T’Keyah Bannister
Final Reflection
Professor Lem
Nov. 19, 2018
Having Awareness
Having awareness of my learning patterns, skills, and experiences help me be successful in my degree program which is Bachelor of Arts Social and Criminal Justice, I feel more prepared than I did before I had any knowledge of either of the items I learned in this course. Having the know of these ideas makes me feel like I have a better chance of getting through tough moments that I know is sure to come in future courses. I have a better understanding of why I sometimes have difficulty in school, knowing small things like my learning patterns gives me the better chance of feeling accomplished and prepared to achieve any goals that you have set, for me my goal is to make it the graduation getting my college degree and to set forth for the future. It’s important to have awareness no matter what it is because you’ll have a better understanding of oneself, having the ability to experience oneself as different and distinct individuals.
Five soft skills that I believe will be critical for my future success are communication skills, work ethic, adaptability, accountability, and self-confidence. Growing up I’ve been told communication skills are key to a success life, whether its work or relationships. Communication is when we speak to one another about whatever is on our minds, there’s nothing specific one has to talk about. Most just go on about random things, I know my friends and I usually go on about whatever comes to mind. We speak clearly and thoughtfully to one another, if I didn’t have good communication skills the message I want to send or set for myself won’t be effective and become an error or misinterpreted. Work ethic, you must show or demonstrate how hardworking you can be, show respect and a good attitude towards your current or future job it doesn’t even have to be just a job could also be school based. With this skill I can show future employers that I am determined and worthy of acknowledgement of my hard work.
Adaptability and accountability are both skills that I believe is needed because one must be able to adapt to the environment that surrounds you. Without being adapted to a new environment is just weird and can make you feel uncomfortable, and I wouldn’t want that. I’d like to be comfortable wherever I am. It takes time and time is key so just allowing it to take that time will go a long way. Accountability is important as well you must be accountable for your actions. Face the mistakes you have made and be accountable for that mistake, just try your best to not make that mistake again. If you do that’s okay, you have to try again until you get it right.
Self-confidence be confident in yourself. Be high and true to yourself, walk with your head held high not low. Don’t be afraid to step up to do something. I can say I have a low self-confidence sometimes but I’m slowly realizing that if I have enough self-confidence in what I do it can be beneficial for myself in the future. While doing any work not having confidence can cause mistakes and those mistakes can be prevented if you believe in yourself, I’m slowly starting to believe that.
Critical thinking can contribute to academic integrity because if you didn’t know about half or more student cheat, the academic integrity is the responsibility taken when preparing work and being honest as well as respectful of others in an academic community. All students are explained this in each school year they begin. Critical thinking is new ideas that you’ve come with on your own, it is your original thought not anyone else’s ideas. The two combines into one because to keep that academic integrity using critical thinking is pretty essential. Integrity is a way to support new thoughts, critical thinking is the method that helps one gain those new thoughts or ideas.
I believe continuing to complete the reflective sentence starts can enrich ones learning because you’re reflecting on what was the good or bad of that week or even day. I found it helpful because I was able to explain what I had done wrong that week and be able to try to learn from that mistakes I had made. Such as one week I had terrible time management and I found writing about it gave me some sort of closure and relief for the upcoming week. Being able to write about it and have others relate to what you’ve written and gone through that week helps me see that I’m not alone in situations. Reflecting can help many in different ways.
In conclusion, I would describe the last five weeks as an eye opener. Coming into online classes was a completely new experience for me since I’ve always done public school where I have been in a classroom setting with face to face interactions. Not having that has opened my eyes enough to see that face to face schooling isn’t always the best but it is sometimes necessary. I miss the classroom setting a bit because not being able to actually speak to my professor face to face bothers me, I feel more prepared and a better connection, when I’ve hit a wall and stuck. Experiencing the online classes over the five weeks has been a little overwhelming because I felt no restriction or restraint when I’m procrastinating and don’t want to necessarily do my assignments. I honestly struggled a lot when it came to deciding if I want to be lazy or get stuff done. It’s going to take some getting used to and I’m up for the challenge.
