DATE: Well, I guess I followed work behaviors 11 (“Problem solves, recognizes problems, devises a plan of action”) and 18 (“negotiates, works towards agreements”). I mean, I think I followed quite a few work behaviors, but I believe that I followed these ones the most and the best. Let’s start with number 11. When making this map me and my partner, Kate, faced quite a few problems, and recognized all of them. Problems like not being able to easily figure out information about the Rio Grande, not being able to easily figure out immigration facts about immigration from specifically Mexico to the US by state, and both of us being crazy perfectionists. But we were able to solve all of them. Well except for us being perfectionists, we still are. We just managed to let a couple things slide that I usually wouldn’t have. I feel like we problem solved very well; working together and finding other ways to retrieve information. I’m not exactly sure about the whole ‘devises a plan of action’ part of it, because we didn’t have very well thought outplans.We kind of just made things up as we went along and looked thing up on a whim. Well, at least I did. I can’t really speak for Kate as well, but it appeared that that was what she was doing as well. Secondly, number 18. This one, I really feel like I managed to do well at in this project. I mean, I’m not sure if this work behavior exactly suits us, because we didn’t really have to negotiate much orwork towardsagreements, but we didcome toa lot of agreements at least! A lot of the time in partnerships and groups it is hard for me to work with someone and properly negotiate and come to agreements. Oftentimes I’ll end up calling all of the shots and unintentionally exclude my partner from a lot of the decision making. But in this project, I didn’t do that. And I think it’s because I had such an amazing partner. Kate and I are not only friends which makes it easier for me to communicate effectively with her, but our brains also just work similarly. It was easy for us to agree on things, because oftentimes we were both thinking of the same thing, and we had very similar goals and attitudes toward our work (though I think that she was better at getting stuff done). At the beginning of this project I felt like I wasn’t pulling my weight and that Kate was doing too much work, but funnily enough, I soon found out that she felt the same way about me. So we were both convinced that we weren’t doing enough and that the other was an amazing partner that was doing too much. I have to say, it was kind of nice to be in that position. Because I feel like I’m always on one end of that (mainly thinking that my partner wasn't doing enough), but when I realised that she felt like that too, and that we were both doing enough, I got to calm down and not stress about partnerships. Alright, now for the part of the reflection where I flat out sprint away from the path and fall into deep pit of philosophy and self-hatred (ok, maybehatredis a bit of a strong word. More like… negative self-evaluation). So I would like to start of this segment by saying that it’s 1:30am on the Monday morning that this is due. Yes, my procrastination has become this extreme. And this project was just riddled with me procrastinating. It’s become frickin’ swiss cheese. I pretty much only did work at school when Kate was working on it because I felt guilty and like a horrible partner (which I am) if I just didn’t do work then either. But as soon as I’m in the comfort of my own home… BAM! No work gets done. I keep putting it off until later. But here’s the thing, ‘later’ is this mystical place that never really arrives where you can put all of your troubles until they are literally right up in your face. Like a reflection that wasn’t started until the very early morning of its due date, and planned to be worked on all throughout the day so it can be turned in without being proofread and probably be incoherent and rambly. As I’m trying to write this next part of my reflection, I keep asking myself, “Why did I do this project, and why did I do it so well?” Was it for myself? Is that the case in this reflection like it was on the Political Spectrum Graph? Or is it for some other reason. Like, not wanting to let other people down, or to let them see me for who I really am. I don’t thinkIwant to see who I really am either; to be reminded of my true self. That person who procrastinates for an unhealthy amount of time. That hypocritical person. That person who agrees with people on their views even if they themselves don’t believe them. That liar. That attention-seeker. That person who has managed to fake her way all the way to where she is now; pretending to be a good person, pretending to know what I’m doing, pretending to do it well. Teachers I’ve had think highly of me, both when I had them and some of them still now. That scares me. A lot. Because I know that someday someone will ask me to do something and expect this amazing thing done on time, done well, done fully, done truthfully. And I’m just not going to be able to deliver. I feel like I’m going to let them down. But really, what’s so wrong with that? This ismylife,mychoices as to what I’m going to do with it. This ismychance on this earth, and I should be spending it forme.I need to learn to not care what people think. But… I have a feeling that I’m saying this now but I’m never going to be able to properly hold it up. I have no doubt in my mind that I’ll procrastinate this good life I have planned out until the day I die, and by that time I won’t have the chance to make it any good.
March 10, 2017, second semester.PROMPT:
Reflect on how well you followed the work behaviors during the Immigration Map project.RESPONSE:
Warning! This has not been proof-read, and it is, quite honestly, probably a mass of incoherent rants and negative self-evaluation. In other words, a load of complete and utter bullcrap.
How am I going to use this in the future? Well, I’m not going to be able to give any exact situations, because I can’t see into the future (or can I?), but I can try to give a few examples. I think that it’s a very important skill to be able to recognize and solve problems, and it is very beneficial to life, in my opinion. If there is a problem, or something wrong, then it is important to be able to figure out what that problem is, and tackle it before it becomes to much or too bad to fix. Devising a plan is also a very important skill to have; especially if the problem persists or the project that the problem is taking part in is long. I mean, if it’s a short problem then having a well thought out plan isn’t the most important, but is is a great idea to devise a plan of action before you just in to tackle things. That way you can think it over and decide of it’s going to work or not, or at least have some clue as to what you’re doing so you’re not just jumping into unfamiliar waters and improvising everything. Because then you might drown when you realise that you don’t know how to swim and you can’t really improvise that.
I think that this is going to be averyimportant skill to have in the future, because if you have to work with someone to do something, you have to be able to communicate effectively with them and come to agreements over what to do. Even if you are great at getting things done, thinking of ideas, and solving problems, if you are unable to work with people and negotiate properly with them, then one day you’re going to find yourself in a right old mess. If you need to work with people, which everybody does at some point in their lives, then you need to be able to talk with them, negotiate, and come to agreements if you’re going to get anything done. I know that this is a skill that I still need to improve at because right now I’m only really good at coming to agreements with people I know well and friends. I need to be able to do that with anybody. And what I do now is not negotiating and coming to agreements. It’s monopolizing and calling all of the shots. I mean, I try to involve other people, but not enough. I will keep working at it, though, and trying to improve, because this is a very important skill to have.
