Category: About Myself

As a Christian, my environmental worldview varies from others. Some people think we should take charge of everything and disregard other creatures, but I believe God intended us to live in harmony. I also believe that God created this planet and all of its components for us humans to live on in harmony with wildlife, care for it, utilize its resources in a responsible manner because he gifted us humans the knowledge to versus other creatures. In this paper, I will discuss my reasoning behind my view, my ecological footprint, how my life measures up to my worldview and what I can personally do to bring it into alignment.

The reason I have Christian, environmental world view has a lot to do with how I was raised. I was raised in the church and was taught to live in harmony with wildlife and take care of our earth. In the last thousands of years, God put man on the earth and provided us the knowledge to live and survive on this planet. But thousands of years ago, the way of life was difficult. We started out living hard, walking everywhere we needed to go, hunting and scavenging for food, searching for water and finding ways to survive. As time went on, God continued to increase our knowledge. We made discoveries that would reduce the rough work we humans were doing just to survive. Fast forward to a few hundred years ago, we humans have become lazy and adapted to a luxurious lifestyle and diminished our resources, polluted the earth and caused climate change. Our environmental concerns remind of a passage in the Bible 1, Timothy 6:6-10, where God provided for someone, they sinned, became greedy, then God took it away. This passage describes the effects of greed’s and described the repercussions. The way I look at it, is that God provided the earth for us humans, we sinned and became greedy, then God is slowly punishing us through climate change. He is using it to teach us humans and let us recognize the problem we have cause and the effects from climate change. He is giving us a chance to start to fix our problem, conserve and restore the earth for future generations. The first way to conserve is through learning about our ecological footprint.

After taking the footprint calculator quiz, it stated that my ecological footprints means that my personal earth overshoot day is March 3rd and if everyone lived like me, we would need 5.8 earths. I thought about this and it made me feel horrible because if everyone acted like just one person, we would need that many earths to survive. If I made changes, which I need and want to do, this is how my daily life would look like. First, I would have to seal every window and door in my house, which is over one hundred years old. Due to its old age, keeping heat and cool air in is extremely difficult, so sealing it would be the first step. The second step would be to reduce my trash. On average, I take about two, thirty-gallon trash bags of trash to the landfill each week. This week I started sorting my trash, I started a recycle bin and throw away less plastic. I started watching what exactly I was throwing away and I noticed that it was all packaging from items I have purchased. I never knew or paid attention to how much packing was around single-use items. So, I’m working on not purchasing that many items with heavy, unnecessary packing. The third thing I could do to reduce my ecological footprint is to reduce my travels or attempt to. Unfortunately, I travel a lot for work and for school. I have roughly a forty-five minute to an hour drive to work every day. Then the travel from work to school is roughly thirty to forty minutes of traveling. I fill up my car at least twice a week because I am constantly traveling. This would be my most difficult change because my travels are necessary. The last change I could personally make to improve the environment, is to pay attention to what I consume on a daily basis. I noted the foods I was consuming, and three fourths of my trash was coming from the food. From fast food arriving and the trash accumulated from that, to the home cooked meals which required meat, veggies, trash from the packaging, and electricity used to cook the meal. The worst thing I do is use plastic disposable water bottles throughout the day because I am constantly on the go and need to keep my self-hydrated. My challenge to myself to do this week is to use reusable water bottles and fill them up at water fountains so I don’t waste so much plastic.

After establishing my worldview through a Christian standpoint, releasing my ecological footprint, establishing what I am doing wrong that is harming the environment and coming up with a plan to reduce my impact, I have learned that it is going to not only myself, but others to save the earth and preserve it for future generations.

Personal and professional interests are linked for me, and they go hand in hand. My goal is to be able to run a successful food truck business; it will not be easy because I have never run my own business before, but all I know is that I enjoy different types of cuisines and cooking, and I have taken multiple courses in that area; however, my favorite cuisine is Middle Eastern cuisine, especially the food that my mother prepares, which I will be using her recipes and add my twist to them. There is this magic in food that makes people happy and comforts them, and I would like to be the one who adds a smile to people’s faces. I’ve been working and saving money for almost two years. Opening a food truck has always been a dream of mine, which I hope will soon come true.

Speaking of the specificity of my goal, I want to serve the highest-quality food using the finest products available, and I’d like my food truck to be in the heart of the city, close to all festivals and events, so that I can share my food truck experience with as many people as possible.

As for its measurability – increase my customer base by 100 every month. This will be accomplished by taking use of the places where my food truck will be, as well as other types of food trucks that will be providing different types of food and sweets in the future, as well as the events and festivals that will be taking place.

For the first five years after my truck launches, I will add a new dish to the menu every year. I don’t want to overflow my menu, so I can keep the best quality of food presentable to customers, and by introducing a new dish to the menu, customers will be drawn to try the new dish. The aim isn’t out of reach and is simple to achieve; this way, I’ll be able to keep my customers happy, and if the new dish I add is a success, I’ll be able to raise my profits.

Nobody sets objectives and achieves them just for the sake of achieving them. I’d be setting up and collecting data for my food truck, which would help me pinpoint the mistakes I’d be making so that I could fix them without jeopardizing the business’s growth and productivity, and the data would also help the chain of food trucks deliver the same quality of food in the future, even if the food trucks were in different cities or countries.

