Final Post: Course Reflections

Wow, how time flies. Three months are gone and now we have to write our final reflections post.

Initially when I took this module, I just wanted a light module so I can concentrate better on my heavier mathematics modules. Boy was I wrong...once we settled into the module, all sorts of assignments were thrown at us---blogging, peer teaching, writing of the application letters, resumes and personal statements, conducting mock interviews, researching, writing our proposals and then finally, giving our oral presentations. Phew! I can't believe I did all those in such a short period of time.

One thing that helped me to cope was the peer reviews. To me, when I go through my coursemates' work, I see certain mistakes and then when I go back to look at my work, I try to use what I've seen in the work of others to improve my own. Personally, I felt that was more useful than receiving a ton of feedback from a tutor and then trying to sift through all the information you get to try to produce something better. That's really overwhelming work. I have definitely learnt a lot from Brad as well as my coursemates. The feedback they gave for every single one of my assignments have been invaluable.

Looking back at my very first post, I think I've come far from where I was three months ago. I wrote that I rather work alone and that I was terrified of oral presentations. While I still think I'd rather work alone if given a choice, I now think that I wouldn't go out of my way to avoid group projects as I previously would (reflections on group project given in previous post "Pre-OP"). Also, I think I've overcome my fear of public speaking through the peer teaching, oral presentation as well as the numerous speaking opportunities I get in class.

Besides working on the aspects of communication that I fear most, I've also managed to gain many life skills required for the working life. For example, I used to think that you should dump all the work experience you have had into your resume. However, the peer teaching done by Michelle and Van made me realise that only the work experience relevant to the job you're applying for should go into your resume. This information really helped me streamline my resume and tailor it to the job when I applied for a vacation job recently to write teaching materials for primary and lower secondary level students. By the way, I got the job in the end.

So thank you, Brad and all my ES2007S coursemates. :)

Penultimate Post --- Group Evaluation

The module is just almost over and done with. There's still the matter of the form we have to hand in and our last blog post. Over the last couple of weeks, I have tried my utmost to resist typing a blog post similar to what this will shape up to be but today's class just gave me a little extra ammunition to get this out in the open. I'm not the kind of person to wash dirty linen in public but Brad's suggestion that Feodor was the one who was testing the limits of my patience throughout the project really caught me off-guard because of how wrong it was!

Just to clarify, I actually liked working with Feodor. He contributed actively to our group discussions, gave great suggestions, is hardworking and responsible, and like I've mentioned before, is the glue of the group. He is a wonderful platform for bouncing ideas off. At the end of our numerous group meetings, he'd always be the one asking, "so where do we go from here?" He made sure we knew our tasks and that everybody had a part to work on after the meeting. He was also the guy who kept us focused on our tasks whenever it gets late and we start to lose focus. Also, he kept us sane during those crazy long nights by providing home-baked cookies. HAHA. I honestly enjoyed working with Feodor. And yes Feodor, we are still friends.

Michelle has been the "pusher" for the project from the very start. I think everybody will remember Feodor mentioning that he finds the girls in our group (being Michelle and I) to be panicky. Panicky, we certainly are not. We just want to complete things as soon as possible. I really want to give Michelle credit for that. She really pushes the group to hold meetings concerning different parts of our project and rushes us to finish the tasks we have on hand so that our complete work can come together as soon as possible. Every group setting definitely needs a person like that to push for work to be done. She has been exceptionally focused on this project and has given no less than 100% from the very start. In a semester where everybody has so much to do, I have to admit, my dedication towards this project wavers depending on what tests I have in the upcoming week. For that, I admire her dedication towards this project.

Jake, for me, has been seriously disappointing from the start. He may be Vietnamese, but that isn't the issue here. He didn't contribute much during project meetings and seldom produces work that is up to standard. It's not as if we have some sort of nationality thing going on---we don't! We don't discriminate and discussions are almost always fast and furious. If you have anything to say, just say it. I don't think us giving him no opportunity to talk is a valid excuse at all. Besides his lack of contribution during group discussions, we would often have to repeat what had been discussed to him. So if something could be improved, it certainly would be his listening skills. One other thing I (I won't dare speak for my other group members) found extremely frustrating was that when work has been delegated and a deadline set, he usually submits work that are of minimal effort. Hence, it was extremely extremely frustrating to have to redo or to do major overhaul to his work. Delegation of work is supposed to make things more effective. Somehow this time round, it sort of became an extra workload. It was one which we had to continuously do throughout the project. Covering his work became a bit of a hassle especially when we're all busy people.

