Personal Development Plan Final Reflection Essay

Personal Development Plan Final Reflection Essay In my previous personal development plan, I had made several initiatives through which I hoped to achieve certain goals both in academics and in social life. In the previous personal development plan, I had embarked more on the process that I believe would help me to think about my own learning, performance and achievements as well as to plan my personal, educational, social and career development. Since I made the plan within the PDP, there are certain changes that I have witnessed happening in my career, social and learning areas. For example, I have noted that for the last one semester, I have improved in a number of areas that I had pointed in my last PDP. In academics, I have achieved a lot, as my average grades have improved from the previous B+ to an A. This is primarily because I was able to develop clear SWOT analysis, in which I recognized my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats not only in academics, but also in my social life, extra-curricular activities and any other activity I took. With this plan, I worked hard to perfect my strengths, correct the weaknesses and make them my strong points, utilize the opportunities placed within my abilities and finally recognize and avoid any negative effect that was posed by the threats in the SWOT analysis (Bolton 2010). From these considerations, I recognized that some of my strengths were the ability to work under strict deadlines, carry out extensive research, attend classes, and do personal studies and to submit all the papers and assignments at the right time. However, I also recognized that I actually had some weaknesses that caused my performance to dwindle in certain areas. For example, I realized that I had a problem relating with other students, tutors and friends. I did not attend discussion and group work, and seemed to ignore the strength of teamwork. I realized that I did not consult my tutors in academics; rather I attempted to do my own research. In co-curricular activities, I realized that I had done little in games and clubs within the university, despite having a number of athletic teams, training personnel as well as other facilities. I was not able to attend any of the activities before I made the last PDP, and even spent much time playing games on my personal computer rather tha n being involved in real athletics. In this plan, I set strict schedules to allow me attend my favorite games soccer and American football. Within this reflection, I had also recognized a number of opportunities that I should have utilized to perfect my skills in education and social life. For example, the university has a number of games, societies and clubs, all of which are equipped and staffed to help the students achieve their goals in academics and other activities important in social and personal life. In addition, the university encourages teamwork, from which students realize their weaknesses and strengths, and work to perfect their strengths and to improve their weak areas. These were opportunities that I ought to have utilized before, but which had been the priority in the previous personal reflection plan. I further realized that there were certain threats that challenged my performance. For example, I was running a risk of being lonely due to my weak approach to teamwo rk. In addition, it was possible that I would face academic failures in future because I was becoming possessed with video and computer games rather than being involved in real physical exercises. Several significant changes have resulted from the previous personal reflection plan. For example, apart from the increase in the academic grades, I have developed a good habit of relating with others in the university, and especially in my department. In addition, I have been involved in a number of discussion groups and even contributed to the development of general classroom discussion groups, in which students present their findings to the class during discussion time, while others try as much as possible to challenge the presenter. This has increased my confidence in academics, and I am more able to express myself than I would have done some few months ago before I embarked on self-reflection plan. Moreover, I am perfect in both soccer and football because I have dedicated enough time for these activities, and in fact, I have joined the university teams in both of these games. Moreover, I have joined the rangers association, a university society that is involved in environmental issues. I have realized that I am good in keeping and maintaining a good environment within our localities. During the last semester, we have taken part in national environmental programs, workshops and seminars, in which we have been taught the importance of maintaining good environment. In addition, we have organized a number of workshops for the community, where we teach elementary and high school students about the benefits of a good environment. In this way, I have realized that I have perfected my teaching, social and organizational management skills. From the personal development plan I created last semester, I have pointed out three main key learning areas that need much attention, and which have been very pivotal as far as the incline in my grades is concerned. First, I have realized that education is not all about understanding of what has been taught in class, and thereafter reproducing it in the examinations. It is a fact that education is not all about passing exams, rather it is a matter of understanding the courses, and how the classroom gained knowledge can be applied in the real life (Bolton 2010). Therefore, I have learned that one needs to do a lot of research and experiments to practice the classroom gained knowledge in the related fields, and to imply the information gained in books to the actual world. Secondly, I have learned that time management is the most critical tool towards achieving personal goals not only in education, but also in the other aspects of life. From the reflection, I have realized that the inc rease in my overall academic grades, as well as in extracurricular activities, is a result of proper time management, and the ability to work with strict time schedules. Lastly, I have learned that education required coordination of activities between personal efforts and the teamwork. I have observed that students perform better when they participate in class activities, work in groups and challenge each other (Jasper 2007). Moreover, it makes one obtain courage to conduct a research on vital topics, and have the pride to present it in front of the others. This is important for future researchers and scholars like me because at least, I am able to express ideas and ideologies to a number of people, and to meet the challenges they pose (Jasper 2007). Analysis of the Current Situation Currently, there is a number of issues that have to bbe improved as far as academics and other activities are concerned. I have achieved a lot in education, sports and social activities in general. Moreover, I have improved my communicative skills. However, I still have to target my main goal, which is to obtain straight A’s in all the courses I take each semester, and at the same time, achieve other goals in other activities apart from education. Currently, there are certain internal factors that are affecting me in a number of ways, both positively and negatively. For example, when I develop a personal SWOT analysis, I realize that I have internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to my education as well as other activities. Currently, my strengths in education are defined by my abilities to correct my past mistakes and improve weaknesses. I never ignore my weak points, though it is very common for a number of students in my faculty. In addition, I am able to learn from daily life experiences, especially from other people’s mistakes. Apart from these strengths, I have also realized that I am able to identify opportunities within my learning environment, and utilize them to increase my knowledge and skills in education and career. However, I have some weak points, which are currently affecting my performance. For instance, I do not possess even basic skills to lead other people in the class, groups and t he teams, which means that I may not become a good organizational leader unless I perfect my leading skills. I also do not have the courage to communicate with my tutors more. I have one more weak point I tend to believe that I can perfect my skills either on my own, or with the help of small groups of students. This is not quite good for my educational development, as I require help from my tutors in order to achieve best results. The main reason of my weak points is that I started using personal development and reflection plans only two semesters ago. Earlier, I did not consider such plans to be of great importance. But now, as I see a great progress in my personal development, and taking into account that the university provides a lot of resources for each student to master all the necessary skills, I will continue planning my self development. There are also some external factors that affect me in one way or the other, and which can be regarded as threats and opportunities. For instance, a number of opportunities are evident in my current situation. Other students in my class and the faculty have intensified their need to have personal reflection programs, and are in fact comparing their performances with the others in the class. This implies that we, as a class, have a chance to develop our skills together, as we have common goals in learning (Jasper 2007). Earlier, the students were allowed to participate only in 2 of the university clubs at once. Now we have the ability to participate in four of them, which will help me to gain much more experience. I will need to manage all my plans wisely, as apart from the extra-curricular activities, I need to perform well in the classroom too. Personal development plan I hope to come up with new ideas for my personal development, which will ensure success in both academic and social life. In regards of education, I want to try to approach my tutors for help in difficult situations, and to acquire skills needed for my future job. In addition, I must embark on increasing my grades from B+ to an A. Another desired outcome is to be a full time member of at least three clubs or societies, and to participate in all the events planned by these groups. I hope to achieve these goals within the next four months, which is till the end of this semester. References Bolton, G, 2010, â€Å"Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development†, SAGE Publications Ltd, Hoboken, NY. Jasper, M, 2007, â€Å"Professional development, reflection and decision-making†, Wiley-Blackwell, New York.

