Core Competency Reflection

For my first topic I chose committing to individual practice. I never really studied or practiced really hard when it came to studying. But I wanted to change when I moved schools, I thought this would be my fresh start. And I came in with an over confident attitude, thinking I would fly through my classes. I’m glad I was able to get hit with reality, and have a, for lack of a better term, unsatisfying grade on my first few tests and assignments. I say I was glad to have got a bad mark, because it made me realize how much I really needed to improve. And so I tried my best to do that, I spent class time efficiently, completing all of the work book questions, and participating in group work. I was able to boost my mark up a little bit, but definitely not as much as I wanted to. Despite that, I’m proud to say I have a better understanding of concepts learnt this year than last year. And the only thing left for me to do is put more effort into next year than I did this year.

My next topic is working collaboratively with others. I really liked the incorporation of group work in math, in past math classes at my old school, they would never do this. And working with others really helped me understand the concepts more deeply. Although, math is more than understanding concepts, but also a skill that needs to be learnt from repetitive practice. Having the group work at the beginning of class helped give the baseline of understanding, to help move on to the real practice within the workbooks or handouts. And when my friends or I ever struggled with questions, we would help each other figure it out.

Advice for Future Students

I hope everyone spends time practicing questions. I don’t think there’s such thing as too much practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll get, and please ask for help when you need it right away, you don’t want to be stuck on a problem longer than you need to be.