In my case, I believe I will be able to establish my first food truck in the next two years, as I have been saving for almost two years, and I will not need to take out a loan from a bank, delaying my profit income.

Success isn’t guaranteed to happen overnight, but all ambitions, no matter how tiny, are worthwhile to pursue All I have to do now is focus and use the SMART technique, and I am confident that my ideal business will one day become a reality.

A strength is defined as having the ability to provide nearly perfect performance in a specific activity. The key to building a fully developed strength is to identify your most prevalent talents, which can be found in the top five themes of the strengths quest assessment. The CliftonStrengths quest helps students understand their strengths, talents, and even weaknesses for a future occupation. My top five results were communication, analytical, activator, relator, and individualization. I see these strengths in myself in several ways, especially as I learn the description of each one. I could relate to the definitions and characteristics that were stated in the ‘What Makes You Stand Out?’ section of the strengths insight and action-planning guide. I have interest in becoming a health educator and I believe that my strengths can lead me to be very successful in my future career.

My number one strength was communication. Its described as one who appeals to explain, describe, host, speak in public, and to write. This description fits my personality very well. Communication has always been a key factor in my life, whether it involves relationships or previous employment, I have always believed that the best way to work things out is to talk it out. Communication will be a positive attribute when I become a health educator. Excellent verbal communication skills are needed in teaching. As stated by a teacher certification course, “No teacher will succeed if they don’t have good communication skills. Clear, concise, and to the point – the better your communication skills are, the easier your lessons will be” (Teacher Certification, 2018). Communication will be my key to success in my health education career.

Secondly, an additional theme that defines me is known as ‘activator’. An activator is someone who makes things happen and gets business done. It can be described as: “Let’s just do it right now attitude”. One of an activators most recognizable behaviors is the ability to turn thoughts and ideas into actions, which will be beneficial from a teaching standpoint. As Craig Benson said, “talent is automatic”, therefore by this being one of my traits I can infer I will succeed in this career. In his presentation he mentioned the “name it, claim it, aim it” development plan, which very much describes how an activator operates.

Health education and public health go hand in hand. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health educators, “teach people about behaviors that promote wellness. Community health workers collect data and discuss health concerns with members of specific populations or communities” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). Whether teaching in a classroom or working with the community, my traits are guiding me in the right direction for my future.

Learning about my strengths has been very interesting because the results depict my personality, and now I understand myself better. I plan to maximize my strengths in a way that is both healthy and productive so that I can benefit from the talents that I have.

My worldviews have been significantly impacted by my surroundings, and are based on my experiences, and influences from family, friends, teachers and media. My views have been shaped by combination of sad events, experiences and beliefs passed down by my family. I believe humanity acquired the core values and beliefs from childhood and are greatly influenced by their families, some of which are passed down over generations.

I strongly believe that the universe was created by God inclusive of all things, physical and spiritual. Every living being is here due to God’s will and has a purpose in life. The way we live our life and the path we chose determines our eternal destiny. God is infinite, all knowing, kind, powerful and flawless when it comes to justice, love and mercy. God is not silent but reveals himself through his creation.

Human beings have made rapid advances in science and technology; however, it is unfortunate to see that it is being used to wage wars, suppress people, gain power and control, instead of discovering ways to eradicate poverty, hunger and disasters. This will ultimately lead to the destruction of this world if left unchecked. My faith in God gives me the strength to deal with this fear and the knowledge that God is with me.

Furthermore, I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy and make others happy. We should be thankful for what we have rather than complain about what we do not. In my own experience I have found that the more I care for others, the greater is my sense of well-being. It helps remove my fears and insecurities and gives me strength and determination to cope with challenges. It is a key to develop inner peace. By doing so it gives life meaning and leaves behind a legacy for future generations. Simply put to live life as completely and fully as possible. I feel the strongest aspect of my worldview is my sense of ethical and moral values. They guide my actions and decisions every day and lay the foundations of my character.

I believe education supports development of unique talents, abilities, beliefs, values and builds a solid foundation to function effectively for a life of faithful and joyous service to God and community, to work and to continue learning. Faith is an integral part of learning and through education I see an opportunity to teach children the values I share. To be responsible, loving, respectful citizens and most importantly foster development of good character.

In conclusion, I believe a worldview as outlined above has positive impact and implications on education, learning and teaching by developing students who have a system of thought that is cohesive, rational and relevant to every area of life. Parents, teachers and communities should aspire to be role models for their children and students, and teach them the core values of life which will help them not only academically, but also bring inner peace, joy and harmony.

An environmental worldview is our assumption about the value and use of the environment. Everyone’s worldview, when it comes to the environment, is different; circumstantial to the way you were raised, your religious background, and simply just where you put the environment’s well-being on your list of priorities. These worldviews are broken down into three different categories: the anthropocentric worldview, the life/earth-centric worldview, and the biblical worldview. The anthropocentric worldview is when people think that the role of humans is to be rulers of nature, in a sense, and people with this worldview think that nature’s worth is determined by the use it has to humans. The life/earth-centric worldview is the belief that we have an ethical responsibility to put a stop to any and all degradation of biodiversity, the biosphere and the environment as a whole. They also view all life as valuable regardless of what use they may have to humans. Lastly, the biblical worldview is basically a combination of both the anthropocentric and the life/earth-centric worldviews, while taking into consideration what God says on the matter.

