Reflection On Self As A Learner

During week one, my initial definition of learning was listening to an instruction, studying and then rehearsing that information in my mind, or categorizing it in a way so I could remember most of what was taught in the course. The class has opened a new dimension for me in the learning process; from understanding how I process information to deciphering which learning processes I use in intentional learning or metacognition. Understanding my learning patterns form dynamic learning relationship is a key element to my view of how and why I process the learning experience, even relating it to every day life.

As a teacher it is important to know who you are as a learner because it allows for you to help improve your educational experience and to help increase your knowledge. It also allows for you to open your mind to remembering that every person and every student in unique and how they learn will be completely different from one another. This means that in one class you could have thirty unique learners and it will be your job to make sure that you make each child’s educational experience meaningful to them.

In comparing my behavior and my cognition, I noticed that I had small difference with regards to my study habits as I had two ineffective cognitions and one ineffective and one effective behavior. I think the difference exists due to several factors that influence my cognitive process. The first is that I was in a severe car accident many years and I have trouble remembering through rote reading and memorization. This has caused me to become frustrated and self-critical, believing I cannot learn like other people. I have also found through this exercise that I have tied my self-worth to my grades. I will need to accomplish several tasks to make them more congruent in a positive way. I will need to find a more effective way to study, which will account for my impairment. The second task will be to develop a more set of positive cognitions. In order to accomplish this I will need to find my learning style, which I now believe is a combination of aural and social. The second task will involve challenging my perceptions and cognitions. I will accomplish this through making an honest self-assessment with the help of my mentor. My plan also includes making use of audio recordings

Personally, I love being involved in service learning projects, and when I learned we were working with kids, I was very excited. A lot can come out of a two and half hour project, both rewarding and something to grow on. Unfortunately, I could not be in attendance for the duration of the event due to a conflicting work schedule. This was the biggest conflict I saw for myself. I had to choose whether to go into work, or to stay and fully participate in our activities. Another conflict that I happened to run into was what to do about returning the balls back to the intramurals department. Since I volunteered to receive and return the balls, I had to decide what to do with them after I had to leave. Austin willingly agreed to return them for me. I do believe that experiencing these conflicts and participating in a project like this we were able to see ethics applied, rather than understanding them within a reading or self-written paper. I did not expect there to be any surprises. I figured if we had the semester to plan how the day would go, the event would run very smoothly. Of course, there will be obstacles, but for the most part, it turned out how I imagined.

Personal learning styles are highly complex and unique to specific individuals. It is often difficult to pinpoint an exact learning style. Though there are different categories, we often fine tune them to our own abilities. By examining our traits and tendencies we create a clearer understanding of how we process and learn information. With careful review, I have developed a specific analysis of my learning characteristics, including an evaluation of skill levels. Based on what I have recently learned and know from experience, I have also devised a structured plan for improvement of time management and study skills.

First off, who I am as a learner has changed over the past years. At times before, I wouldn’t take certain classes or assignments seriously and have learned my lessons when I failed. I believe having classmates at the time who weren’t as focused as I wanted to be, played a big role in my lack of understanding in classes. I understood later that if I felt learning was so important to me, I need to realize that it is my future and I needed to focus on my own. Having learner in my top 5 strengths defines me very well. Rath (2007) explains that, “The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you” (p.133). I believe this defines me as a learner because I enjoy having books in hand, opening up my notebook to write notes and learning new ways to understand the class. Regardless if the content is something I have to get in to or if I don’t do well on tests, I enjoy the process of studying and learning more even when I know I didn’t do so well; that is what motivates me. I believe as long as I keep this mindset and understand that this is my strength, I will continue to grow and further my education as much as possible. Even though I have failed a few of my last classes, I never let that stop me from continuing. Knowing that I have “failed” makes me realize I know I can do better and I try my hardest not to let it get me down. I will not get further if I don’t keep trying and as a learner I am a motivator to myself in my studies.

