Reflecting on the Past, Shaping the Future

Shum et al., (2016) conceptualized reflective essay is one which the writer vests in examining his/her experiences in life, write about these experiences while exploring how he/she has grown or developed from such encounters. Coleman and Willis (2015) espoused to this presentation, adding that the role of reflective writing is to assist us in learning experientially from real-life experiences, but also help us construct meaningful relationships between that which we learn in theory and that which we need to do in practice. It is from this concept of reflective writing, therefore, that I can deduce sense of what I learned or did and help myself do better next time. On this occasion, this reflective essay is granting me an opportunity to reminisce over knowledge accrued in class and spell out how this knowledge reacts in practice in the life I am living. Besides, recollecting previous theoretical knowledge acquired in learning and relating to my daily practice is an excellent threshold for learning through discovery. In my conviction, it is through reflection that I can unravel how what I learned in class is going to not only help me make justified decisions in life but also make me appreciate the validity and usefulness of knowledge and learning, which will also trigger transferability of expertise in resolving other challenges in life. In this writing, I intend to reflect based on the precepts and principles inscribed in psychology, including mindset theory, socio-cognitive theory, and self-regulation theory.

Mindset refers to the collection of believers and thoughts which shape individual thought habits. Reading through Carol Dweck’s Mindset Theory makes me appreciate her immense contribution to the field of human motivation. She seeks to investigate why some people succeed and why others do not, and indeed, what is this that is lying within our power to trigger success (Murphy and Dweck, 2016). In her proposed theory, Dweck proposes people comprise of various mindsets towards various subjects of their lives, and that these mindsets are critical pillars in determining failure. In my academic race, I did not find many concepts being taught in a class simple to understand. I remember, from my high school, that I was neither a good mathematician nor a good geographer because my mental domains implanted this notion that the two subjects were merely hard for me. This notion ensued, and little did I know it was an illusion that hampered my performance. Any moment I tried to study the two subjects, I could not assimilate the concepts well because of this predetermined conviction that the dual subjects were too hard to master. My transition from college to University was still faced with a similar challenge. However, based on my poor performance in mathematics, among other subjects, I had vowed never to take any matter concerning mathematics. I had an internal fear which limited my mind to languages only. Fortunately, after taking mathematics-based subjects during my college, I realized I had more potential than I imagined of myself. I decided to venture into more fields, and today, I am pursuing this course due to my insight to venture to new classes. Additionally, after interacting with Deck’s theory in the University has changed my old way of thinking based on the premise of growth mindset, that intelligence can be developed. A growth mindset conceives effort as worthwhile, and a pathway to mastery and that getting things wrong and accruing positive feedback guides us towards further improvement. Based on this conception, I have become aware of the role of positive feedback in strengthening good performances, especially when faced with complex and abstract concepts in academia., and therefore becoming aware of this has helped me to learn best when my teachers are positive about my performances. Also, the realm fixed mindset postulates that challenges are avoided and that to fail is an implication that we lack the necessary intelligence required to complete a task (Hanson, 2017).

My in-depth understanding of the two mindsets (growth and fixed mindsets) came a bit late in life (while I am in the University), and I am convinced had I known its principles and suggestions earlier enough; I would have made a lot of achievements in solving different challenges along different discourses of my academic life.

Moreover, Bandura- social cognitive theory, through his experiments, suggests learning occurs through observation and modeling behaviors. Bandura's assumes that learning happens by observing others and through modeling and that internal processes and cognition of observed behavior may or may not result in a learned behavior (Boudon and Whitehouse, 1986).

Social cognitive theory is a theory of learning which suggest that individual can learn by observing others. The behavior learned are significant to behaviors individual’s personality. However, social psychologists have revealed that, our surroundings contributes to behavior, which to individual is just as vital. Through observing others, people learn, however, behavior, our surroundings as well as and cognition play primary role in influencing the development of a reciprocal triadic link. Every witnessed behavior can mostly change an individual’s way of thinking which is normally referred to as cognition. Additionally, our surroundings mostly impact our later behaviors. For instance, if the mindset of the caregiver is influenced by the surroundings in which their children are grown.

According to the theory, reproduction of a behavior that is observed is impacted by the interaction of some determinants (Boudon and Whitehouse, 1986). These determinants include personal factors where a person has high or low self-efficacy toward the behavior, behavioral determinant, which is the response a person gets after behaving in a certain way. The last determinant is environmental, which impacts a person's ability to complete a particular character. People can also learn without behavior change. However, social learning theorists have revealed that individuals can learn only via observation; their learning may not necessarily be reflected in their performance (Boudon and Whitehouse, 1986). This presentation is compatible with my case scenario in that most of my learning experiences both during college and in University.