My worldview is mostly anthropocentric, and I will explain why. My day-to-day lifestyle reflects that I have such a worldview. In most cases I am not in the habit of doing what is necessary to ‘stay green’ or to ‘save the planet’. I often do not recycle, use reusable drink containers, or save electricity. Personally (as much as I hate to say it) I focus on and see the well-being and the comfort of people as a priority more than I focus on the well-being of the environment. To explain further (and this is usually a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, Americans especially), people are lazy. We are always looking for the next thing to make work, hygiene, life in general easier and cheaper; no matter what kind of repercussions it has on the environment, let alone our own health. Rarely do we take the time to think about what needs to be recycled and what does not, do what we can to conserve electricity and water, and look for places we can refill our reusable bottles instead of buying a plastic water bottle to later throw away. Let’s not forget that nothing is to be done about the air polluting transportation we use on a daily basis, unless we find another fuel source instead of the current nonrenewable resource, fossil fuels, because something tells me all of the major oil companies would have a problem with that. It’s sad but it’s the truth.

All this being said, it does not mean we are all careless and irresponsible. It just makes us human. Our brains are not usually hardwired to focus on the big picture. Yes, we have the tendency to look at the big picture in our own lives and self-benefit; but not on a global scale. People are more apt to focus on the more immediate problems going on in their life. Our brains are always scanning for danger or problems; in such a way that we feel need to deal with it right way when the present themselves. So, for example, if we realize our house is burning down, if a sick person needs to be taken care of, or we are failing a class in high school or college, we are more than likely to deal with those issues instead of dealing with the potential progressive degradation of the environment. “The human race is more likely to solve a problem that requires a hammer if we have a hammer at hand. For global environmental problems, we don’t have a hammer”.

People that do care for the well-being of the environment and act on it, are a rare breed, but that does not mean they do not exist. However, up to 90% of the time in our day-today lives, Americans are inside. Spending this much of our time indoors means we are cut off from the environment. And with more and more forms of entertainment, the degradation of our environment and reasons to stay inside, might only increase because the less people see the damage, they may be causing… well let’s just say ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

Nevertheless, I did say that I was ‘mostly anthropocentric’. Meaning, if I see easy accessibility to a recycling ben, I will put whatever trash I have that is plastic or metal in there. I also carpool when the opportunity presents itself and I do not take ridiculously long showers. Even though it is impossible to get every person involved, I do believe God made it our responsibility to take care of the earth He put us on, as well as all of those that inhabit it. However, as I said before, it is not the main concern of most people. So, taking into consideration the majority of our poor habits that don’t help the progressing degradation of our environment, I can’t help but wonder how the consequences pan out in the future.

The SWOT analysis was developed by a team of researcher from the Harvard university- professors of business and management. It is a comprehensive and detailed study of the factors that affect students’ performance in higher education.

The SWOT analysis is the tool to identify our strengths and weaknesses, also our opportunities and threats. It helps us to determine what we can do better to improve our performance in the future and how we can improve better for a future job. This is important for us because if we are not able to archive our goal and ambitions, we can be disappointed in ourselves. The SWOT analysis an essential tool because if we are unable to perform honest and truthful work, we can lose confidence in ourselves. In my essay I am going to write about my own SWOT analysis experience, and how I overcome my weaknesses, what my strength is, what I see as my threats and about my opportunities. The SWOT analysis is a way of looking on my external factors and internal factors that affects my life and my career and also how I can improve my skills and abilities. I will use this technique to analyze my personal SWOT.

First, I will write about my strengths. I am always trying to be a good student and have the abilities to learn new things. My first strength I can think about how it’s when I work hard on my goals, never forgetting to be one of a team. It takes a lot of efforts, but all you have to be very understanding and to manage all at work effectively. My other strength is an excellent communicator. I am always trying to communicate with others in a clear way that then other people understand me. I know how to talk with people freely, so they feel comfortable with me. I also know how to listen to others. One of my strengths is also that I decided to come back to education and started to work on my skills. I was able to get for the course I wanted. And I think what is essential, I always learn from mistakes. For me, it’s one of the most critical strengths in life. Last advantage is that I am quite right to keep everything on time. To do it help to gain more skills at the workplace, and to become a better team worker.

Now I will write about my weaknesses. First of all, I have to say it’s not that easy to point our shortcomings. But first of them then I have trouble asking for help from someone else. That’s my weak point. I also know then I get very impatient when something runs beyond a deadline. My weakness is also then I am always willing to help others to do their job, and in the end, I always end up to rush with my list of tasks to be done for myself. I think I need to find a balance if I want to continue to do that in the future. It’s not easy as I always trying to help, even I that not always convincing. I also consider then English language can be also my weaknesses. Even I can speak well, it’s not my first language, and the fact is that I can sometimes have barriers in speaking something up in English. Even when I try my best to overcome it. I know it is my weakness, but I believe I will overcome it one day in my strength.

Now I will write about my opportunities. One of them is then I came to this country. And I start to work here. And when I have opportunities, I change my job. My latest job led to my career I want to progress in a future, after getting my degrees. For me my opportunities also are then I speak more than one language, it can be very useful. Especially if you work in healthcare field. Other thing is then studying here I will have opportunities to gain new skills. Which I will need it for my development in the future. More opportunities lead to brightest future, means also we have better finance situation. According to that we can have more opportunities to live in better accommodation, get better salary and so on. University can give me a lot of opportunities, also using technology does. Learning new topics, exploring new ideas lead me to gain more new knowledge and life, work experience. For me it’s very good opportunity for progressing my career. Which is very important for me, something new every day. In my opinion it is amazing to learn new things. I think that it also makes a person confident and string in her or his abilities.

