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

Growing up I became accustomed to being in academic environments that were heavily populated by minorities. Due to this I was constantly surrounded by people who shared similar backgrounds and experiences as me. When I began my studies at the University of Maryland it was a completely different atmosphere. Coming into an environment where I was no longer surrounded by minorities made me feel out of place. Often times I would ask myself if this was the right place for me, but then I would remind myself that my hard work and dedication got me there. Still, I would have my doubts. During my second semester (Spring 2017) I met a couple of girls on campus who were members of SIA. As I began to talk to them more I quickly noticed their strong work ethic and all of their achievements. Meeting them helped me stop feeling out of place at school as I was able to meet more people with similar ethnic backgrounds as me. I admired their interest in creating a community of Latina empowerment. This is one of the reasons I became interested in joining SIA. Being in a place where the issues minorities face are often ignored makes it even more important to have organizations that focus on giving people the support system much needed in college. Another reason I became interested in SIA was through their events on campus. Members are constantly organizing events on many topic such as domestic violence and environmental racism. These events were interesting to me because they were on topics that aren’t often talked about. For example, when I saw flyers about their environmental racism event I became interested in doing my own research on these topics. Events like these are important because they help educate people on topics that are often overlooked. This made me excited to join SIA and be able to contribute to this.

Before, I begin my story, here are a couple of the theories I have incorporated about my college experience. The first is Schlossberg 's Transition Theory. As a Transfer Student, this model has helped me understand my transition process through her model. Her theory is grounded in adult development literature. A transition as she defines is “ any event, or nonevent”[ which] results in changed relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles.” ( p 37) In her model, she talks about the meaning of the transition for the individual based on three topics: type, context, and impact.Then, she moved into the transition process which is described as reactions over time and as three different phases; moving in, moving through,

Recollection of past experiences has proven to be one of the best teaching tools in existence. It is not just the reminiscing of the past that benefits us; it is the critical thinking that follows said reminiscing that is the most fruitful. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and much can be learned when reflecting on past situations. These observations, in turn, have the potential to guide our future decision making as well as our future actions. As I ponder the events and actions that have lead me up to this point, I have found that I have done much better at handling my workload and personal life simultaneously than I previously assumed I would. If all goes marvelous and I continue forward through this semester while maintaining my current work ethic, I postulate that I will finish this semester strong and continue to not only learn, but to fully integrate all of this fresh knowledge into my mind to be readily available for years to come.

As I started to improve, I felt that imagery and increase arousal was having a large positive impact on my performance. Therefore, it led me to have more motivation to keep having the imagery sessions. However, this time I wanted to try imagery from an external perspective, where I visualize myself from the perspective of someone else. It makes it easier to see the technique and the form of weightlifting. Like the previous sessions, I wanted to psych myself up and be cognitive specific by imaging the certain motor skills to get a feel for the movement. In my mind, I pictured myself as an outsider who is watching someone bench press. From my perspective, I could see the person’s overall form and body movement as they lifted the barbell up

Dr. Paul Farmer once said, “That’s when I feel most alive, when I’m helping people.” And that could not be truer for myself. I am fascinated and committed to improving the health of medically underserved regions spanning from my home within Appalachia and far beyond to international borders. Today as I write this, I triaged over 100 patients alongside nurses and medical students in the Dominican Republic; further learning what it truly means to become adaptable and use inter-disciplinary strength. Each member of our team in the Dominican Republic brought with us unique backgrounds, all of which combined to positively impact the lives of our patients in need. As an experienced EMT and emergency room medical scribe, I offered my knowledge of

I believe I can keep a cool head during difficult situations which allows me to think clearly and not worry. When my team sees this, they feel secure and are able to let go of the negative and keep moving forward. This leads to my team and I being proactive in starting new projects instead of worrying about something we couldn’t control.

Being a human comes with inherent values, beliefs, and identities that both are a part of one’s hardwiring and develop over time. These core components of the human existence shape and influence every interaction and experience one may have throughout their life. In this way, I am no different from any other person. The course of my life has hinged on these abstract concepts of self. Further, my fundamental values, beliefs, and identities will impact the way I interact with clients and systems in my role as a social worker. To understand these, one must first understand my background and upbringing.

Heading into the first semester of college, many students do not know what passion of theirs they want to pursue for the rest of their lives, let alone the steps to achieve a realistic way to follow it and ideally make a living doing so. However, when I began my first year at Minot State University, I knew I wanted to continue my journey in English, although, I did not know whether I wanted to lean towards education or, in a perfect world, become the editor of a newspaper. Coincidentally, my Honors’ Community class’ final project required choosing something to learn about, and simply, learning about it. Since I had already known about English education, being that I had been taught by them for more than a decade of my life, I chose to learn about the ins and outs of “Becoming an Editor.” Doing so, I not only learned more about being the editor of a newspaper, but I also related more to the Honors’ experience at MSU, reinforced my passions, and clarified my future.

The central focus of my lesson was comprehension. I wanted the student to draw on their inferences to better understand the story. My lessons have built on one another because I have focused on different areas and made them more challenging. I first started the lessons with decoding, once the student mastered that I moved onto blending and finally comprehending. Each lesson up to this point has focused on what the student has learned from each tutoring session and building upon those areas to better understand the text by strengthening her fluency. I know that the student does not enjoy reading, therefore I make lesson plans that I believe she will enjoy by using subjects, text, and fun worksheets to engage her learning. I support my student’s literacy learning by creating engaging lessons and finding strengths in her reading that they may not notice. I try my best to compliment and support her progress by praising her when needed. My main focus in the beginning was to create trust. I believe once she trusted me that I want her to succeed, but to also trust me in the sense that she should do her best work, I began to notice that she tried her best once the moment of trust was built. I also try to create rapport with my student by getting to know her better and relating to her for a personal level. How I know if the student has mastered a topic in the lesson plan is based on the summative and formative assessments. The goal of my lessons is to improve my student’s fluency in

So, I don’t actually like remembering this one experience due to how I get all sad and broken inside once the subject is brought up once and a while by some non-autistic like me wanting to either get on my nerves, or just needs to complete their assignment for their current class. And thanks to many, many people that I’ve known that have pressured me to explain the aftermath of this incident, I said that I’ll give in to that once that certain time comes. And that time is now.

1. Empathy with students and the struggles they may experience in specific units of study and/or their transition to university study

Every individual’s life – and background – is unique. It is this experience unique to each of us that forms our views of the world. I am incredibly fortunate to have had the upbringing I did. Being a 19-year-old female raised on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with middle-level income, I have been exposed to the most basic of life concepts like the value of hard work, as well as the more complicated concepts like the invaluable interpersonal and interspecies relationships present in the ranching lifestyle. I learned most of my life lessons in a barn, out in a hay field, on the back of a horse, under the truck, or in the show ring. As a result, my political views at least somewhat reflect those of the people around which I was raised, giving me a unique political socialization.

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