When I arrived at the agency, the room was crowded and many people were waiting for their turned to be served at one of the several tables. The person that I interviewed for this assignment was Emily Hampshire, the coordinator of one of a program called 180. Emily has been with the agency for over a year and is currently the coordinator of the agency’s newest program. This program is a gang prevention and intervention program and was created for the local at-risk youth in an effort to prevent gang related crimes and help youth “change their life around”, as Emily mentioned. This program was created in collaboration with the local Police Department and the Mount Diablo Unified School District and in

When our lives become hectic, we often don’t find enough time to stop and think. We work, we study, we move on with our daily lives. However, sometimes it’s nice to actually stop and observe ourselves from a different perspective, even if it’s only for a few minutes a week. This course, l believe, has given me the opportunity to sit down and actually think about my own personal experiences and what it meant to me. The fact that l was able to connect the concept of our chapters with my own personal example and experience, had actually helped me gather more knowledge on the topic. If there was one positive thing that l can take away from this course, it’s that it helped me gain more self-awareness. This course gave me the opportunity to talk

At the beginning of the semester, I set four goals: managing time wisely, enhancing my self-learning ability, improving my listening and adapting to reading academic journals. Now, I have already achieved all of my goals via the three main course components (Focused Research and Writing, Seminars and GIS).

Over the course of the semester I have learned a great deal about the field of psychology and how to best use the resources provided for me at The University of Southern Mississippi. From the class lectures to the psychology small groups all of these things have prepared me for my journey as a psychology major.

In the fall of 2012, I had to have two brain surgeries to fix a condition I had called Chiari Malformation, which basically meant that my brain was too large for my skull. The months that followed were some of the worst in my life, I can not even begin to describe the pain that came with the surgeries. But in retrospect, my situation truly was not as awful as it felt in that moment. After having my brain surgeries, I was left to sit around and watch TV all day, but in retrospect this time proved to be one of the better events that has happened to me. Sitting in a reclining chair, unable to move with my eyes glued to the TV was the time that I developed an eye for film technique. During this time my life became more than watching movies, but how the lighting framed the actors faces, how the camera panned across the background, even something as simple as how the layout of the scene played into the overarching work. This was when I first began to grasp that I had a passion for work in the computer field in terms of electronic design.

Throughout the first semester of English 101A, I had struggled a lot because English is not my first language and it is not an essay class for me as a foreign student. And I did not have a strong basis on writing because I did not use to write a lot. I started learning English properly after I got in the U.S in 2013 from Ethiopia. Most of the time I focused on reading books that the teacher assigned to me and answering the questions. And sometimes we summarized a chapter from books. And starting English 101A as a freshman in college it was very hard to get familiar with the writing style because in high school we did not have specific writing rule like MLA formatting. And a high school writing was very different from college. As a result, I had to review MLA formatting and work cited when I started taking English 101A in college. I worked very hard in English 101 because it is an important course in order to succeed in my all college courses. Even though I have seen tremendous progress on the recursive writing process and writing a detailed essay with good examples during the last semester in English 101A, I have to continue to work on improving grammar and practicing timed writing.

In the Fall of 2011, it had been decided I was going to have a surgery called pectus excavatum repair in September of 2012. When I was age five, my mom had started noticing my chest sinking into me like there was a person pressing on my breastbone. She immediately took me to my pediatrician to get me checked to see if there was anything wrong. The doctor diagnosed me with a pectus and told my mom there was a surgery to fix it, but they would have to make an incision from my collarbone to my belly button, then put a metal rod in me. After major discussion, my parents decided to wait for a new, less invasive option. We had waited a few years, and my condition had gotten worse; it had become time to rethink surgery.

When it comes to a person’s characteristics, preferences, and beliefs it can be hard to make the distinction between the three. Not only that, but when asked a simple question: “What are some of your defining characteristics?” It’s so easy to just draw a blank. It may not even be that you don’t want to brag, it’s hard to talk about things like that on the spot. Almost as if you were asked, “What’s your favorite movie and you’ve suddenly forgotten every movie you’ve ever seen. In other words, self reflection is difficult. Namely, making a distinction between the different aspects that make up who you are as a person.

Growing up, I was never good at writing and struggled with it. In eighth grade, we had to write a paper on our superhero and I wrote about my mom. I saw everyone wrote two or three pages while I wrote one. I felt a bit weird about that and I knew it was not a good paper. Prior to sophomore year of high school, we had to read a book called Jane Eyre. I did not like reading and read only half the book and just looked up summaries online. I had Miss Figueroa for an English teacher that year, and I was so scared and nervous because she was a difficult teacher. We discussed the book, and then we wrote a rough draft essay about it. In October, we had to take a P.O.W. Exam on this book, which had three essay topics to choose from. I remember my rough draft was the same exact topic as the one on the exam, and I thought this is going to be easy. A few weeks later we got our results back, and it required a three to pass and I got lower than that. I made mistakes on grammar, my paragraphs were not consistent, and my introduction and thesis were not being well- written. This made me so sad because I could not graduate high school without passing this exam. We had to write in-class essay on novels we read and essays at home. I remember struggling to come up with topics to write about and forming ideas. It took me so long to finish these essays, and they were never well written. I was never good with timed essay tests as I felt like I was being rushed and had no time to check my work or

Since early on in life, numerous individuals have been hearing people talk about college. Parents usually encourage their children to go to college, get a degree, get engaged on campus, be someone great in life and be important in the society. Hearing people talk about their college experience can push someone to go there and see what is there and how is that going to improve himself/herself. When actually going there, then come the experiences and the hard work and experiences come along in every aspect, such as academic, career, and personal facets of someone’s life.

For each of us, there comes a time when we can look back and pinpoint the exact day that altered the course of our life, for me, one of those days was April 13, 2010. I was 14 years old when I fell off my bike and broke my elbow. After consulting multiple orthopedics, I was told I would never regain my range of motion, but with the help of a certified hand therapist, I was able to regain full range of motion and prove the doctors wrong. Months later I had surgery to reconstruct my elbow that had not healed properly, but again I was able to regain full range of motion thanks to my therapist. While the doctors were able to fix my arm, it was the therapists who were able to give me my quality of life back. It was at this moment that I knew I wanted to be a therapist. During my freshman year of college, I began to develop an ulnar claw which eventually led me to undergo ulnar nerve transposition surgery. After spending countless hours with a certified hand therapist I knew this was what I wanted to spend my life doing. I had been going to school with plans of applying to physical therapy school, but the experience I had recovering from ulnar nerve transposition led me to alter my course of study and transfer schools. Today no one would ever know that I had something wrong with my arm or hand other than the scars which motivate me and remind me of the impact an occupational therapist had on my life, and my ultimate goal; become an occupational therapist.

…The human body's complex anatomy is a phenomenal mechanism. After witnessing my grandfather’s health deteriorating due to a heart attack and cancer of the kidneys, I became aware of how patients and their families can be affected. This made me appreciate how a doctor and their team play such an important part in helping to relieve a patient.

As a passionate sports fan, I have thoroughly enjoyed each assignment given. From the tarnished reputation of fútbol’s governing body involving FIFA officials like Sepp Blatter, to the triumphs and downfalls of the National Football League (NFL), learning the ins and outs of the sports business through an international lens has been quite insightful. I’ve acquired an immense amount of knowledge on sporting institutions such as the International Olympic Committee and the publicity and sport nightmare of Olympic Russian doping. In addition, my time with new colleagues was a great learning experience as I have developed not only new relationships, but essential leaderships skills when working with a team. Below is my journey as a student

1.In my short time being on this earth , I’ve known a lot of people.