The last of SWOT analysis is threats. There can be a lot of them in a work place for example. If we can be late to work, missing handovers. It is possible then we cannot always do our job properly, then our job can be affected it by that. By losing our position in the company, we can lose our income. It is very connected to everything. One of the threats is also being a parent. In a case child is not well need to take some time off. I think I will be many similar factors which are connected to that same point of view. Even in this Covid-19 times. If we not well, we cannot work in many cases people lose their job. I think that’s a significant threat than can affect our daily life. I also believe, then me as an individual, I can be a threat to our self. If I do not work hard on my goals, I may not archive them. In a result, maybe I may have to face a failure in the future. I know it can be tough, but we need to recognize all threats and try to overcome them.

Recognizing these four points of SWOT analysis can provide me with a better understanding of the CPD, which mean continual professional development, who I want to be and where after fully archive my degrees. I also know for sure that I want to develop my skills in healthcare settings. Finish bachelor degree in health and social care will open for me a door to continue further education as a mental health nurse. I am honestly looking forward to gain more new knowledge in this field. The more skills I learn, the more study I do, that’s given me more opportunities to become a professional in my environment. Also, I need to make sure I continue to take all the current training available and get the best out of it to archive to further my career. This is very talented actually, because if you do not have the right qualifications or experience, you cannot succeed in your profession without it. For sure, you need to be prepared for all challenges are coming your way. I know there is a lot of things then I need to improve in myself, but now we can have access and information to be prepared for any kind of job in the future. I am so ready to go ahead with it. According to that, I will always need to make myself with all my needs. I must identify my skills according to my knowledge, in the process to develop myself and also get excellent job opportunities. We should learn how to plan and organize ourselves accurately to archive all our potential and make sure we can file our goal and ambitions. I also know there are going to be some barriers, but I will always try to overcome them by setting my timetable correctly.

This paper is a reflection of how I go about being a self-empowered learner. It consists of my strengths and weaknesses which I have collected about myself throughout this course so far and provide the insights for which I developed to become a personal learner. This paper will also be consisting of the cultural practices within my home and community which have been seen to be adopted in my home amongst my family members which have consider to be learning strategies.

The 8 characteristics that I have chosen to be the characteristics that I currently portray are: problem solver, self-motivated, critical thinker, risk taker, self-directed learner, collaborative learner, analytical learner and reflective.

Problem Solver

According to Runco (1994), a problem solver is classified into mainly 3 parts which is considered to be someone who evaluate a situation, paying close attention to a problem, apply metacognitive skills and monitoring the effects of a situation to solve an issue. Applying what I have learnt so far within this course to my lifestyle at home, to my studies and career, has helped me to become a better problem solver. Assessing how I used my ability of problem solving before, compared to my current progress, as I would have become a personal learner, I would say that I became better at solving problems, hence I look at problems from a different angle and process everything in detail.

Therefore, I would say that problem solving is one of my current strengths. Researchers, Ward, Finke, & Smith (1995), had stated that challenging problems need to be assess and creative thinking becomes a decisive skill to formulate strategies and searching for answers. Referring to formative activity #1, my group and I discuss the problems which we face on a day-to-day base and create strategies to help us overcome our issues. This in fact helped us as we problem solve for time management, procrastination, and addressing our weak learning skills, such as in the VARK test.

After being aware of a situation which may cause, stress and frustration, I evaluate the issue, find strategies for the issue by cognitive analyzing the situation and concluding a solution. Alongside this process of being a problem solver is also the ability of being creative. Therefore, when I solve a problem, I examine the issue and create a list of every possible solution in case I will need a backup.

Self-Motivated

According to Deci (1975, p.65), intrinsic is the ability one may contain within him or herself and acquire the confidence to be competent and determined to seek challenges and conquer. In the orientation learning activity #4, I stated that I am a hardworking person and I am self-motivated and will not stop until I reach my goals. The fact that time doesn’t wait on no one. I consider myself to be a self-motivated person hence as a young person in society people would have spoken down to me.

The feedbacks which I would have got after hearing rumors about myself was sort of depressing. I used to believe that I would of indeed be a failure but gradually surrounding myself amongst the right group of persons, the realization of how society thinks came to me. At a very young age, I forth to keep myself happy rather than trying to impress others hence happiness came from within. After developing a strong motivation and enrolling in this course, I became much more confident and believing that I can accomplish anything which I set my mind to. Despite being in an environment that portray more negative than positive, I aspire to change the minds of my antagonists.

I strongly believe that I am an intrinsic person also keeping in mind that I also gain knowledge from my progress so far in this course. I have been self-motivated at a young age with lack of external motivation. After carefully analyzing myself, being self-motivated is deemed to be one of my strengths.

