Questions on Self-Reflection

Hays (2008) discussed privilege and biases based on culture and how these privileges and biases can affect a therapist’s work. Having a healthy understanding of self-identity can help understand the role of privilege and biases. In order to help self-reflect, Hays (2008) presented the ADDRESSING model which includes age, disability (born with), disability (acquired), religion, ethnicity/race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, indigenous status, nationality, and gender. This ADDRESSING model will be applied in this paper.

To tackle my goals this semester I needed to have a clear focus. Tackling my goals this semester has made me a stronger dancer. From the start of the semester, I have wanted to work on the continuation of my goals from the previous semester. In each class I have worked on finding ways to work on my goals anyway possible. Reflecting my work from the beginning of the semester until now, I have seen myself wanting to be more dedicated to my goals each class. The goals I had for the semester helped me to progress and I continue to work on the ones I struggle with. By having a strong work ethic and clear focus I have had a chance to work on all my main goals throughout the semester: musicality, fluidity, tension, staying lifted in the core, and confidence.

I chose to base my studies on J because we shared a lot in common; we are both Christians living in a predominantly Muslim country. He is eleven years old. His parents are Jordan nationals who have lived in Bahrain for at least two years. J goes to school at Naseem International School where I work. The school offers PYP programs. Lessons are conducted in English; however, Arabic lessons are also offered per week. Majority of kids in this school are Muslims most of whom are Bahrainis. Other nationalities making the student population are Saudis, Lebanese, Jordanians, few South Africans, and other Arabian Gulf countries. Teachers are a mixture of nationalities. Some of them are Arabs, others South Africans, while some are Europeans.

Self-development through reflection is a key issue of education and learning (Kennison, 2012), where you learn through experience (Tashiro, Shimpuku, Naruse and Matsutani, 2013), learn to self-evaluate (Duffy, 2013), identify gaps in knowledge and detect where further training or study is required to improve practice (Olarerin, 2013). Ultimately reflection is thought to be constant learning from practice, thus refining knowledge and experiences and putting them into practice (Naidoo, 2013).

In order to be able to function to the best of my ability I must from time to time take stock of myself through a self-assessment. This is so that I can accentuate the positive aspects of myself, and also to correct any deficiencies that maybe an issue.

I consider myself someone who values the question “why?”. My entire life I have caught myself questioning things that others never really seemed to care to think about, about a multitude of subjects. Specifically, asking those close to me like my parents, siblings, friends, and now my husband. Leaning this semester about Psychology has been very interesting to me because it had helped me understand the “why” behind the way the brain works. In this class, Lifespan Growth and Development, I have learned about concepts that I will be able to carry with me throughout my college education, my professional career, my marriage, and my eventual parenthood as a mother.

The content of this course has been informative, interesting, and helpful in regards to critical self-reflection. Several summers, I have spent in the North woods of Wisconsin working at a summer camp. We have campers from ages 6 to 15 years old. Because of the pretty serious difference in ages of kids, the staff puts on an “ages and stages” class where we learn about many of the things that this course covered. Much like those classes, this course has been illuminating. The things I have learned will be critical in understanding the physical, mental, and emotional stages of not only my campers, but also everyone I meet in different stages of life. I think that being able to understand where somebody is at in their development will prove to be a useful tool in relating to them and setting expectations for them.

I am currently pursuing my Masters in Finance along with my MBA. I see myself in a strategic consulting role with a focus in finance. I have close to four years of work experience ranging from being the youngest and the least experienced in the team to leading a team of 5 people. I have frequently reflected on my leadership style and personal characteristics that determines my work style. The results have been consistent with my career progression. This is the first time that I have taken some of these self-assessment tests after I started my graduate degree and I am happy to see the progression in leadership skills.

As this semester is about to come to an end there has been so much enlightening information that I have learned throughout this semester taking psychology. There has been a few chapters that have really stuck with me and have intrigued me to write about.

