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

At the beginning of the semester, my main goal was to declare a major and this class was supposed to help me. After attending this class a few times, I was not sure it was the class for me. The syllabus included resumes and activities that did not involve declaring a major. Now that the semester is over, the activities that involved declaring a major helped me tremendously and the ones that did not still have benefited me. Even though I thought I did not need to learn more about those other topics, I learned more helpful tips on top of what I already knew. With this class only being once a week, most of the content has helped me learn about myself, future, and the work place.

A topic that has been covered during class that has made an impact in my life as a student for this current semester would have to be money matters were we look at our money making choices. It has made an impact by showing me how to budget my money and seperate my wants and needs. Helps me navigate my money more towards my needs which are more important than my needs. I have learned that my needs can wait and aren't necessary which allow me to save more money for future purposes. With this in mind I would like to take the budgeting skills I have learned through this course and use them in real life situations. Furthermore I would like to have save enough money saved in order ro be able to buy a necessity like a house

Throughout my writings in English 2201, I have become a better writer, where my work in both the Category 1 and 2 project shows my abilities. Each category was designed to help and develop my writing and I believe it did that. There were many process that took place while writing and I think it allowed for much improvement. Each part of my writing process played an effective part in having an overall successful paper during the semester.

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.

From a young age, I knew how I wanted everything that concerned me. When I had to do something, whether it be an assignment, task, or chore, I knew how I wanted it done. It was frustrating as I could not portray what I was thinking to anyone else. Nevertheless, I didn’t stop trying. It became easier when I grew older and I learned how to research, generate lists, and create vision boards. When I found out about this method of communication from my mother, I fell in love with it. She taught me to prepare, and moreover to be proud of productivity. I applied everything I had learned when the “new” iPad 4 came out four years ago. I believe in the power of planning.

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.

As I reread every piece of literature we have gone over, Connecticut, pine trees in back was the piece that I believed had a tone and genre that I could replicate into my own words. I felt that piece was the best way for me to connect with my past and truly talk about it with reflection as a maturing adult. This style of writing allowed me to open up about many of the events in my past and truly speak out in ways that I would never even think about doing. Having a very accepting environment in class with close to no judgement also helped me know that my expressions and truths will go as serious matters instead of ways to critique my past. Connecticut, pine trees in back was without a doubt the best piece of literature for me to openly express my feelings about past impactful events.

Recently, my headmaster at my school has requested for me to recommend a good class to take, regarding

During the course of an individual’s life there are highs and lows along with remarkable and terrible times. These occurrences do not define who we are but they do form a portion of our personality. In the world, there are countless amounts of personalities and everyone is different in their own manner. Learning how to work with and be a part of a team where dissimilar personalities exist can be a challenge, but is gratifying if the team thrives even through their differences. During this project, I have found numerous items that will help me in my professional career. Once I accomplished project 2 assessment I discovered that I scored high in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, meaning my personality traits are more trustworthy, amiable, dependable, and accountable (Kinicki & Fugate, 2016). Additionally, another characteristic I found extremely fascinating is that I favor Theory Y over Theory X in my leadership style. Furthermore, I have learned that communication is not a strength of mine, my interactions with individuals is a skill I will need to improve in the future. Communication is imperative in all the interactions we have every day. The better we communicate, the better our private and professional lives will be.

In my first course at Walden University, Dr. Beebe asked for the reasons I am pursuing my advanced degree and gave her reasons why she did hers. It was part of our discussion board topic of igniting your passion to drive the work that we do. Her reason was similar to mine but I was caught off guard because until yesterday I was not ready to accept that I was doing this degree for me. It felt wrong that I was doing something for me because the world has so much issues and I am here dedicating a large part of my life and finances to do something for myself. After some reflection I was ready to accept it and embrace it without the feeling of guilt.

My Journey into social work thus far has been extremely challenging from the time I enrolled onto the Social Work programme. By this, I mean I have experienced a placement breakdown, which delayed my overall development. This led me to have a negative outlook on social work professionals. I also experienced high anxiety/delayed stress, within my final year of university, which brought on a whole host of physical symptoms, which has been difficult for me to express to others, and deal with personally. Positively, I have had two brilliant practice placements and gained a wealth of knowledge and skills. Therefore, I feel the above information is relevant for me to highlight, because it will give you a real feel of my journal to date.

At some point in everyone's life they wonder what they are doing. They ask the question of “Why am I here?” “ What do I want to do?” And “Where am I going?”. These questions I began asking at an early age. As I have struggled to figure out who I personally want to be and accomplish what I want in life, my family has been a major influence in my life.

I am 18 year old female who lives on campus and am a first time college student with a full time course load. I do not have a job, but I am an athlete (I play golf). In Unit 1, for me, the most helpful topics we learn about were the learning styles and time management. The three learning styles are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. I discovered that I was a visual and kinesthetic learner. I already knew I was a visual learner (someone who learns best from seeing things), but was unaware I was just as much of a kinesthetic learner. A kinesthetic learner is someone who learns best by doing instead of just listening or reading. Kinesthetic learners enjoy hands-on learning. After learning this new information, I started to make an extra effort to practice the material I was learning in class instead of just listening to the lecture and rereading my notes and the textbook. This was most beneficial in my chemistry class. I practiced completing equations over and over until I got the correct answer every time, which paid off in the end because I ended up not missing a single equation on the test. I use my visual side of learning by in psychology by picturing the information as real life scenarios and in speech by writing out and rewriting lines to help me memorize my speech. It is imperative that as a student beginning at IUSB, that you understand your learning style since studying with the wrong learning style would make it difficult to succeed. Once a student knows their style,