My own evaluation of my learning process for this project was covered in my previous post "Pre-OP". I acknowledge, I am nowhere as dedicated to this project as Michelle and nowhere as calm and as in control as Feodor. But I do bring my share into this project.

I have definitely considered what I have learnt about tact and communication in this module. However, I'm also a firm believer that there comes a point where tact ceases to work and the point blank truth comes into play. This isn't a post to slam anybody. It is a post to firstly clarify that I've had a most pleasant experience working with Feodor and secondly to give my unadulterated evaluation of my classmates' work ethics. I can take as much as I give. If any of my group mates want to evaluate my work performance, they are most welcomed to do so.

OP Reflections

So...the oral presentation actually went better than I expected. I was also less nervous than normal. Yay!

I personally liked our slides very much. I thought that they were simple enough, with eye-catching colours to match our sports themed presentation. That's really credit to Michelle. I'm not sure if any of the audience found fault with our presentation slides but we tried our best to make it as perfect as we could. We even took time to try it out on a projector. So I was really pleased with our slides.

I felt that I managed to keep my nerves under control. I felt that I spoke clearly and projected my voice well. My personal aim before the presentation was to speak a bit slower and to speak clearly. I felt that I did achieve that. Kudos to myself. There was another thing I tried to do differently for this presentation and that was to keep my voice sounding natural and excited. I realised that my "presentation" voice has a tendency to turn monotonous after speaking for a while. That was something I definitely tried to strive to do during our rehearsals and during the presentation itself. I'm not sure if that managed to translate to the audience, but I felt that it was definitely better than my previous presentations.

One thing that I could have done better would probably be to be internalise my points better. I thought that I was on top of things. Moreover, I was in charge of writing up the background for the proposal so I was confident that I was able to deliver a seamless presentation. However, when it came to crunch time, my mind blanked out. I tried to visualise my points in my head but none was coming to mind. I guess I was able to internalise most of my content because I was able to present my information competently enough. But at the very end, I actually forgot that I had one more slide left! That was embarrassing! I think that it indicated that I didn't internalise my content as well as I thought I did. Definitely something I need to work on next time.

All in all, I think my group did a good job. I felt that it sort of justified the hard work we've put into this. Well done all.

Happy.

I'm doing my happy dance. I love today. Today signals the end of two modules. =))) Everybody's invited to my dance.

Post-OP reflections will follow shortly. Watch this space!

Pre-OP

We (JamFep) have another group meeting tomorrow before our oral presentation on Tuesday. I must say, I'm almost glad that Tuesday is coming and this will be over soooooooooooon. But, until it hits Tuesday 11.30am, I will save my happy dance. I'm sorry I sound a bit jaded here but I guess it is what it is.

As I mentioned in my first post, I don't quite like doing projects and working with people. I think this group project pretty much reinforces that view. But it also brings to mind that group projects are inevitable in life. After almost two years of not doing group projects, I felt that it was extremely tedious this time round. Upon reflection in class, I found that what made it most difficult was the fact that people trust themselves more than they trust each other. Haha, I'm not being cynical. It is just the way it is. Everybody felt that their way was the better way, their sentence was the better sentence, their format was the better format. It was a tad difficult to come to a consensus and it was especially tiring to do it for every small bit of detail. As such, we have had multiple group meetings (and I don't mean the online kinds) where the four of us just sit in front of a computer each, all of us staring at a different section of our proposal on google docs and then asking out loud if something should be changed and asking for suggestions as to how to go about changing it. Editing was never completed; we just continued changing and changing. Somebody would edit a part and then somebody else would say that it wasn't done well enough and so on and so forth. It was extremely surprising, after getting back our proposal, how many language errors still lingered in the final draft! Sorry, I'm just droning.

