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

Throughout this semester I’ve done my best to address these eight specific aspects of myself and how I can apply them to my life. Out of the eight, My two highest scores are Discovering Self-motivation and Adopting Lifelong Learning. Even in the beginning of the semester these two ranked in the top three. My lowest score on the second test was Gaining Self-awareness, which was also a low score on my first test. I definitely plan on assessing this principal and try to incorporate it into my thinking more. I also plan to continue to work at developing my emotional intelligence. Though in all reality, all of these principles are equally important to success.

I can remember when I was back in 4th grade; I used to attempt to write books or stories. When I was younger, I loved to read with my mom and then would try to write something similar to the book I had previously read. My Mom would help me read books like The Magic Tree House and would simplify and slow everything down for me so I could better understand what was going on and why. Nina Sankovitch, a reader who blogs about what she reads captures my feelings when she talks about how “I discovered new wells of resilience and joy, empathy and beauty” (Sankovitch). When I was younger, I didn’t know how to always capture these emotions, but my goal was always to make a story and try to recreate those feelings. It was a real accomplishment for me because at the time when all this was happening I struggled with reading in class. When I first started reading: I would dread being called upon, but I liked to write stories of what I read on my own, and now I do not like to read anymore.

A personal reflection that I discuss is my personal experience in my K-12 education with an educator I consider to be a “white ally.” It was informative for me to read the excerpt of “Becoming an Ally Breaking the Cycle of Oppression,” by Anne Bishop (2015). Here, I discuss my personal experience with my elementary school teacher, Ms. Erickson (a white ally) and proceed with my exploration of this educational experience in relation to power, privilege, and education. Then, I reflect on the impact being in Ms. Erickson’s class has provided me and working with diverse students.

Throughout my high school career, I have been able to greatly develop my writing. Prior to my senior year, I was already quite confident about completing research papers, which have been required in a number of my CHS classes. I also had a lot of experience writing expository essays. After all, the process of writing a thesis and then breaking up an essay into distinct sections has been preached ever since elementary school. Going into my senior year of high school, I still had a lot to learn in narrative and timed writing. My greatest improvement this year was in the the timed writing category. Before recently, I had always struggled to come up with enough ideas to write a logical essay in a short amount of time. This year, perhaps because of the sheer volume of timed essays that we wrote, I was able to develop a sense of calm and confidence at the start of each assessment. Under these conditions, I could think more clearly and logically. I am still struggling to master the narrative, even if that isn’t reflected in my grade. For me, it is always a very difficult task to start a narrative, and if I am not careful, the story quickly becomes repetitive and dull. Again, more practice should help fix this.

This unit, as well as the others, have been an opportunity to grow and to learn and to discover myself in areas that I had not considered in the past. It is causing me to look within myself and to bring out abilities that had not been tapped for years. The first was the desire to move to level two in the CPE program. The realization that the status quo was not adequate. So the additional effort that was necessary to do so has to be applied. Hearing the words for my supervisor when she said if you had not change the way you were doing things we would be having a different conversation. Admittedly I did not want that different discussion. Moreover, the look that she gave with that smile in her head turned to the side I knew we would not have been good. I do not want that look anymore, so I will make sure there is no reason to receive that look. I discovered that this exchange was necessary for me to learn a valuable lesson, that lesson was if we students are willing to put in the work I will supervisor will put the work in to help us/me.

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.

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.

Prior to this year I did not think of history beyond being another academic subject on my “must do” list. The exercises you put us through made its importance to success, especially in business, evident. My summer travel reading list of (put the 2 I gave you) was chosen to start to learn more on how to recognize what effects change in business and economies. It became readily apparent I am woefully undereducated. Looking to swim in knowledge, now I have a litany of history, politics, philosophy, and business books to read.

It won’t always be easy, but it will always be worth it. These wise words are from my favorite teacher, my academic team coach, and an all-around great woman. At some point, without my realizing that it had happened, these words crept in and became my mantra. I worked hard to get where I am, and I’ll continue working hard, not because it is easy, but because I know that I will be better for it.

I began my journey at CCRI in the Fall of 2015 after realizing that my life was not progressing in a direction I was comfortable with. I had previously attended three semesters at another community college in my early 20's but did not complete the program due to unexpectedly starting a family (whoops!) and dropping out of school. I had no support network and no money, so I did the only thing that made sense... I got a job. Over the years I worked menial jobs for greedy bozos, eventually acquiring a trade and securing steady reliable income. At first, I felt accomplished to have ascended the ranks and provided for my family, but as time progressed it became apparent that, unless I made a change, I had little room left for career growth.

Ms. Kim Ferguson Tannor came to talk to the class about her passion for her job as an Physician’s Assistant. It was interesting how she structured her presentation by talking about how to merge your passion and your purpose. Which is what we are slowly pursuing this semester. Ms. Tannor is a 42-year-old second generation American who grew up in Long Island, New York. In 1994, she went to Virginia State and graduated with a degree in Biology. Then she returned and graduated with a Master’s degree in Biology with a concentration in Biochemistry. I actually never knew that you could have a specific focus for Biology in graduate school. I thought the specializing came in medical school for Biology majors. She had the career goal of being a doctor at first. One of the first lessons she gave the class is how important accountability is. She had gotten caught up in the freedom that college offers and she wasn’t being a good student. She had been put on academic probation by the end of her first semester in college. But what was motivating to me is that she acknowledged that she did something wrong and got right back to work. I have admitted when I’ve messed up but usually I feel bad for myself for a period and I don’t get right to work. If she can mess up and bounce back, so can I. She also stressed that you may be letting someone else down who is looking up at you and you can’t do that. This is very true for me, I have two younger sisters and plenty of younger cousins who I know

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.

The first four chapters reading were really helpful to understand more about yourself, self-worth, your personality type, your circle control, also help you understand about how people that you interact with react in a positive or negative way, and how to deal with different type of behaviors or personalities. I like all the truth of 1 to 4, but I picked truth #2, which explained about your circle control that contains 4-P personality style, specific self-worth, and external support system. Working with older people can be challenging because different residents/clients or staff may have different personalities and sometimes it is hard to approach them without knowing them or their personalities. However, the longer you work with them, the more you will be able to identify their personalities and able to approach them without a problem.