Every one has their subjects that they love and hate, and for it was defiantly writing. Writing is something I dreaded for a long time; I developed my hatred towards writing since probably elementary school. I hate writing when I’m expected to put a spin on a subject that just doesn’t work for me, personally. There are many times when I have papers due and sometimes I feel like I have nothing to say towards the topic. I could write a paragraph but to continuously write paragraphs after paragraphs it gets a little harder. I always contradict myself in my writings but that is something I have grown out of. Writing is time consuming and requires a lot of effort. They require a lot of planning and usually some accompanying reading and note taking. Taking notes is one of my weaknesses. In some intuitions like my high school for instances there was not enough time is given to the rough draft and not enough feedback is given before the essay receives a final grade. I personally believe that not everyone is a "natural-born" writer; but I do believe that everyone has the capability to become a decent writer.

To begin I introduced the learning intentions at the start of the lesson. Students were extremely responsive to this. Tim commented that chemistry was less ambiguous as he knew what the purpose was and what each class’ purpose was (Appendix P). Tim preferred when learning intentions were introduced at the beginning encouraging him to engage as he saw its purpose and how it connected with his life. For Mark, it gave him a purpose and he could understand the importance of each lesson (Appendix P). John enjoyed when learning intentions were discussed in the conclusion as it was an individual interpretation of what was important in the lesson (Appendix P). With all three students, I observed a greater level of engagement in class, especially during discussion around the learning intention. It allowed the lessons to look more closely at real-life context, which I think is extremely important, and this class discussions led. Utilising a sheet with learning intentions, students wrote what they knew at the start of the lesson and what they knew at the end (Appendix Q). This was an extremely valuable piece of formative assessment as it gave a direction for my next lesson, depending on what the students had learnt, and where there were still areas that could be covered in more depth. The class were more engaged in the learning and had more enjoyment and focus during lessons where the expectations of their learning were discussed. Students know their expectations and the purpose of

Throughout class, we absorb each combination as a whole in order to grasp the main idea and main goal from each concept. We then, break it down step by step and work to redefine each part. From here, majority of the time, we repeat and repeat it. In the readings, deep practice does best when we work with repetition, however only for a certain amount of time. Sometimes it’s even best to take baby steps when practicing. By breaking things down, we allow for our brains to absorb each concept that will later translate into muscle memory, therefore making it easier for us to recall these skills because our body has been practicing the feelings over and over again.

As an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida, I learned a great deal about how societies generally function and how laws and policies can affect individual members of a society in unique and significant ways. With low-income families not investing in their educations past high school and lacking proper knowledge of how their governing laws and regulations work and are enforced, they often fall into predicaments that could be avoided if they just had someone to point them in the right direction. When I was President of the Student Government Association at Seminole State College, I often encountered peers and classmates who were unaware of the assistance available to them through the city or university if they simply didn’t have the means to meet their everyday needs. These students and other working adults in the community were struggling to acquire food and clothing, and yet there were churches, shelters, thrift stores, and vouchers available and easily accessible to them for assistance; with me being so passionate about helping others, I informed them of these resources available to them. Once I witnessed such hardships firsthand, it served as confirmation for me in what should could have been done and needed to be done for my former students. Also, when I served as the Region 3 Director for the Florida African-American Student Association, I participated in board meetings where my colleagues and I discussed various ways to ensure the equality of

Learning to self-reflect sets the student teacher up for future self-reflecting. Self-reflecting means self-improving, which, according to Higgens-D 'Alessandro, 2002, "ensures the intellectual, social, and personal development of children and youth." Teachers at any experience level and in any content area can benefit from thinking and reflecting upon their teaching and any problems they are experiencing (Schiller, 1992).

Psychology is the “systematic, objective study of our mental activity and our behavior” (Grison, Heatherton, Gazzaniga, 2017, p. 5). In order to fully comprehend ourselves, we need to understand the reasons for our behaviors and if the behaviors are healthy. Habits and behaviors have positive and negative effects in our life and health. When we know ourselves and learn about our unique personality, we can develop as confident individuals and pursue endeavors and goals. Psychology also enables us to understand other people and the differences of people. Gaining this knowledge and understanding can enhance the relationships in our lives and allow us to develop stronger communication skills. Throughout the psychology course, I gained