Self-Reflection 9/9/2013
“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” Tony Robbins, American life coach and self-help author and motivational speaker is credited as saying. By going through the Smarter Measures assessment I hoped to find areas of strengths that I could build on and identify weaknesses that I could be aware of and improve on. Each of the three areas, Life Factors, Personal Attributes and Learning Styles asked these better questions and by reflecting on them I hoped to get better answers.
The first area I examined was Life Factors and the five items it focused on; Time, Place, Reason, Resources, and Skills. These measures looked at elements that may impact my ability to continue my education. I identified two major areas that I can adjust to allow for my success. Time was my measure of greatest concern. Work, family, and school are all things that will demand my time. Time is something that I will have to manage and monitor closely to make sure that one area is left to suffer. The highest measure was skills. I believe I do have what it takes intellectually to attend Montcalm Community College. These outside elements play a large role in the outcome of my education and how I adjust each will be key to my personal success.
I agree with the Smarter Measure Life Factors I agree with the outcome and have closely looked at each area to pinpoint what changes I can make to ensure my success. Looking at time, my family as always been where I have dedicated the largest amount. My family will remain my number one priority and yet there are areas that I have decided to make some changes. Two of these are preparing family dinners and attending events. We will still have our dinner together as a family as that is something that I feel strongly about but instead of a meal that took an afternoon to make we may enjoy a simpler feast and still benefit from the time spent together. I have also decided that I will not attend every sporting, band and school event for all three children. We have looked at our schedules and picked out those that were important to be at and have made those a priority. Although a concern, I believe that with careful attention I can still be available to my family and excel in my classes. My employment is the second area that places a demand in my day. I have spoken with my immediate supervisor and told her that I will be going back to school and shown her how that will benefit our company as well as me in the long run and we have agreed to work out my schedule for each semester. I am very fortunate to have a company that places such great importance on the education of its’ employees and building their skill level.
The Essay on Family and Life Story Work
?In this assignment I aim to discuss life story work: which can provide the care worker, and care receiver a better understanding of each other’s needs, and provide the care worker with information that can help support the care receiver in the best way. The carer needs to possess certain skills sensitivity, confidentiality, empathy, trustworthiness, and have commitment to seeing the story to the ...
Academic skills has always been an area that came easy to me. In high school, Cedarville University and Ferris State University I was academically successful and that is an encouragement going forward, but that was 20 years ago and things have certainly changed. So although a strong point, Academic Skills will be something that I know I will need to be able to adapt and pay close attention to how I am performing in order to advance in my classes. I plan on tapping into the vast knowledge that my children have in that area. They are also talented students and are academically blessed. They are more in tune with today’s style of teaching and can help me adjust to the differences. I am sure they will love teaching me a thing or two! It will be another experience that we can use to grow as a family and encourage personal growth as well. The life factors that I have looked at closely and the changes I will implement will promote growth and make me a better person, mother, employee and student my ability to make these changes relies heavily on my personal attributes.
The Essay on Gun Control Or People Control
One of the biggest issues in the United States today seems to be gun control. The government is constantly proposing legislation for more and more gun control. Slowly they are chipping away at our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. You must ask yourself: For what reason does the government want to restrict law abiding citizens from owning guns Certainly government is not so naive to think ...
When I looked at my results in the area of Individual Attributes I felt like they showed those of an older, time tested person. That I am. I think with age comes some amount of wisdom as the scores were relatively close. I think that my past life experiences have allowed me to fine tune each area and how I would have reacted as a 20 year old is much different then how I react now even if my nature would be otherwise. My natural inclination may be to procrastinate, an area that in the past has been a problem. Life experience has proven that procrastination does not benefit me. I may prefer to do something on my own, but failures have shown me that it would be better to ask for advice or help. I disagree to some extent to the score I received in that area as I feel that is one of my strong points. In college I was unable or perhaps unwilling to ask for help until it was too late and now as an adult in the workplace can more easily identify when I need to ask for more guidance. The Locus of Control measure sent me searching for more information.