As a learner I am someone who easily understands the new lessons. With some explaining, I can grasp any topic. Also, I am a good enough learner to the point where I can explain to it to others in need of help. I always ask questions to better understand. I can make what we learn my own by fitting it to the way I will understand it. When I can’t understand something, I keep going to find a way for me to get it. Some learning and taking notes won’t be fun but I still do it just as diligently. I put in as much time as it takes for me to understand something when it doesn’t come to me so easily. I work hard to make sure I get the best understanding as possible. I listen carefully to everything and I always try my hardest. I use all the class time given to learn, with very few distractions. I try to learn and understand at school and at home. As a learner I give my best with the help of the teacher and when I’m working

Don’t leave any white spots. Remember to diversify your colors. Mix colors to create new ones. And never, and I mean never color across the boundaries. The invaluable teachings of my kindergarten teacher screamed at me when I picked up my first color pencil in almost a decades. After a break encapsulating my whole of adolescent years, I was ready to finish my final art assignment due in Nursery.

Peoples appearances in todays society is based upon the clothes they decided to wear that morning, the hairstyle they spent hours on doing and the hours that they would never get back deciding what pattern would look cute to wear on the outside of their skin, bedazzled with sterling silver. With no anticipation of being stereotyped people continuously repeat these actions in the purpose of self satisfaction or expression. The two articles referred to in this essay provides personal experiences of the causes in self reflection decisions in addition to a medical perspective on why sometimes the risk outweighs the rewards.

I set several goals when choosing to study this subject. I chose three simple goals that I felt I needed to accomplish. The first one was to pass this class. The second goal was to write better paragraphs. The third was to gain more knowledge in using correct grammar for my writings. I also found that there were several challenges presented to me in this class. I had problems with drafting the thesis statement and organizing my essays. Although this class presented me with several challenges, I found that through work and proper research, I have achieved all of the goals I set for this class.

I was to do a journal on cultural competence for one of my learning goals, seeing as I am no longer on client contact, I will reflect on my experiences up to that point when interacting with clients from cultures other than my own. The girls in the latest cohort of project booyah were a fairly even split between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Girls I have met from past programs who are currently engaged with the Framing the future program, have been mostly Indigenous. The split between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people has also been fairly even, with most of the current girls being of Torres Strait Islander decent, and most of the past girls being Aboriginal. While it was quite daunting at times, especially meeting girls for the first time and going into their houses, possibly meeting the families, I did not have any major issues with this.

This fall semester of Modern III has been challenging, but also very rewarding for myself. Pushing through this obstacle has allowed me to find and create a new movement vocabulary. Stated in my letter at the beginning the semester, two of my main goals for this class was to focus on my breath and to regain strength in my right leg. I worked outside and in the classroom to gain strength as well as focusing on the movement phrases finding the inhale and exhale. At midterms, I felt a huge difference focusing on these goals than I did when I started in August. However, I wanted to keep pushing myself after midterms so that I could continually to improve.

Some might say that attending college is a huge step from being in high school. People will probably say that “It 's a whole nother ball game” or maybe that it 's 10 times harder than any other academic curriculum that you ever learned from any other teachers at your secondary school. These comments and experiences are things that troubles a young 18 year old’s mind such as myself and have someone like me think about the worse and how i could struggle in subjects setting myself up for failure. In this textbook I have found that I could get past that by having a creator mindset, which helps me be able to solve problems and learn how to collect, organize, rehearse, and evaluate my own academic skills plan so I can become a success not only in school, but also in life. The novel On course by skip downing could help out any freshman in college, people in the upper classes that find college impossible or want to learn new strategies that could help them beat the stereotypical stronghold that takes over their mind and causes them to become a victim. As a high school student I am overly enthusiastic that I took part in this course and learned the shortcuts to a easier college life and find this book to be a valuable treasure that i have been blessed with. However, it is some things in the on course book that I find pretty irrelevant.

Throughout this semester, I have learned about many different topics, but there are three subjects that have stuck out to me the most, and which are helping me improve my college skills. Those topics are VARK learning styles and studying, time management, and note taking. Each of these topics has helped me by allowing me to learn more about myself. I have also challenged myself by trying different learning techniques to improve my college skills.

At the end of my first year of college, I received my first C. Frustrated and close to giving up, I tried to figure out what had gone wrong, but I couldn’t. I had invested hours in the library creating flashcards, reading long chapters, highlighting vocabulary words and still I had failed. It wasn’t after taking this course that I realized I was a failure avoider student whose goals were focused on performance. A failure avoider student is one whose desire to avoid failure outweighs the anticipation of success. Performance goals are goals that focus on outperforming others. Being so focused on the idea of not failing caused me to be anxious and focus on rote learning strategies instead of complex learning strategies. By not engaging in any critical thinking or problem solving caused me to not learn the material and receive my first C.