Core Competencies Reflection

Critical thinking

The core competency that I chose for this work in social studies was critical thinking. Some of the things I did well to complete this goal include: I can show if I like something or not, I can identify criteria that I can use to analyze evidence, and lastly I can analyze evidence from different perspectives. The assigned work was to read the text about Mi’kmaq people, watch the video, make an interview with teacher, and answer to his 6 questions. The interview was done in groups of four  people. In our group, we read the text and prepared answers for teacher’s questions. I showed that I can analyzed the answers from different perspectives. Sometimes I liked the proposed answers. When I did like the answers of others, I shared my opinion using the evidence from the text and video. Occasionally, my prepared answers were not correct and I accepted evidence of others. By these evidences, I demonstrated that I can analyze and critique.

Some other competencies I used during this project include: I can explore materials and actions, I can ask open-ended questions and gather information, I can consider more than one way to proceed in an investigation. Firstly, I explored materials by reading the text, watching video, and preparing for the interview. In the next step, we interviewed the teacher and analyzed the answers. I demonstrated that I can ask open-ended questions and gather further information. Lastly, our group asked other groups open questions about the same text and video. This way I can demonstrate another way to proceed in investigation, and I can validate the credibility of sources of information.

Ways I want to improve are…

Our interview went well but there is something, what I want to improve. First, it is my English. The text and video were not easy to understand. I was not always able to analyze the evidence in full details. I am working on English improvement right now. Next, others did not always understood the text and video correctly. I did not always validate information provided by others and it was occasionally misleading. Lastly, the teacher expected more information to his questions. We underestimated the analysis and we need to collect more information and evidence next time.

Core Competencies Reflection

Communication

One of the important things of Social studies was communication and collaboration in the class. The main assignment on Social studies was to create group presentation about important topic and present it to the class. It was a group assignment, so we needed to divide into pairs.  I met with my classmate and we brainstormed about the theme. Both of us suggested few themes, and finally we agreed on one. Our teacher had to approve it. Gaining approval was not a difficult as we chose the hot theme “studying at home during Corona virus.” We worked hard. Our presentation was well organized. We prepared for the speech. There were students in the class, whom we did not know, therefore we were nervous at the beginning of presenting. The teacher helped us to relax.  We received positive feedback both from our classmate and our teacher. I think that our presentation was successful.

Another important thing was to receive teacher’s feedback and react to it. It was easy to follow when the feedback was positive. But the teacher was not always positive. When he did not like some part of our presentation, we tried to improve it as much as we could. Next, I can describe the text and I use my experiences to our theme. I could share my experience from online learning in the Czech school, where we also did online learning. Last, I can associate my presentation with my experience. I was sick for two months in the past. I had to study at home, so I could share my personal experience with the class. I think that we did great work, it was fun, and so we learned from other people experience.

Ways I want to improve are…

Even that we had the great presentation, there was something, where I wanted to improve. First, the teamwork did not work well at the beginning. In the class, we were new, we did not know each other, English was not first language for the whole class. I believe that this will improve naturally as I will work on more presentations. Next, we underestimated a time required to prepare for presentation delivery. I thought that presenting would be easy, but I was often looking for the right words. I need to write down and better rehearse presentation next time. Lastly, I was too nervous. It was very hard for me to deliver the presentation to classmates, whom I did not know well. I believe that everybody was nervous, and we will get better once we deliver more presentations. I think that I gained many valuable experiences, I improved my communication skills, I will be much better next time.