Critical Thinker

According to Kuan Chen Tsai (2013), critical thinking is the mental process used by someone to clarify and evaluation of a problem in order to make the right decision or solve any problem. People of today’s society are faced with various complex issues and we are deemed critical think. Therefore, I will classify being a critical thinker is one of my weaknesses due to the fact that I would be struck with severe nervousness if for instance the situation which I am facing within that moment is extremely serious. The ability to use my critical thinking ability would rarely be used, but rather jumping to conclusion. Being a critical thinker will therefore be one of the characteristics I will have to work on to improve.

Risk Taker

In reference to formative assessment #2 which I attempted, it was seen that I took risk, these risk where to make myself happy and excel in life. I disregard what others was telling me and went about to do what I feel was best. In taking these risks I was aware that it was okay to disappoint people, it was okay to stand on my own for what is right, and it was okay to make mistakes. Due to the fact that I am a self-motivated person, I would sometimes be faced with risk.

Decision making would most likely to be challenging but knowing what I want to accomplish and with a strong mindset, I consider myself to be a risk taker. It may sometime blow up in my face but at the end, opportunity may prevail whether it may be financially or making decisions. The community had played a major part in shaping me as a risk taker since the negative feedbacks I often would hear propelled me to reach my goals. Personally, I am currently happy with my progress so far and I have accomplished so much despite of the negativity.

I push through what I considered to be challenging and withstand to gain all passing grades in cxc subjects and even have shocked those who belittled me and stained my name. Undoubtedly, those who once speak bad of me had asked me for assistance. Considering the fact that I frequently take risks, I considered this to be one of my strengths. Apart from my community is my home. My siblings, on the other hand would pay close attention and contemplate on whatever decision they would make.

Self-Directed Learner

Having the ability to concentrate and focus so far in this online environment may be frustrating hence there is so much an e tutor can do. It is obvious that they provide reading units and guidance but at times students are expected to do additional reading and do personal research on their own to build their knowledge. This sometimes can be a bit stressful for me since, I ensure that I am on top of my unit reading and may not proceed to do additional reading but rather move on to another course to stay on top of the readings.

According to the Centre for Teaching Excellence, a self-directed person is someone who create goals, set their standard and engage in learning and evaluating the progress of knowledge they obtained. Reference to my journal entries, I would of procrastinate and put of work studies or activities but this course has changed my set. Focusing on the bigger picture and self-development.

I would consider this to be one of my weaknesses, and there is room for improvement. As stated in my journal entries, after a long day of work I would rather sit and relax. Sitting would read to sleeping and sometimes I may procrastinate. The fact that I procrastinate, would then means that on my leisure time, I would then have to push to finish, unfinish work.

Collaborative Learner

Personally, I firmly believe that being collaborative plays a major part in making me a personal learner hence being collaborative in this course has given me the ability to remain calm and seek help when necessary. Learning success was undoubtedly the only course that I came across which seemed quite different and may have puzzled me in the beginning. With supportive peers and e-tutor, this course is indeed very nice.

The fact that FOUN 1501 has encouraged me in asking questions and gaining clarification where needed has boosted my esteem. When doing discussions in this online environment, persons within my group would have been able to view what I posted and critique it. However, at the beginning of the course I was shy to post due to the fact I wasn’t confident enough. Being collaborative since I started this course didn’t only get me brave, but also helped me to understand certain concepts clearer.

Considering that I participate, ask questions and be more confident I would say that this is one of my strengths. Referring to my discussions, whether or not it sounds horrible or simply had done it wrong, I would be able to learn from my mistake also the fact that I often ask a lot of question due to the fact that no question is a stupid question. My progress in being a self-empowered learner still continues to flow without hesitation.

Analytical Learner

According to the National Extension Water Outreach Education, Division of Extension, an analytical learner is someone who acquires knowledge, process what is learnt which help in understanding concepts. Due to the fact that an analytical learner is organized, pay close attention to details, analysis details to gaps information and ensure proper time management, I will consider this to be one of my strengths.

After being exposed to this concept within the course FOUN 1501 it would have provided me with better clarity of how to be more vigilant. For instance, skimming through a paragraph may leads to missing out on relevant information which can then lead to puzzlement, lack of knowledge or confusion in the process of learning hence this course had thought me to reread what is presented for my learning process to be a personal learner because there is information which convey double meaning and would need to be compare with credible source of information.

Being analytical will ease tension and frustration therefore I always practice being analytical. Information from the unit reading has been extra helpful in developing me in becoming a personal learner.

Reflective

Halpern (1996) stated that being reflective is a part of being a critical thinker. Furthermore, he stated that it uses the process of cognitive skills, therefore reflection will be applied. Specific process of thinking to analysis a situation or context. This is further explained by Dewey (1933), who claims that it is a mental ongoing process to form conclusion while being presented with all evidence. In becoming a self-developed personal learner, this process of after applied to my studies. As a student, it is seen that being reflective is one of my strengths since reflective helps to develop me as a learner. Reflecting, therefore helps me in developing a higher order of thinking, link knowledge to new concepts, and advance the ability that I currently have in being an abstract and conceptual thinking.

Plan of Action

Being a critical thinker is classified as one of my weaknesses and due to the fact that this is not a strength, I can do a number of things to improve my critical thinking and make my ability which I currently have become a bit more advance. I can simply, spend more time on making sure I fully understand logics, compare what I know with credible information and seek clarification from peers. I can contribute further by asking questions on what I am not certain of.

