lection is looking at experiences you have encountered and drawing your own conclusions on what you learned from them and how it affects your strengths and weaknesses in your life. It is important for us to be reflective in life and continue to grow and improve. We can face a situation and instead of just moving on think about how we responded, what we could do differently the next time and what we can expect to draw from it for the future. The more reflective we are in life the more we can improve our responses and think of ourselves instead of just always reacting. Reflection is an excellent tool for growth. Reflection is different from description because describing something only tells the story of what happened and reflection can be rethinking an experience with an emphasis on how it affected us and its impact on our self improvement.
I believe my portfolio is a tool for reflection. It is an opportunity to show what concepts I have learned, the education I have received and where I see myself in the future. I can describe my experiences and then reflect on what I learned, whether it was a strength and how I can improve or use it for my upcoming situations.
This week be sure to share your understanding of "reflection". How is it different from description, and share how you're planning to use reflection in developing your e-Portfolio content pages.
Reflection to me is looking at something, and being able to envision all the information contained within. For example, look at yourself in a mirror. When you do that, so much information comes out, so many different thoughts. Reflection is also a way to learn and to try things differently, especially if it didn’t work out in the first place. With my E-Portfolio, I want it to describe me. I want it to show all the classes I’ve taken, all the hard work that’s been put forth. It can describe the volunteer work I’ve done and it can detail my passions of what I’d like to do in the future. Underneath the obvious, though, one can tell so much. All that studying? I’m a dedicated person. The volunteer work described? I love to help others and don’t care for compensation in return.
ReplyDeleteReflection is vital to our lives because it serves as a learning guide, and shows others what just who we are.
-Jessica Starr
Reflection to me is looking back at your past and seeing the good and the bad times. Also, it could be to portray how you have changed as a person. Another way reflection can be portrayed as is as a way to look at the mistakes you have done in the past and learned from them so you dont make them in the future. Reflection is different from description because in reflection you are reflecting to something that happened in the past where as in description is something that you may be describing in the present. I plan to use reflection in my portafolio by adding the things in my past that can glorify who i am as a person and to portray traits that future employers might be looking for. In reality if you think about it a resume is a summary of the reflection of your life, it is just put in a bulleted list.
ReplyDelete-Benjamin Rivera
Description is putting thoughts and words into a statement that the reader can envision. While reflection is the act of thinking back over multiple past experiences in order for a change or better outcome. Reflection may be thought of as a diagnostic tool.
ReplyDelete-Shannon Brown
I define reflection as being able to look at something and have something to say about it whether it is positive, negative or neutral. Reflection should be used in order to make something better by means of corrections that need to be made for when the situation that was reflected on presents itself again. I plan to use reflection in my e-portfolio by reflecting on my past work with positive or neutral thinking by looking at it and knowing that the hard work I put into it resulted in me doing a good job.
ReplyDelete-Jeremy Amin
Reflection in my opinion is when you look back at certain events or situations and recall how they affected your life at the time and what you learned from it. Description on the other hand is when you explain something using details. I plan on using reflection to develop my e-Portfolio by writing things that have occurred during my life so far that contributed to my major and career choice. In the e-Portfolio there is a lot of reflection, from the beginning to the end, when I look back at it in a couple years after completing P.A. school and beginning my career I am sure I will learn many things about myself that have changed. In the end the e-Portfolio will show me how my thinking was and whether or not it stayed the same.
ReplyDelete-Leslie-Ann Ellington
@benrivera89
ReplyDeleteI like your definition of reflection. I think that it’s one that’s hard to face though, because not everyone can look back and see both the good and bad times. I know personally, I mostly see the bad. I guess it’s because the bad times were the moments that really stuck out, like my grandmother dying, the day my parents got divorced, etc. For some reason, the good moments just don’t stick out as much.
A resume really is a reflection, just an organized reflection. :) I like the analogy. It is our way to organize our lives into a list for an employer to read.
-Jessica Starr
@Jamin,
ReplyDeletePositive thinking is a good way of looking at past situations, whether they were good or bad. Negative thinking just takes up sooooo much extra energy (Believe me, I know 100% since I mainly focus on bad experiences….) Reflection should be used as a tool to make things better, I definitely agree with that. Without reflection, we would have no foundation to build on, no way to change things.
-Jessica Starr
@ Jessica,
ReplyDeleteWow, that was sad you remember only the bad. That scares me as a parent. I hope one day my kids don't remember how I yelled or spanked, I hope they remember the good times too. The trips to Disney, Sea World, Chuck E Cheese and Build A Bear! I wish you new memories that are wonerful and cheerful that you may one day reflect upon.
- Shannon
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ReplyDeleteLeslie-Ann,
ReplyDeleteI like your explanation of reflection, "when you look back at certain events or situations and recall how they affected your life at the time and what you learned from it". Learning from our mistakes so as not to repeat is a very important part of reflection.
