Initially in my proposal for this experience, I decided I was going to reflect every day in a blog post and answer a pre-determined set of questions. However, after my first day at the WCCI conference, I knew that that method was not going to be practical. Every day in San Diego lasted from very early in the morning to very late at night, and I was honestly exploring the city too much to sit down and try to collect my thoughts on a computer. Instead of using the every day blog route, I decided to keep a journal and actively reflect in it during the day.
I mainly refer to active reflection as the action of quickly reflecting or processing new information given to you during a visual or auditory experience. During each concurrent session, I took notes that were not direct quotes of the speaker but rather my interpretations of what the speaker was saying. Through these notes, I established active reflection and purposeful processing. I use my notebook now as an artifact of my learning and for reflection purposes such as my learning portfolio.
As you will see in the following pictures of my notes or active reflection, I may ask questions of myself or the speaker, make remarks on how I can use this information at home, or even jotted notes of things I am inspired by. I will use these notes to answer the pre-determined questions I created in my proposal.
I mainly refer to active reflection as the action of quickly reflecting or processing new information given to you during a visual or auditory experience. During each concurrent session, I took notes that were not direct quotes of the speaker but rather my interpretations of what the speaker was saying. Through these notes, I established active reflection and purposeful processing. I use my notebook now as an artifact of my learning and for reflection purposes such as my learning portfolio.
As you will see in the following pictures of my notes or active reflection, I may ask questions of myself or the speaker, make remarks on how I can use this information at home, or even jotted notes of things I am inspired by. I will use these notes to answer the pre-determined questions I created in my proposal.
After rereading my notes and reflecting on their content, I decided to answer a selection of some of the pre-determined questions from my proposal:
How did I communicate/interact with other conference attendees today?/How did I go out of my comfort zone today?
Every day of the conference was a new experience and I was always out of my comfort zone. All of the concurrent sessions I attended were about subjects I have only brief prior knowledge of, so I was constantly trying to connect new information to my long term memory. At every concurrent session I attended, I interacted with the speaker after they had presented. I often asked them questions about educational issues in their country and then shared my experiences in education. I even became friends with a Nigerian professor, Euche, and she gave me an outfit from her country so I would have an artifact from Nigeria for my classroom and just for myself. The personal connections I made with my new friends from 16 different countries will last a life time. Connecting with numerous passionate educators was my favorite part of attending the WCCI conference.
How did today make me a better pre-service teacher?/ What will I share with UC from this experience?
I became a better teacher by attending the WCCI conference because I learned so much about other cultures. Although all 16 cultures were distinct and had their differences, I noticed two major commonalities amongst everyone: passion and friendliness. Every professional I encountered at the conference was passionate about their area of expertise, and was open to sharing their breadth of knowledge with me. I also could not get over how friendly everyone was! WCCI feels like a huge international family, everyone was there to support one another and build each other up as professionals and teachers. UC had a large presence at this conference, and we were really respected as a university. Since so many of the board members were alum of UC, their roles played an important part in how the conference was organized. In addition, the attendees expected a lot from us as UC students which was kind of intimidating, but motivating at the same time to show them what I know. UC is such an underrated institution, and this conference truly demonstrated that.
Overall, I am happy with how my active reflection ended up with journal pages and the post reflection. In the future, I will utilize journals to accommodate my active reflection because they are more convenient than technology and allow for more authentic active reflection. I am glad I had the pre-determined blog reflections from my proposal to guide my post reflection on my notes. I think is important as an Honors student to be confident enough in yourself to accommodate your proposals to your learning experiences.
How did I communicate/interact with other conference attendees today?/How did I go out of my comfort zone today?
Every day of the conference was a new experience and I was always out of my comfort zone. All of the concurrent sessions I attended were about subjects I have only brief prior knowledge of, so I was constantly trying to connect new information to my long term memory. At every concurrent session I attended, I interacted with the speaker after they had presented. I often asked them questions about educational issues in their country and then shared my experiences in education. I even became friends with a Nigerian professor, Euche, and she gave me an outfit from her country so I would have an artifact from Nigeria for my classroom and just for myself. The personal connections I made with my new friends from 16 different countries will last a life time. Connecting with numerous passionate educators was my favorite part of attending the WCCI conference.
How did today make me a better pre-service teacher?/ What will I share with UC from this experience?
I became a better teacher by attending the WCCI conference because I learned so much about other cultures. Although all 16 cultures were distinct and had their differences, I noticed two major commonalities amongst everyone: passion and friendliness. Every professional I encountered at the conference was passionate about their area of expertise, and was open to sharing their breadth of knowledge with me. I also could not get over how friendly everyone was! WCCI feels like a huge international family, everyone was there to support one another and build each other up as professionals and teachers. UC had a large presence at this conference, and we were really respected as a university. Since so many of the board members were alum of UC, their roles played an important part in how the conference was organized. In addition, the attendees expected a lot from us as UC students which was kind of intimidating, but motivating at the same time to show them what I know. UC is such an underrated institution, and this conference truly demonstrated that.
Overall, I am happy with how my active reflection ended up with journal pages and the post reflection. In the future, I will utilize journals to accommodate my active reflection because they are more convenient than technology and allow for more authentic active reflection. I am glad I had the pre-determined blog reflections from my proposal to guide my post reflection on my notes. I think is important as an Honors student to be confident enough in yourself to accommodate your proposals to your learning experiences.