I am a self-directed learner but not to my full capacity and since this is one of the major things in becoming a self-developed learner, this characteristic needs to be given extra attention. A number of things that I am doing to improve this is identifying the main problem and working on it. Identifying what is the gain out of completing a task, monitoring my progress, and making schedule to keep in track. To add to this is I would always use what I have leant.

Collaborating is currently one of my strengths, but I can better this by doing a couple more things in becoming personal learner. Therefore, listening and asking questions, state the objectives to peers, and prevent miscommunication. Furthermore, another point that I am practicing is being understanding when being corrected, since not everyone is right.

Last but not least is problem solving, this characteristic is one of my strengths, but I can enhance this ability by being open and sharing what seems to be giving me problems with others, secondly having an open mind creating a risk analysis. This helps me to develop strategies plan in case it may occur again.

Reflection Commentary

Before starting this course, I used to think that it isn’t necessary and it would have been useless but as the first week had open, I completed the activities and was thinking it would have been like a walk in a park. The orientation activity had made me aware of some of the things I didn’t know, such as which sense that I use that I learn best with. It has opened my eyes to the other senses which I am weak in that needs improvement. As being in the middle of the semester this course so far has made me aware of many things, for instance, the characteristics which I choose go hand in hand with another.

Therefore, in order to become a fully developed personal learner, the other characteristics also need to be improved. Since I am aware of this, I am deemed to develop myself fully and use what I am learning from this course. There is always room for improvements, therefore the characteristics of being a problem solver, self-motivated, critical thinker, risk taker, self-directed learner, collaborative learner, analytical learner, and reflective can be develop where the or not it is a weakness or strength. I will continue to work to develop myself and hope to achieve my goal of being a self-empowered learner.

From the unit reading, I gain some knowledge furthering my understanding hence some things may seem difficult is because I have ignored some fact and despite being sure about something reflecting is important for success. This is why throughout this course I will focus on my learning style preferences to enhance my growth and also enhancing my strengths to improve my quality of processes and outcomes.

References

1. Runco, (1994). Problem Finding, Problem Solving, and Creativity. Ablex Publishing Corporation, New Jersey.
2. Ward, Finke, & Smith, (1995). The Creative Cognition Approach. Massachusetts Institution of Technology.
3. Tsai, (2013) Being a Critical and Creative Thinker: A Balanced Thinking Mode. University of the Incarnate Word, Texas, USA. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kuan_Chen_Tsai2/publication/283083554_Being_a_Critical_and_Creative_Thinker_A_Balanced_Thinking_Mode/links/5629919b08ae04c2aeaf1697/Being-a-Critical-and-Creative-Thinker-A-Balanced-Thinking-Mode.pdf
4. Deci, (1975). Intrinsic Motivation Plenum Press, New York. Self-Directed Learning: A Four-Step Process. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. Retrieve form https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/tips-students/self-directed-learning/self-directed-learning-four-step-process
5. National Extension Water Outreach Education. Division of Extension (2019) https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/wateroutreach/water-outreach-education/what-are-beps/knowledge-area-beps-2/learning-styles-introduction/learning-styles-types/
6. http://www.hawaii.edu/intlrel/pols382/Reflective%20Thinking%20-%20UH/reflection.html

At the beginning of this class, I would have said I was that the US was doing good producing renewable energy and that my footprint was pretty low. After using the footprint calculator and reading the assigned chapters I am not sure either of these are true. I knew this was a science class when I signed up for it, but I didn’t know that it would encompass the renewable and nonrenewable energies chapters and the ones about population and how we are encroaching on animal habitats at the rate that we are with the population booming. This paper is on my overall worldview. This is not the view out of my kitchen window as write this paper but more of a philosophical view encompassing personal perspective on things that matter to me. There are things that we have either read or went over in class that makes me think about how we are not being good stewards of the world that we are in charge of. This paper will discuss my worldview.

The first part of my worldview is on a topic that we discussed in this class, evolution. I don’t think by any means did we come from apes, but I do believe that humans have adapted and evolved over the years. This is where I would disagree with the book. I know many people have different opinions on this subject, but ‘Genesis’ tells me everything I need to know on evolution and how we got on this earth. I do however agree that people have adapted to different climates in different ways and in that way evolved and adapted. A great example of that is the way humans drink milk after being weaned from their mother. We have developed a gene that allows us to digest lactose and therefore we can drink milk from cows, goats and sheep that have been domesticated.

The next part of my worldview is on the population. Before this class I would have thought that the only nations with a population issue would have been China and India. The textbook made a great point that helped to really open my eyes on the population boom. “Does it matter that there are now 7.3 billion people on the earth—almost 3 times as many as there were in 1950? Does it matter that each day, 241,000 more people show up for dinner and many of them will go hungry?”. What can you say to that number other than we need to do something to slow this number down because the earth can only provide for so many people. I know that the way we are growing agriculture has greatly improved over the last three decades but many of the poor nations haven’t had the luxury of the genetically altered seeds that help them be drought and pesticide resistant like the US has. “The US Census Bureau projects that between 2015 and 2050, the US population will likely grow from 321 million to 398 million—an increase of 77 million people”. In this number is the retiring baby boomer generation that is living longer and will put a strain on the healthcare system. The biggest jump is coming from poor countries where the women aren’t educated so I think the key to controlling the boom is education. I think family planning is a great beginning, but it won’t solve everything. I think educating and empowering women is one of the best ideas from this book.