Imitation - Definition and Examples in Rhetoric

German Verbs - wissen - to know - conjugated

In the following chart you will find the conjugation of the irregular German verb  wissen  (to know). Although it is not a modal verb, the conjugation of  wissen  follows the same pattern as the modal verbs. Like the modals, and unlike normal German verbs,  wissen  has the same form for  ich  (1st person sing.) and  er, sie, es  (3rd person sing.). German, like many other languages, has two different verbs that can correspond to the single English verb to know. Like Spanish, Italian and French, for example, German makes a distinction between knowing or being familiar with a person or thing (kennen) AND knowing a fact (wissen). The verb  wissen  is a stem-changing verb. That is to say, the infinitives stem vowel  i  changes to  eiin all the singular present tense forms (weiß), and to  u  in the past participle (gewusst). In many ways, as we said above, it behaves like a modal verb. Except for  ihr wisst  (formerly  wißt), spelling reform has not affected  wissen,  so you should note that its singular forms are still spelled with an ess-zett (ß, except in Swiss German), while the plural forms use a double-s (ss). This verb chart uses  the new German spelling  (die neue Rechtschreibung). Wissen Conjugations PRSENS(Present) PRTERITUM(Preterite/Past) PERFEKT(Pres. Perfect) SINGULAR ich weiI know ich wussteI knew ich habe gewusstI knew, have known du weityou know du wusstestyou knew du hast gewusstyou knew, have known er/sie weihe/she knows er/sie wusstehe/she knew er/sie hat gewussthe/she knew, has known PLURAL wir/Sie/sie wissenwe/you/they have to wir/Sie/sie wusstenwe/you/they knew wir/Sie/sie haben gewusstwe/you/they knew, have known ihr wisstyou (pl.) know ihr wusstetyou (pl.) knew ihr habt gewusstyou (pl.) knew, have known Sample Sentences/Idioms Er weiß Bescheid.He knows all about it. (Hes been kept informed.)Weißt du, wann der Bus kommt?Do you know when the bus is coming?Ich habe nicht Bescheid gewusst.I didnt know a thing about it. Related Pages The 20 Most-Used German VerbsRanked by frequency of use. With conjugations and examples. German for BeginnersOur free online German course!