From my college, I used to find it hard to learn simple concepts of theories that I learned. Due to these difficulties in learning, I used to score medium marks, which, most of the time, frustrated me. At some time, I even thought of giving up with education at college level and starting a business. However, I decided to give the University a try. Unfortunately, my course had a lot of the thirties, which I was expected to learn. Being a social individual, I interacted with my classmates, and at one time, I visited a friend at her hostel. I found her watching tutorials on YouTube. I joined her, and after each tutorial, I had gathered enough knowledge and understanding of psychological theories. After that period to today, I have been watching every element that I do not understand, making notes and sometimes reciting the notes, which has significantly advanced my achievement academically. By modeling, my friends are models, inducing me into their worldviews concerning studies, and therefore influenced my behavior positively.

Self-regulation is the extent to which individuals modify, influence and as well, control their behavior based on their goals. Additionally, Grusec (1994) presents self-regulation as the integrated process of learning, including the development constructive traits sets which influences individual learning. These processes are adopted and planned to strengthen the quest to pursue individual objectives in a learning environment which is dynamic. Self-reflection encompasses the control of three areas of learning, namely; self-regulation of motivation, self-regulation of behavior, and affect as well as self-regulation of cognition (Jessop, 2017).

Concerning self-regulation of cognition, this encompasses different cognitive strategies for learning, including the application of deep processing techniques, which breeds an in-depth understanding of learned knowledge than ever before (Vohs and Baumeister, 2016). Concerning the self-regulation of motivation and affect, I can attest to the claim that controlling and reorienting motivational convictions such as self-efficacy and goal orientation in a way that we can adapt to the expected demands is one of the ways to succeed. As mentioned earlier, during my college studies, I have just been a medium student. I had had too much socialization, which affected my performance, and additionally, I could not concentrate on my learning. During my first-year orientation, I talked to a particular professor who has been my mentor since then who told me that I was a bright student, and I could make to achieve first-class honors if I was determined. While internalizing the words of the professor, I decided to do my best. Since then, I have been working close to friends to promote my success. Moreover, to achieve my best, I have limited time spend with friends, time spent watching movies, and concentrated on my learning. My self-regulation outcome was revealed during my first-year exam, where I excelled better compared to how I perceived myself.

According to Bretag (2016), academic conventions adhere to strict formality, standard grammar. Complete sentences, careful documentation by the last name, humility in writing, and writer’s willingness to change position. Besides, academic convention pays more emphasis on the search for truth and social harmony through writing. The prospect of academic convention has become one of my greatest pillars in successful writing of my assignments in campus.

In academic conventions, the issue of respect for the audience which the writing is addressing is paramount (Lillis and Tuck, 2016). This has also made me assimilate this tenet, consequently making my writing consumable by a broad range of audiences. Through its direct and straightforward nature, academic conventions had streamlined my art of writing and other writers as well, making it a source of information and expression in a transparent manner. During my college days, I used to write assignments merely. I had no insight that there was more than just taking a computer and typing your assignment. On the first day on campus, I was lucky to find an article in the library that I read and was so appealing. When we started learning, the lecture talked about academic writing, and having an insight into the essay, I became so interested. Today having familiarized myself and became an expert in academic conventions, this skill has advanced my expression skills via writing, perspectives, and views about different topics. Additionally, from academic conventions, I can maintain originality in my works to optimize my writing outcomes and gain competencies that will further make me an eloquent and prolific writer. The skills also have helped me understand scholarly concepts and information, as presented in books. This skillful art provides me with an opportunity not only to appreciate literature but also appreciate the major contributors of this knowledge. Academic writing principles including a quest to avoid fallacies in writing as much as possible has provided me latitude to adhere to this demand, consequently making myself contribute towards the basket of meaningful literature. Besides, it is through academic conventions that I am able to understand scholarly concepts and information as presented in books, because academic conventions requires a written piece to avoid gimmicks and ambiguity.

In conclusion, reflective writing is a suitable avenue through which we examine and observe the progress we make following the experiences we encounter. It is through a reflective practice that we are able to effectively share meaning and insights with other people, discuss the strengths we have developed over time, but also learn efficiently from one’s experiences which are a crucial aspect in developing and maintaining competence across practice in life. This work provided me a 'podium' to reflect upon how various theories, including Carol Decks' Mindset theories, Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, self-regulation theory, and the prospect of writing convention. As demonstrated, the tenets contained in these theories have impacted many of my encounters in more direct and indirect fashions, especially in my academic journey, where these theories influence my way of leaning with or without my conscious. Directed towards self-learning, reflection is, therefore, a powerful tool for retaining and transferring knowledge learned knowledge in future the future. Besides, reflection helps us to appreciate the value of knowledge as learned, with academic conventions also paving the way for acknowledging the knowledge proponents, which induces integrity in learning.

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References

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