It was mentioned in class that a solution to such a problem would be to have a head writer. Hmm...easier said that done. Like I said, people trust themselves more than they trust others. Why would you allow somebody else make the final decisions when you feel strongly about the work you have done?

I felt like I tried my best in fulfilling my obligations and responsibilities as a group member of JamFep. My only letdown (in my opinion) was when I overslept and was 2 hours late for a meeting last Thursday. Sorry guys!

I certainly don't think that I was disadvantaged by being in JamFep. I mean, yes, it would be easy for me to say that things would have been much easier if I was in WonderWomen or The Rocks---they seem to have pretty pleasant group dynamics. However I felt that I have learnt quite a bit about dealing with people. I've also learnt quite a bit about myself. I've learnt that I'm an adaptive person. I can adapt and work to the different personalities others bring into a group. I am able to find agreeable compromises between my ideals and the ideals of others. Within the few weeks of working in such a vibrant group, I find that that seems to be my main role in the group. Feel free to disagree (and then comment on it), but this is my bird's eye view. I have also learnt that I am generally an easy-going person but when my patience is tested, I don't pull punches. I think that was demonstrated a couple of times during the duration of this project. Heh. That's definitely something to be improved on. I need to learn to be more patient with people. For that, I really admire Feodor. He has been under immense pressure from the different projects he is handling and yet he has been calm thus far. Personally, I felt that he's the one in the group who has been keeping the crazies together.

On Friday before class, Michelle and I were just talking and she mentioned how wonderful the rapport among the WonderWomen is and how they are all proclaiming their love for each other and I said that I could probably never bring myself to say I love JamFep. Mean as it is, you guys all know it's true. HAHA. While I don't love all of you, I do thank you all for making these few weeks as civil and as bearable as possible and thank you all for putting so much blood and sweat into this project. As Feodor said, there was a lot of "animosity", but we wouldn't be stuck at Com Centre past midnight arguing with each other if we didn't want this to be amazing. Once again, thank you and please, God please, let tomorrow be productive and let Tuesday 11.30am be here sooooooooooooon.

Intercultural Differences

This particular incident happened to me recently and it really made an impression on me when it happened so it was quite natural that it was the first thing that came to mind when asked to write about an intercutural conflict that happened.

I was at Parkway Parade with a couple of friends on a Saturday afternoon. After our lunch at the food court, we wanted to go window shopping so we went to the lift lobby to take the lift up. There was a Caucasian lady, with her trolley and her two children sitting in it, at the lift lobby when we got there. When the lift came, one of my friends moved forward to try to get into the lift but the Caucasian lady snapped at him for not queueing up. We were all completely stunned!

I think that Singaporeans are generally well-behaved. We (sort of) queue to get onto the bus, we queue to buy food. There is a "first come first serve" mentality. However, in the above situation, there was absolutely no question that both groups of people would be able to fit into the lift. And usually, nobody really queues for the lift right?

A Characteristic That Makes Me Unique.

I would have to say that being passionate about the things I do is a characteristic that makes me unique. I think that this is a trait instilled in me by my father. When I was young, I would watch my father work tirelessly on his computer for hours. He would get frustrated and annoyed but yet he would still be there, in front of his computer, trying to get a formulae right or trying to debug a program.

During the university application process, I asked him for some advice on choosing my course of study in the University. He only had one piece of advice to give and that was to choose whatever I liked to do because if I liked it, it just becomes that much easier to do. And that even if I had to work extremely hard on it, it will seem that little bit more worth it because it is something I like.

I was in the choir in secondary school and I really enjoyed it. In fact, I was so passionate about choral and classical singing that I started attending voice lessons other than just choir practice. I am still taking voice lessons to continually improve my singing technique, vocal production as well as to expand my musical knowledge. After graduating from secondary school, I went on to join the choir in my Junior College and now, besides performing regularly at student recitals, I am also singing in an Alumni choir.

I am not only passionate about the things I like, I am also able to find joy in seemingly mundane tasks. I did some part-time work as a waitress once and although the tasks were simple, like taking food orders, clearing of tables, serving of food, I managed to make the most out of the whole experience and I found it quite enjoyable. I made it a personal challenge to provide excellent service to any customer and tried my utmost to fulfill any request they made.