The website www.mindtools.com had an interesting tool to measure LOC, Locus of Control, and brought up some interesting points that supported my moderate score of 69 in the Smarter Measure test. The LOC test on mindtools.com also scored me as moderate and brought up the following benefits:
In general, people with an internal locus of control:
• Engage in activities that will improve their situation.
• Emphasize striving for achievement.
• Work hard to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities.
• Are inquisitive, and try to figure out why things turned out the way they did.
• Take note of information that they can use to create positive outcomes in the future.
• Have a more participative management style
Smarter Measure cautioned me that I could feel like my success was out of my control and linked to how my professors felt about me and encouraged me to approach them to discuss my performance. This is probably good advise that I am still thinking how I will implement. Building relationships or networking – knowing the right people and not leaving it to fate – is something that I have done in the past. A strong internal LOC can also be a drawback as a typical tendency is to be very achievement-oriented, and this can leave people around me feeling used. There is also a tendency to want to control everything, and this can lead to difficulties in hearing others and taking instruction and criticism. I will need to be attentive to how I work in groups, both in school and at work so that the greater good is accomplished. I will need to make sure that I am aware of the people around me and their needs and feelings so that they do not become just a way for me to achieve my own goals and yet still not allow them to stop me from advancing. I have to admit I am not sure how I will do this but I will start by looking at each interaction and trying not to get ‘caught up’ in the moment but to take it step by step, weighing my reaction to the outcome. A strong internal LOC can be a beneficial but will also need to be monitored so it remains a positive.
The Essay on Awareness Of Individual Learning Styles
My overall learning style calculated to be no surprise mildly kinesthetic! I have a hard time sitting still and study better with someone drilling me questions rather than listening to a lecture. My body needs to be actively doing something in order for me to retain the information being given. If Im just sitting there I tend to zone off really easily and my memory will not retain much that is ...
The third area the Smarter Measures assessment measured was Learning Styles. It was divided into seven areas: Social, Logical, Solitary, Verbal, Aural, Visual, and Physical. Although there is not one correct way to learn, it is important to note that there may be a style that is easier for a person by. As shown by the chart below two learning styles stand out, four are relatively close and one is quite low. When I looked up the definitions of each of the styles given in Smarter Measures I immediately associated some class, hobby or task that I have learned by using it. Different classes or hobbies have required different styles and I believe that is why there is not a vast difference between my scores. Using each style is a definite strength, but my concern would be never having used media and on-line learning I will need to learn how to use each style.
Success in online learning will depend on my ability to used each of the styles. The social learning style will still be available as chat and group projects. The ability to adapt to written conversation or learn how to use a web-cam will allow this to also be an on-line learning technique. The logical learning style can still apply by continuing to use reason and dig deeper for understanding. On-line learning may even provide the option of pausing a lesson to think about something a little longer and wrap my brain around a new idea. A solitary learning style will compliment my on-line learning by allowing me to be alone, make plans, work at my own pace at times while at others use the social style to communicate with others via email, chat boards and maybe even video. Verbal, aural, and visual will be utilized as both visual and audio senses are used. I am glad that I was able to see each learning style and am going to be very direct in how I learn so that I can be efficient in my use of time and successful in my classes.
The Essay on The Style In Which I Learned
According to an article by Howard Gardner, there are two different ways in which American and Chinese children learn. Gardner says that Chinese children are taught using a more hands on method than American children, who he says are taught by experimenting. After reading this article, I began to think back upon the different ways in which I learned certain things. I realized that I was very rarely ...
The Smarter Measures assessment has made be aware of the things and the people around me and how they will affect my success, of my own actions and reactions and how I can assure my success and how learning styles can assist in learning new things. Smarter Measures has been a wonderful on-line tool to begin this new endeavor.
Toby Robbins said it right. Better questions do lead to better answers and with the outcomes of the Smarter Measures Assessment I did find qualities that supported my choice to attend school and identified the areas that I needed to make adjustments to. The time that was spent in self-reflection was well spent and I feel better equipped to begin my courses.