- Shannon
Over time the saying that wisdom comes from experience is becoming a more concrete concept. It is my belief that this wisdom can only come from reflection of that experience, and this class has solidified my ability to do so. I had such a great sense of almost completion as I wrote my personal statement, as it forced me to consider all the aspects that have led me to the path that I am currently on in becoming a physician. Up until this point my college career has been one grand experience after another that takes up all of my attention, leaving me with no time and many cases no desire to reflect due to the propensity of the stress that came with them. However, now that life has slowed down enough and I am not so caught up in the mouse chase, I have given genuine time to reflection. Especially as a leader this is one of the most important attributes I can continue to develop, because it is an interpersonal thing. In many senses reflection can also be valuable in observing the effect that those around us have had on us, as well as our reactions. The outcome of this and our future approach to similar situations is essentially how we construct our reality. Quite a bit of my knowledge and wisdom has come from watching examples of mistakes that those around me have made. Learning from your mistakes is wonderful, however learning from someone else’s mistake is even better!! Reflection/critical thinking is essential for personal growth and life preparedness.
ReplyDelete~Andrea Graves
@ Jessica Starr ”Reflection is also a way to learn and to try things differently, especially if it didn’t work out in the first place”. I think that this is important because due to how critical of a person that you are, one may either avoid this or overdo it.
@-Leslie-Ann Ellington, I will definitely put that in my mental store box, and remember to reflect on this class! It has been an illuminating experience.
@ Jessica Starr
ReplyDeleteI like your metaphor about the mirror, it is very true, because sometimes when i look at the mirror, i see the differences when i was younger, and i reflect bad at the days when i was younger.
@ Jamin
ReplyDeleteI like how you state that reflecting is looking at the good and bad times, becasue that is exactly what i think and i also agree with you in correcting the past mistakes.
-Benjamin Rivera
Reflection expounds upon description in that it adds the dimension of analysis. To describe a past action, situation or decision merely records it, reflection re-evaluates, and thus enables one to gain insight from there past. In this regard, reflection is essential for growth and progress. To learn from past mistakes, to remember valuable lessons, to correlate cause and effect all these thing are the products of reflection and crucial for living with purpose and direction rather than haphazardly. Incorporating reflection into my eportfolio is the best way to show direction and purpose in my past activities, experiences, and academics. This is done by commenting on these past experiences and noting the lessons I’ve learned from them rather than just describing them. This will personally play out in reflecting on the cohesion between everything that I’ve done in pursuing my aspiration to become a doctor. I will describe all my activities and academics and reflect on what each has contributed to my goal.
ReplyDelete@ Andrea
ReplyDeleteI completely feel you on the helpfulness of the personal statement, it really forced me to articulate and reflect on everything that's led me to where I am now. I found it a strangely rewarding experience and am excited because its one less thing I'll have to worry about when applying to medical school
@Ben
I like how you talked about reflection as a way to look at how you have changed I thinks that's really important in knowing who you are, where you've come from and who you want to be.
Reflection is looking back at past experiences decisions to analyze whether not the desired/intended outcome actually occurred. If not, ask yourself what could have been differently to potentially reach that desired goal? It is important to be reflective in life to learn from our pasts and plan or make decisions better in the future. Reflection is an important step in developing forethought, an important life skill to be successful. Reflection is different than description because reflection requires deep thought and consideration. Description merely requires summarization. I plan on using reflection in developing my e-Portfolio content pages by reviewing and revising them multiple times.
ReplyDelete- Erin Chandler
@Jamin
ReplyDeleteI agree, reflection should be used to make corrections and evaluations on one's self. Good point to recognize that reflection could be neutral, positive and not just negative, as well.
@Lindsey
Good point, about gaining insight from reflection. I like that you said reflection is essential for growth and development; I think this is very true!
@Erin I like how you differentiated between reflection and description, saying that Reflection is different than description because reflection requires deep thought and consideration. That is true i'll be sure to remember that.
ReplyDelete@Lindsey I agree with you on how incorporating reflection into your e-Portfolio will show direction and purpose in your past activities, experiences, and academics.
-Leslie-Ann Ellington
To me reflection means looking back on your past and how it has brought you to your present; the paths that you have taken to get where you are today. My E-portfolio is prefect for that because it shows the progress I have made over the last 4 years and what I have done to accomplish my goals. It also illustrates me as a person and what I once thought I wanted to do with my life and how my ideas have changed after taking some of the classes that I did. Description on the other hand is using great detail.
ReplyDelete@Lindsey Warner,
Nicely said! I like how you put in learning from past mistakes and remembering valuable lessons.
@Jamin,
I like how you said reflection should be used to make things better by correcting your mistakes, I agree with you totally.
-Megan Sebastian
To me reflection is a time that you look at all your work piece by piece and at a whole and decide what will be best to present to as a description of you personally or professionally. I plan to use Reflection in my contents page to decide what shows my best work, my professional side, and a little of my personal side to future employers or interviewers. Using reflection to look at a certain situations that have brought you to the current place for example, if your financials are in trouble its important to reflect on what is creating the problem and decide what is important to move forward and fix any issues needed.
ReplyDelete@ Andrea G.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say wisdom comes from experience. That is so true. As children our parents struggle to allow to make mistakes so we can learn from them and we challenge ourselves everyday as adults to do the same. Good luck with your goal as become a Physician!
@ Lindsey Warner
ReplyDeleteReflection is definetly needed for growth and aspirations. In order to complete such a long process especially becoming a doctor.