Taylor Schwalbach
Critical Thinking/ Problem Solving
For this skill, I think that I have developed it due to my Creative Writing Class. In this class, we all have to present one analized reading and present it to the class. I feel like this has really helped me future my development of craft analysis as well as my overall ability to problem solve when I run into text that is hard to digest. The reason that I attribute success in critical thinking is due to how we are able to present to the class. You are responsible for reading the piece and also need to be able to explain and expand on the piece to the whole class.
Oral/Written Communication
In this skill, I would have to say that it has been developed in my English Composition class. I have always been very excited about the topic of creative writing, but when it comes to writing about writing about opinions and positions, I tend to struggle. In my English Composition class, we had to write a position paper about a topic that was meaningful to us. I was not comfortable with the idea of staining my opinion while also trying to disprove someone else’s opinion, it was difficult to say the least. Since that project, I have developed the skills to not only get my opinions across through writing, but it has also taught me to step back in conversation as well. While the main point of the paper was to argue my point, I learned a lot about how to see others views as well.
Professionalism
Professionalism has to be the most useful tool that college has taught me overall. The class that I can really marrow down this skill being taught in, is my business class. My teacher provides us with many opportunities such as meeting people at job fairs, creating a linkedin profile to find jobs, etc. This class has taught me professionalism by showing me what it is like in the real world of business. I have gained knowledge both in communication as well as how to find a job. This class has been helpful for me because I really look forward to having an internship by the time I am a sophomore and its class has narrowed down my search to a human resource management internship.
Teamwork and Collaboration
While something like this may be a given for a lot of students, team work as not always been something that has come easily to me. In the past, I have always been the student who viewed working alone as the better option. While sometimes this still remains true, I have found that college has opened up many doors of teamwork for me. In my second semester alone, I have found teamwork to be more helpful than ever.
As the school year comes to a close, I have realized that reaching out to others for help is much more beneficial than struggling through something alone. For example, in my Psychology class, we have an in class activity almost every day. These activities usually involve the material we will be learning that day, and we are asked to answer questions involving given material. Some of these questions can be hard, and I would usually try and solve them on my own. After receiving scores that were not as good as I had hoped for them to be, I decided to reach out to those around me, brainstorming answers with them as class went on. After a few times of collaborating with my classmates, I watched my scores go up almost instantly. Working with others has shown me that I really do have a lot to learn from others, and that two brains are always better than one!
Leadership
Most importantly, my last skill I have gained during the course of this school year is leadership. A year ago, I would have told you that I would much rather be a follower than a leader. Fast forward to me now, my classmates recognize me as a leader. During the development of our Service Project, being involved in conversations with the whole class made it hard to stay to myself. Collaborating with people I had never worked with before gave me the push that I needed to take responsibility, as well as taking the initiative that I knew I could handle, just never taken.
During our Service project, we were recently assigned a certain role that helped move our project forward. When I was assigned as a Co-editor, I was first filled with doubt. I had still not thought of myself as a leader, let alone anyone to be in charge of others. It was not until I was working on our assignment, that I realized that being a leader came fairly easily to me. I have always enjoyed being the person to plan things out for others and be the person that others came to. It really only occured to me that I had leadership qualities during our service project. I started to talk more in front of the class as a whole, reached out to others in the class on my own, and even engaged in class discussion nearly every class period. These are all things that I never practiced in high school. I really believe that our Service Project and my role as Co-editor, gave me the push in the right direction for me to realize that I am a leader, and enjoy being one.