Writing Research Papers

A World Of Calamity, By Ross Gay - 883 Words

Ross Gay’s book Against Which, portrays his poetry to readers allowing them to gain understanding of the cruel world that one lives in. Moreover, the unusual brutalities that people are inevitable confronted with in life. The common denominators within Gay’s poems such as violence, love, fear, and loss allows the reader to visualize characters’ transformation within his poems. In a world of calamity, Gay has created poems that portray the corporal conforming to gender and sex but also human development. Using a reader-response criticism lens, I will be demonstrating my interpretation of Ross Gay’s poems and the meaning that I believe to be a common interpretation of his work. Within, Gay’s poems, â€Å"It Starts at Birth† and Angels Out of Reach† one is able to see a pattern of human transformation. By experiencing pain, love, loss, fear, and wisdom one is able to see Gay’s characters evolve through the narrators and readers gaze . In doing so, one is able to reflect on Gay’s poems and gain wisdom themselves. Gay’s poem â€Å"It Starts at Birth† demonstrates a title that starts at the establishment of ones life, while portraying new experiences, that one gains while enduring life. However, the poem itself illuminates the title of his book Against Which. This close analysis of the title guides the reader through a serious of evaluation and guides the reader to one question, against which? Throughout the poem, the repetition of the tittle repeats ten times. For example, â€Å"against which,

Essay on Islam in the American Soil - 542 Words

Islam in America The mention of the word Islam in the American soils evokes mixed reactions, especially after the September 11 attacks that left the American security agencies at the edge of confusion. Islam is equated to terrorism by most none Islam Americans. This is the general notion that was left in the minds of many westerners. Though not all Muslims who are terrorists, the people who are normally perpetuating in terrorist’s attacks purport to profess Muslim faith and often they are heard chanting â€Å"Allah Kubar† messages implying God is great after every attack. To the east, where Islam is well rooted, the case is very different in the sense that perpetuators of this act are regarded as heroes who were just conforming to the teachings†¦show more content†¦Quran is believed to have been given to Prophet Mohammed and nobody dares think the implications of the verses there in, but rather applies them at a literal meaning. Some of the aspects that bring a clash include ob session with the dress code and use of community language even on international platforms. Though not directly evident, it is felt that this kind of conservatism is an implication that irrespective of the country where Muslim find themselves, their loyalty is subscribed to ummah as demanded by the Quran. This is even why a staunch Muslim prays wherever he is facing Mecca. This is interpreted as total allegiance to ummah. Since time immemorial, incompatible values and interests between America and Islam make the two parties to continue pursuing struggle for power and world control. The introduction of the new world order was a big defeat for Islam and this is the main reason why America and the entire west is an enemy to the Islam faith. Islam condones democracy and rather advocate for application of Sharia Law in governance of the subjects found within the jurisdiction where this is found. 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Sexual Dysfunction free essay sample

Sexual arousal disorders affect women and men. With this disorder men find it difficult to obtain or keep an erection while women there is the inability to lubricate enough to complete the sex act. Sexual arousal disorders were previously known as frigidity in women and impotence in men, though these have now been replaced with less judgmental terms. Impotence is now known as erectile dysfunction, and frigidity is now described as any of several specific problems with desire, arousal, or anxiety. Women may encounter persistent difficulties becoming sexually excited or sufficiently lubricated in response to sexual stimulation. This dysfunction can occur after a woman has been functioning normally over the years. Oral sex and masturbation are the only times when women with this dysfunction can become lubricated. Some women find vaginal lubrication easier or existent with one partner over the other. This can lead to other sexual dysfunctions in women such as hypoactive sexual desire disorder and orgasmic disorders. We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Dysfunction or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Erectile dysfunction is characterized by the regular or repeated inability to obtain or maintain an erection. Analyzing erectile dysfunction allows you to decipher the causes. Obtaining full erections at some times, such as when asleep (when the mind and psychological issues, if any, are less present), tends to suggest the physical structures are functionally working. Psychological and physical factors contribute to this dysfunction which include stress, levels of fatigue, gender identity, health, and other individual attributes and experiences. Drugs Neurogenic disorders: which include injuries to the brain or spinal cord Psychological causes: performance anxiety, stress, mental disorders etc psychological problems, negative feelings. Surgery such as radiation therapy, or surgery of the bladder, colon, rectum or prostate Ageing which it is four times higher in men in their 60s than in men in their 40s Kidney failure Diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis (MS). Lifestyle: smoking is a key cause of erectile dysfunction. Smoking causes impotence because it promotes arterial narrowing. Treatments for these dysfunctions include medication, sex therapy, behavioral psychotherapy and physical. Sex therapy focuses on correcting sexual misinformation, the importance of improved partner communication and honesty, anxiety reduction, sensual experience and pleasure, and interpersonal tolerance and acceptance. One for of physical therapy that can be done during intercourse is called the â€Å"squeeze technique† . this technique is used to prevent premature ejaculation. When a man feels that an orgasm is imminent, he withdraws from his partner. Then, the man or his partner gently squeezes the head of the penis to halt the orgasm. After about 20-30 seconds, the couple may resume intercourse. The couple may do this several times before the man proceeds to ejaculation. Medication treatment is used along with psychotherapy which can include the following medication for the specific dysfunction: clomipramine and fluoxetine for premature ejaculation papaverine and prostaglandin for erectile difficulties hormone replacement therapy for female dysfunctions Viagra, a pill approved in 1998 as a treatment for impotence