Written
Do you have a piece of writing, presented in any context, for which you are particularly proud? How would you compare your writing skills relative to your classmates? What kind of feedback have you gotten on your writing from experts like professors or editors?
If it is a weakness that I can acknowledge within myself is my mental block towards writing. While I do not have a proud academic piece of writing to present in this post, I would like to write about my relationship with writing. When I was growing up, I struggled with separating my everyday voice from my academic one. Even today, I still struggle to do so. I appreciate when I can write in my voice and not be confined to the restraints of academic writings. With that said, I also believe that having a concise academic style of writing is important and I hope in the future I can overcome that mental barrier and enroll in a History or English class.
Oral
Have you had the opportunity to present information orally to a group? How confident were you about your content? Your personal presentation, including body language and voice modulation? How was the material received?
I believe one of my strengths is oral communication. My mother constantly reminded my siblings and I the importance of forming our words carefully. There is a certain connection between two people when a conversation is established and there is a flow of ideas between parties. When I present, I want my audience to feel comfortable but alert while listing to my presentation. In order to achieve this, I try to make comparisons between common experiences shared to the content presented. I believe in most cases, when nostalgia can be introduced into a conversation, it elevates the mood in the room. As for my body language, while I may be nervous, I try not to showcase that outwardly to the audience as any physical signs of distress (ex. picking cuticles, pacing, bouncing) may prevent the audience from listening to my voice and looking at my content presented.
Aural/Listening
How have you demonstrated the ability to take in information aurally? How confident were you that you understood the content and were able to explain it to others?
For shorter instructions, I can easily complete what is asked of me. However, if it is the case that there are multiple parts to the information presented, I break the instructions into smaller/manageable tasks. For academic concepts, I find that I need to reread the definitions and examples in order to fully understand what I have learnt. It is only once I have a strong understanding can I explain the same concepts to others.
