Christy’s Reflections

It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over. I have had so much fun rediscovering learning, studying, participating in projects that time just passed me by.  The last three weeks i have taken the time to work on the final paper  because i wanted to take my time so that once i had an idea down i could explore further  and see if there was anything else i wanted to say. Writing this paper was an overview of everything i had learned.  It put everything into perspective and it all made sense.  When you learn a concept you are not always sure how to use it. but by the end of the semester  i realized how the  puzzle pieces fit together and hopefully will be able to utilize this information.

I have a job interview in a week and the topic of the lecture that was chosen for me is “Teaching Strategies and evaluation in Dental Hygiene Curricula”.  As a part of the lecture i plan to utilized the some of the information that i have attained in this class the show one aspect of learning and that will be the learning in groups . I am thinking of ending with this information because i am most familar with it and hopefully will end on a strong note.   wish me luck.    Thank you Dr. Carter for all you have done and the encouragement you have given me to keep trying and push forward.  I plan to proceed with the masters program and hopefully do well.   Have a nice summer. Talk with you in June.

this past week we participated in assignment #3, which was facilitation of a group.  We all liked our topic, “How to stop contributing to your boss’s and your own ineffectiveness”.  One of my responsibilities was to summarize the presentation. I feel like i need alot of work presenting up in front of the class, so i wrote out a summry and tried to memorize.  soon i realized what i needed to do was to be comfortable with the information and then i would be more comfortable talking about it. So i practiced presenting to my dog. poor thing, she looked so confused.   When i actually sat down with my group i was go excited about the topic i just jumped right in. I totally forgot to state our purpose, what i wanted to accomplish, etc. My mind just assumed that everyone was thinking like i was. Fortunately, one person questioned me and then i got back on track. so i do not feel that this was not my best accomplishment in this class and i realized i do need more work.  I just need to forgive myself and move on.  I will say that i am happy with myself because i have not waited until the last minute to work on my paper.  thank heavens it is almost finished, which gives me some relief.

Communication!  Can be a wonderful thing if everything goes as planned but, when misunderstood can cause many problems.  My team experienced this problem last week.  On April 13th each team choose what topic they wanted to facilitate on April 27th.  Unfortunately two of my team members were not present that evening but i was not worried because we had already chosen out topic.  So, to follow up I sent the missing team members and email updating them on the missed class and informing them of what to read and what to be prepared to to for the next class.  Upon arrival on April 20th, one team member came prepared to teach the class.  when questioned, he stated this is what he understood the email to say.  the other team member also was confused but took it one step further and called another team member to question this and discovered she only needed to be prepared to discuss the material we were going to present.  this goes to show that it is easy to misunderstand what a person says and we all need to question the information especially if it does not make sense to us.  This was a lesson well learned to all of us but, to the early reflectors it was humorous to see the productive procrastinators be prepared early!!

The second assigment is now completed! I must admit i was very nervous with the teaching stragety that we chose because i had never participated in a debate. But i do believe that it was successful in achieving our goals.

The 4 screwdrivers chose “power and conflict” as our topic to engage the class in joint discussion and activities. As we met, we decided to use the movie, “Remember the Titians” as the basis for the discussion. Now, what format to use?  One team member strongly favored the debate format.  The other members were very skeptical. We were not familar at all with this style and nervous about pulling this off successfully. Here our group had a small but healthy conflict.  Members questioned how a debate works and how it could be applied to our topic. In the end, an agreement was settled on and we proceeded with developing the debate.  My team is awesome.  Each member is eager to volunteer to take a task and to complete it on time. Thus on the night of the presentation, everything came into place.  The concept of the debate was a little hard to explain the to class, but the participants were eager to try the debate and it was successful.  I think they actually enjoyed it.  I feel that the class as a whole is great! Everyone volunteers quickly, thus making teaching an easier experience.   GO CLASS!!!!!!!

Wow, it’s hard to believe that 30 years have passes since i took my last college class. To say the least I was nervous about attending the first class. Funny how things turn out. I actually knew two people in the class and had a few things in common with others. The professor is amazing. She makes you feel comfortable in her class and  she isvery encouraging for those of us who are new at this.

I have had two weeks of reading and digesting the material and slowly i am able to see what the text’s are talking about in my own work place.  I now understand why certain things are not working and why others are. I think this class will help me in my approach of others in my workplace when we are given and assignment.  I am excited about this class and hope this adventure continues to go well.

Wow, It is hard to believe it has been 30 years since i was in a classroom as a student. It is scary and exciting at the same time. I am not sure what to expect, how much time will it take to do the reading assignment, homework, writing papers-oh no, i haven’t done that either-HELP.  I am taking this class to help me decide if i want to presue a masters program in adult education.  I am approaching retirement at my current job and cannot see myself sitting at home doing nothing so . . .  i need to prepare myself for the future, and besides there maybe a full time teaching opportunity at the School of Dental Hygiene in the near future. I think on of the intimidating parts of all of this is the computer end of it . i don’t have to use it very much at my current employment. oh well here we go wish me luck and lots of FUN!

Can you believe I survived the first week of class and it was fun.  Everyone was so nice and encouraging. I think they remembered when they were in my shoes and trying to make the decision to try something new or not. Anyway, I had to read the material two times before it made any sense to me but I think part of it was because I was not use to thinking in this way. But it is getting better. At least I partially understand it the first time I read it and enjoy it the second time.  Now I find myself looking at my job and seeing why things at work don’t always run smoothly. People having hidden agandas, groups receiving rewards and the individuals doing all the work getting ignored and resentment building up.  This class is opening my mind up to a whole new world.