“The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.”
— Adam Smith, The Money Game
Knowing myself and what I want helps a lot in learning. I will not perform a task just because I am required to do so. I will not accomplish an activity just because everyone is doing it. Being able to identify my strengths and weaknesses helps me strategically plan my learning and use them to my advantage.
As a student, I am usually an observer and consumer of information during discussions, not much of a contributor. I love reading and listening to ideas of other people and process them to help me with my own learning. I am the type of learner who is most comfortable when given specific instructions or procedures to follow and is allowed to work on them independently. I often take more time and work deliberately, showing all steps on homework or taking detailed notes in class or during group work.
Planning and thinking takes most of my time while studying. This might also be the reason why I procrastinate. At times, I am consciously putting off an activity because I need more time to understand and process it deeply, or because I am currently in the process of thinking and deeply processing other ideas. This doesn’t mean that I am avoiding them but rather, I am prioritizing and taking time to successfully complete and fully understand them. I do not subscribe to the idea of multitasking. I let the ideas sink in my brain one at a time. I am in control of my learning and taking appropriate time to understand and process concepts and ideas in my brain helps me improve my organizing skills. It keeps me focused, patient and disciplined. I may or may not finish on time, but I will not feel like I completed an activity just because I was required to do it.
I consider reading novels and writing essays my weakest abilities. I am definitely not a wide reader. While most readers say that novels are more accurate and are always better than their movie adaptations, I would rather watch them in cinemas. Most of my friends say I can write. However, I would rather answer hundreds of Math exercises rather than write a one-page essay.
At times, especially during my first term here in UPOU, I feel demotivated and want to give up because of the pressure caused by studying tons of reading materials and challenging tasks and activities that need to be accomplished. Not only once did I ask myself why I should stress myself out to learn these materials when I already have more than enough experience to prove that I am an effective teacher. Now, my motivation to learn is more than just getting good grades and impressive performance in completing all the tasks and course requirements. It is now about fulfilling my goal to improve myself and become an effective teacher.
Juggling school, work and personal life all at the same time is a very challenging task. Too challenging that my time management skills, which I strongly believe and am very confident that I am very good at, was put to the test. At work, I was tasked to lead a team that requires me to give more time for work than school. Because of this, I was not able to catch up with our readings and barely accomplish all our course requirements on time. I feel like a juggler in unicycle while in a roller coaster ride!
To start this term, I took these self-assessment tests to help me learn more about myself and know where I’m at now, specifically in terms of my strengths, weaknesses, study skills, self-regulatory capability and time management skills.
Here are the results of the tests:
- SWOT Analysis
Strengths: Time management and planning skills; Good note-taking skills; Fast learner
Weaknesses: Procrastinating, spends too much time on tasks; Loses focus and gets distracted easily; Short-lived motivations, short attention span and lacks discipline; Accepting too many responsibilities and tasks
Opportunities: Flexible time at work (at least as of this moment)
Threats: Increasing and unpredictable demands at work
- Study Skills Inventory Results
- Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ)
SRQ Test Score: 233 [Intermediate (moderate) self-regulation capacity]
- Time Management Skills Test
TMS Test Score: 50 [Good Time Manager]
While I am not surprised by the results of these tests, especially in terms of my strengths in time management, note-taking and study skills, I am instantly tempted to make excuses for my weaknesses and justify them. But I realized that these tests are for me to assess and know who I really am to become a better learner.
I need to do something and work on my weaknesses if I want to become better learner to become an effective teacher. Specifically, I need to focus and stop procrastinating. In terms of accepting tasks at work, I have to learn how to say no when necessary. Moreover, I need to improve on my reading and note-taking skills. I have to be an active reader and note taker.
I have learned a lot of lessons from my experience last term. Learning should be fun and not a cause of any stress and exhaustion. That’s why this term, I only took two subjects. I have to take my time in “savoring” all the new knowledge and skills I can learn this term.
These experiences, together with these self-assessment tests, allow me to discover more things about myself. I am now more aware of my strengths and weaknesses and hoping that these help me improve myself as a learner to become a better and more effective teacher, on my own pace, one step at a time.
Learning to Teach. Teaching to Learn. 