The Importance of Self-Assessment

"Part of being a professional is your ability to self assess."

Self-Assessment

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ATTENDANCE

What I did well:

- When I couldn't make it to my 2:50pm class, I went to the 8:30am section instead

- When I absolutely needed to talk to you about something or was desperately seeking advice, I scheduled phone calls instead of waiting for office hours

- I attended and engaged in every MMG meeting. I even initiated a Google Hangout when we couldn't all physically meet in person

What I can improve upon:

- I’ll admit that sometimes I would sign up for your office hours because I was scared that times would fill up and I wouldn’t get to talk to you. Which sometimes meant that when I would have office hours, I wouldn’t exactly have a reason to come see you. I would try to find a small question that I had and ask it. What I could definitely improve upon is coming more prepared when I come to office hours.

- I wish I had set up more phone calls to talk to you outside of class because I feel like I'm the best able to communicate what I'm thinking/feeling. Sometimes office hours feel forced to me, but my conversations via phone are a lot more candid and I ask better questions because I genuinely have a question or need advice right in that moment

- One time I cancelled office hours, but it wasn't 24 hours in advance (oopsies, sorry!)

Grade:

- I'm giving myself a 3.70 because I think I could've done more to make the most out of my attendance. The one thing that I want to underscore is that I really wish I would've set up more phone calls when I needed to talk to you. I went the first half of the semester thinking I could handle a lot of my questions on my own. It wasn't until I had scheduled my first phone call with you of the semester that I wished that I'd done that sooner because you told me exactly what I needed to hear.

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DEADLINES

What I did well:

- I sent my resume, Halloween pic, and my introduction on time

- My c4 WILL be sent in on time by Nov. 16 (I pushed back my deadline)

What I can improve upon:

- I missed the first assignment that was in the syllabus (sneaky)

- I didn't submit something for Friedback because I didn't have anything to show. I should've made this a priority though because then I could've received some honest feedback which would've been good for me to hear

Grade:

- I'm giving myself a 3.75, because I learned from my first mistake and turned everything else on time. I think I could've done a better job by taking more time in understanding the Halloween assignment. I was genuinely so confused as to why you wanted to see our Halloween costumes and I submitted mine while I was on my way home via my phone, thus I didn't about my attachment or email sig. But as you always say, the way you do anything is the way you do everything.

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PARTICIPATION

What I did well:

- All semester long I tried to document as many times as I could when I noticed myself practicing what I'd learned in class. For starters, I failed my first college exam this semester after seeing a tutor a couple times a week and hours upon hours of studying. To make matters worse, it was a class that I didn't need to take, but decided to take on the challenge because it would make me a more T-shaped individual. Thus, I have spent all semester long learning JavaScript and jQuery when coding is totally NOT my thing. I met with my professor to go over my exam to and talk to him about next steps. Naturally, at first I was pissed and blamed my failure on my professor, on coding, and on the fact that I believe standardized tests are BS. But then I did a little QBQ action which shifted my perspective. How can I ensure that I get the most out this class? I found myself telling my professor that I took the class, not because I had to, but because I was genuinely interested in learning these coding languages, no matter how challenging they were. I said that I was for sure going to try my best, but I actually cared more about learning and understanding the material than having a high grade in the class. The look on his face was priceless and I could tell that he had never heard a student tell him that before.

Another way that I practiced the material was in my ESP321 class. My teammates and I often refer to the hats during a meeting when we're trying to solve a problem. We use white hat a lot when we are start to lose traction. Also, one of my group mates jokingly says "black hat" when I go to talk because I like to play devil's advocate and see all angles. My team also used the brainstorming techniques when coming up with our solution. We sought novelty and decided to test that our solution to our problem would be through podcast marketing... it failed epically, but we all learned from it.

In addition, I have this one IMS class that is an absolute joke. The other day in class you said that as students, we rise to the expectation that someone sets for us. Let's just say this professor expects the absolute bare minimum and treats us like imbeciles who need to be told what to do. Instead of falling to her expectation, I decided that I was going to use the +1 mentality to make my work more aesthetically pleasing which she was blown away by.

Next, I have talked about starting my own personal blog for YEARS now and this summer was the year that I got the ball rolling. I can't even begin to tell you how many times that I prototyped this blog. It's been too many that I've spent more time on the design of the blog than I have on my actual writing. Here are two examples of the prototyped interfaces. As you can see, the second blog is what I modeled this project after.

To go along with my blog, I also leaned heavily into finding my personal brand, which I feel like I finally discovered. I'm also using my blog to showcase my personal brand and feel like they complement each other well.

As you know by now, I am going on a mission trip to Uganda next month and I had to do some fundraising to make it possible. I had to write support letters and frankly I hate support letters because 1) they always seem so cheap, insincere, and impersonal 2) asking people for money is not fun. I decided that I was NOT going to write a support letter that was all of the things that I just described above. I wanted my letter to be less about asking for money and more from the heart, about the power of prayer and good thoughts for me and my teammates. I spent hours writing this one page letter and word danced it several times. I would write it, then step away, come back to it, change some things, send it to my parents etc. I knew that it was just right when I actually cried re-reading it because it made me that emotional. That's how vulnerable it was. I promised myself that I would not send out an impersonal and insincere letter and it was the opposite. It portrayed my values and integrity well enough that I get several letters back in response to my letter from people saying that it touched them, inspired them, or made them cry. If I hadn't word-danced or had just sent out the first draft of my letter, it probably would've been cheap and cold.

What I can improve upon:

- I’ll admit that at the beginning of the semester I read and highlighted and took notes over the chapters, but then I started to realize that no one else really was reading and that we weren’t really getting punished if we didn’t read, thus I would read if I had the time, but never made it a priority. I could've taken this part of the class more seriously.

Grade:

- I'm giving myself a 3.99 for the part of the self-assessment because I was really able to draw parallels between what I was learning in class and my daily life. I was doing things I'd never done before and recognizing patterns and areas in my life where I was practicing these things. Isn't that what learning is all about? I believe that is excellent growth and learning.

Sure, I could've done a better job reading, but I feel as if the things that I did and practiced outside of class outweigh what I would've learned by reading a few more chapters. I was actually going out and doing things, not just reading about them.

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COMMUNICATION

What I did well:

- I've consistently used the email formatting techniques I learned in 394 last semester.

- After going through my folder with you during office hours towards the beginning of the semester, I went home that night and created a snazzy email signature

What I can improve upon:

- One thing that I definitely could've improved upon was remembering to send email follow-ups after office hours. I totally brushed by this part in the syllabus. I believe I sent one follow-up all semester long. I realize now the purpose of them and wish I would've paid more attention to doing this throughout the semester. It's professional to send follow-ups after a conversation to explain what you learned and be thankful for someone's time. At some point in my near future, I will be having meetings during my career where it will be necessary to send follow-ups to professionals.

Grade:

- I'm giving myself a 3.95 because I have been consistently using these communication tools since last semester. Also, the day that we went over my folder, I went home and created a new email signature. I did it as soon as I could because I didn't want to forget about what we had talked about. For this one because while I only identified one area that I can approve upon, I believe it's a rather important area that will help me grow professionally.