My worldview also includes helping to maintain wild species of animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. “20-50% Percentage of the earth’s known species that could disappear this century primarily because of human activities”. With the population growing as rapidly as it is, we are encroaching on their environment and need to find a way to stop and give them the room they need before they are gone. Not only are we pushing them out of their homes, but we also have a poaching issue. This is absolutely unacceptable to me and even though there are laws in place to stop it, it keeps happening. The price of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks have skyrocketed because of laws like this and I think that is what draws people to do it. Greed is very powerful and if the price is high enough then they will risk getting caught to reap the reward. On the other hand, you have bushmeat. If these animals are being hunted to feed villages like they have for hundreds of years, then it is easier to understand. I don’t feel that restaurants should have the right to sell this meat as a rare delicacy. There are people trying to help set up alternate sources of protein that is safer and not as destructive to the species such as farmed fish and cane rats.

My worldview on energy was completely incorrect before this class. I thought the US was a leader in renewable energies, but we definitely are not. We us fracking to get the natural gas from the ground. In some cases, it has caused natural gas to mix in with the ground water and actually be able to light the water on fire. We use coal the most, but it is the dirtiest fossil fuel and is dangerous to mine. I thought nuclear was the best because it has a very low impact on the environment but then you figure in the nuclear waste and it is not as bright and shiny as before. The spent fuel rods are not easy to dispose of and stay radioactive for a very long time. The spent fuel rods aren’t the only issue with nuclear power either. You must take into consideration that an accident could occur, and harmful radiation will contaminate the community the plant is in. We need to focus more on the renewable energy from solar and wind turbines to have less impact and be more efficient. Germany is a clear leader renewable energy and in 2014 they were at 28% and by 2050 they want to be at 60% renewable energy. The US is much bigger and more spread out but if we can update our power grid, then I think we can use more renewable energy forms.

This has been a great class to remind me that we are all to be good stewards of the earth. I looked at the footprint calculator and was a little surprised by the outcome. My carbon footprint was 49% of my ecological footprint. I really think l a huge part of this is because I have to drive about fifty miles a day to get to work and back. The highest is in the food consumption area. This is higher because both adults in my household work, and it is harder to prepare meals from scratch but that is no excuse. I am going to try harder to carpool to work and eat less meat and more fresh fruits and vegetables. Electric cars have come along way as of late, but they are still expensive but when the range goes up and the price is affordable, I plan on making the switch to help reduce this carbon footprint. My house is an older one and I have done a lot to upgrade the insulation but there is more that can be done, and I will start looking into that to stop wasting as much energy. We all need to start paying attention and reducing our carbon footprint.

Reference

1. Miller, G. T., & Spoolman, S. (2018). Living in the Environment. Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning.

A SWOT analysis usually represents strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is commonly used in the professional world to analyze the past, present, and future position of a company. However, can be used equally as useful on a personal level as an effective method and guide to identify areas for improvement in order to take advantage of opportunities in your future, and become the best versions of yourself.

When conducting a personal SWOT analysis, you must determine what you find your strengths and opportunities to be, as these are things you consider favorable and within your control, while weaknesses and threats are unfavorable and dictated by external forces.

Before completing a SWOT, I identified what my goal is that I would like to achieve and what I will do to achieve my goal. I identified my personal strengths that will help me achieve my goal and analyzed my weaknesses that could possibly prevent me from achieving my goal. I identified my personal opportunities that could help me achieve my goal and identified my threats that could stop me from achieving my goals.

Strengths

My biggest strength towards reaching my goal is being in my final 6 months of graduating and achieving my Oral Health Therapy degree from La Trobe University. This is important to be because I have always had a passion for Oral Health, and this is something I have always wanted to pursue. Another strength of mine is having available support from demonstrators and colleagues, I find this to be very fulfilling as I am in a learning environment and I find their rationale and guidance to be very rewarding. Once I graduate from La Trobe, I can use my experience to excel through my career and make good decisions. Another strength, is my communication and professionalism. I believe this is a good strength to have as I am able to impress and demonstrate to future employers that I am a qualified professional.

Weaknesses

When determining my weakness, I asked myself what am I not comfortable doing? Something I find I am not completely comfortable doing is working in a pressured environment. This becomes a major weakness as it can prevent me from achieving my goal. I also find this to be an issue in everyday life. This is a weakness because when I find myself to be in a pressured environment, I tend to rush my notes/work. For example, when writing notes after a procedure in a pressured environment it may lead to missing or wrong information making it a serious issue. To overcome this weakness, I have developed a strategic method to completed my notes in the available timeframe and limit myself to have spare time to make in final edits and corrections on my notes.

Opportunities

An opportunity I have happily excepted is having a job lined up. The reason I find this to be a great opportunity is because my employer has offered me to observe, seek advice, and have guidance to anything I am having trouble with. This allows me to open up and learn in a one-on-one setting, where I will have no distractions. This opportunity will also help me in my training with learning and developing that I can share with others and implement it in a clinical setting. Another opportunity for me would having access to videos and lecture throughout the course, allowing me to go back and refer to things as well as having the information always available when required. The final opportunity I have decided to take part of is attending CPD events when available online. I find that this is a great opportunity as it is continuing professional development and allowing me to have further information on topics, I would like to learn more about.

