Written Statement on reflective learning

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Student Number:           0638647                                                                                                              Module Code:                 ED2001 – Professional Development                                                                       Assignment:                    Written statement on reflective learning

                WRITTEN STATEMENT ON REFLECTIVE LEARNING

My current undergraduate degree programme is BA Honours in Special Educational Needs (SEN).  To graduate in this subject I need to complete six modules at level one, level two and level three.  When I embarked on my second level of higher education I felt reasonably confident in my abilities to write academically, think critically, work within a team and furthermore, working alone.  I came to feel this way due to the grades I had received during my first year at level one as an undergraduate seeing that the lowest grade I received was sixty percent and my highest grade was eighty nine percent.  However, I had become aware throughout my level one studies that there were certain areas I need to improve on, such as presentation skills, Curriculum Vitae (CV) writing and the ability to write reflectively.  In addition to this I was confused with regards to which career I felt I wanted to pursue.  This piece of writing will look into how I learned to improve my writing and academic skills, as well as explaining how I researched career paths suitable to my interests and skills.

At the start of the professional development module at level two I discovered that it will be a requirement to take part in two presentation sessions as well as a mock interview, with our peers scoring our performance. I began to feel slightly apprehensive as I was worried that during the presentation activities I would begin to feel extremely nervous. I have discovered during previous presentation activities in level one of my studies that when I am nervous I blush, my voice begins to shake, and I speak extremely fast and rather quietly.  Nevertheless, I knew that completing the presentation tasks were a significant part of this module and that I needed to find a way of alleviating my pre-presentation anxiety.  Thompson (2005) argues that to be able to give a presentation effectively, you must feel confident in what your presentation is going to be about.  However, it was very difficult to plan for the two presentations as the subject of one of them was not disclosed to the class until the day of the task.  When I discovered this I decided to research some of Bradbury’s learning theories.  Bradbury (2006) states that presentations are about communication, arguing that a good

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presentation is not just making good points; it is about how you express them.  He goes on to say that a person who speaks fast is likely to be perceived as untrustworthy and as I result I aimed to slow down my speech during my presentations.  The feedback I received from both presentations was very positive, with only one fellow student making a remark on the speed of my voice.

From when I embarked my degree programme I had already reached the decision that I wanted to become a primary school teacher, with a particular interest in SEN.  However, ...

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