Threats

When identifying my threats, I asked myself what obstacles are in my way to success? I find my biggest threat for me is self-doubt. I find that I usually doubt my work making me feel like I haven’t achieved the expected level. This is a threat because I find that it puts me in a negative mind set making me feel less motivated to achieve my goal. However, I have always felt that way, but have had the privilege to receive many positive responses and feedback from different educators and demonstrators. The way I plan to overcome this threat is to change by attitude on how I perceive my own work, whether that means lowering my own expectations as well as accepting all positive and negative feedback and using this to my advantage to improve myself. Another threat I find of mine is stress. I find that I can become very stressed when having too many tasks to complete. However, a way I can overcome this is preparing myself before classes and organizing my tasks in order to what should be completed first and allow myself to work on different tasks throughout my spare time, that way I can complete my tasks to a great standard.

Summary

With the help of SWOT analysis, I believe it has helped me identify my strengths, reduce my weaknesses, exploit my opportunities and minimize and eliminate possible threats, it is definitely a great tool for personal development, as it will help me preform my work in a better manner and is useful to motivate myself and become successful. Other reasons why I find completing this SWOT analysis to be a great tool is because it helps me develop strategies to achieve my goal and helps me understand who I really am as a person. I can now see where I currently stand on the path of success as this also makes me focus on all my attitudes, abilities and skills I have developed throughout my degree.

Each person has different strengths and abilities that make them who they are. The Clifton Strengths became a way for people to see what talents they have by taking a test created by a psychologist named Don Clifton. He wanted to focus more on people’s strengths instead of their weaknesses that need to be fixed. Through a lot of research, Clifton made the test that anyone could take, and it helped people to realize that they can build up their talents into strengths to use in everyday life.

The first strength I have is consistency, which means that I like routine, following the rules, and treating people equally (Gallup, 99). The next strength I have is harmony, and that means that I need people and things to be in agreement, not conflict (Gallup, 137). My third strength is restorative, which means that I can easily solve problems when something is wrong (Gallup, 187). I also have the strength of being a developer, so I like seeing the improvement in other people from where they started, and being part of that improvement (Gallup, 113). The last strength I have is empathy, which means that I can easily put myself in another person’s shoes and feel how they are feeling (Gallup, 121). I believe that these strengths describe my personality well because of my everyday actions and interactions with other people.

Out of all of my strengths, the one that describes me the most is empathy. If someone else is having a bad day, I will feel how they feel and work out how to make their day better. This strength helps me to build strong relationships with people easier because I can relate to them and let them know that I understand them. The strength that I use most frequently is consistency. I have a talent for keeping an everyday routine that I never fail to follow or else my day feels altered. I usually know what to expect in each day, and I don’t like it when something unexpected happens that I’m unprepared for. I also like when I have clear instructions so I don’t stray too far away from what I need to be doing. This strength helps me to stabilize myself and know exactly what’s going on at all times. The talents I have that are most highly refined are under my strength of being restorative. My whole life I’ve had to face problems and figure out the best way to solve them. Throughout school, my talent of problem solving has turned into a strength because I worked hard at it and have been tested on it. Everyday has its challenges that come at me, but I can easily work things through to come up with a solution to be alright in the end. This strength has helped me to get as far as I have, and I will continue to use it far into the future. The talents I would like to maximize in college would fall under the developer strength. I want to work more with other students to study and see each other exceed our limits. I have formed a study group with two friends I have made in my biology class, and it is very rewarding to see them improve the more we all work together. This makes me want to do this more throughout college and help other people to see the potential they have within themselves.

In college, I’m hoping to succeed in all of the courses I take and graduate with a dental assisting degree. I want to build relationships with people and learn more about who I am and want to become in the future. Once I graduate college, I wish to find a career in dental assisting that will help me to build my life. The strength that I believe will help me the most to get where I want to be is being restorative. It will help me to figure out any problems I come across throughout my life easily and recognize how far I will have come. The strength that I believe I will develop more throughout classes is being a developer. Again, forming study groups has been an efficient way to keep track of assignments and be able to see the growth of grades. Seeing where other people are at in the material and how much they improve in the semester is gratifying. My mission in life is to be surrounded by close friends and a family of my own, and to live every day to the fullest. When I’m older I want to look back on my life and have no regrets about it. My strengths will help me to fulfill that wish because of how they each make me a better person. Like with my strength of empathy, I will be able to build close relationships with people to create my own family. With my strength of harmony, I can bring people together into agreement so there is as little conflict as possible. I will be able to live a harmonious life, and be able to deal with any problem due to my strength of being restorative.

My most prevalent strengths are restorative, empathy and consistency, because they help me through everyday tasks. I have realized how much each of these impacts me and builds me up to be the best person I can be. I will continue to use them for the rest of my life and keep in mind how each one helps me. The strength I would like to work on more is harmony because I also don’t like confrontation. A component of bringing people together in agreement deals with confronting the issues and working through them. With more practice, that will help me to improve that strength so it can help me in life. The most important thing I learned through this process was that I need to look more at my strengths than my weaknesses. I often focus too much on what I’m doing wrong in my life and not seeing all of the accomplishments I’ve made. In the future I would like to see myself as a strong individual who has many talents to help me get through each day.

Work Cited

1. Gallup. CliftonStrengths for Students: Your Strengths Journey Begins Here. Gallup Press, 2017.