Introduction
This semester has been a transformative journey, particularly in refining my writing, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Each stage of the learning process brought its unique blend of challenges and growth, shaping how I approach narratives, teamwork, and community-based concepts.
At the start of the semester, I was excited but unsure of how to craft compelling stories that balanced creativity with accessibility. Early on, I realized the importance of grounding my work in relatable experiences, which became the foundation for my essay “Roots of Purpose.” Discussions about the power of metaphors inspired me to experiment with symbolic imagery, like using the metaphor of a seed to represent personal growth. While I was initially hesitant about whether this metaphor would resonate with my readers, I took the risk of building an entire narrative around it. The risk paid off, as it deepened both the thematic and emotional impact of my writing.
Beyond writing, I grew significantly in my ability to collaborate effectively. Working with my team for our group project taught me the importance of communication and adaptability. Each team member brought unique perspectives, which sometimes required compromise and problem-solving to align our ideas. For example, when we encountered challenges in coordinating deadlines and ensuring each contribution aligned with our goals, I helped develop a clear plan to keep us on track. This experience not only improved my ability to work in a team but also enhanced my leadership skills.
Another significant accomplishment was my presentation on “Characteristics to Find in a Healthy Community.” This project challenged me to translate abstract ideas into clear, actionable advice for an audience. Preparing for the presentation honed my public speaking skills, while the research process deepened my understanding of what makes communities thrive. Similarly, writing the dissemination plan pushed me to think critically about how to effectively share ideas and insights with broader audiences. These assignments broadened my skill set, blending critical thinking with practical application.
Taking risks became a defining aspect of this course. One of the biggest risks I took was in my narrative style, specifically experimenting with dialogue and sensory imagery to bring scenes to life. In “Roots of Purpose,” I also layered metaphors like seeds, roots, and sunlight to explore the role of community in shaping purpose. While this process tested my patience and pushed me to trust my audience’s ability to interpret deeper meanings, it ultimately made my work more impactful.
While I’ve made significant progress, there are still skills I’m actively developing. One area of focus is sentence structure—I want to incorporate more varied and complex sentences to add rhythm and sophistication to my writing. Additionally, I aim to further enhance my use of symbolism by weaving it seamlessly into my narratives without overshadowing the story itself. Finally, I want to continue balancing creativity with accessibility, ensuring that my writing and presentations remain engaging and clear for all audiences.
Looking back, this course has been instrumental in shaping my skills not only as a writer but also as a team member and presenter. The challenges I faced—whether in structuring essays, coordinating group projects, or creating presentations—have taught me resilience and adaptability. As I look ahead, I’m excited to build on these skills, exploring new ways to connect with audiences and craft meaningful narratives. This semester has not only strengthened my abilities but also deepened my understanding of how storytelling, collaboration, and problem-solving can inspire and connect us.
2.B Critical & Creative Thinking (10%)
[Takes risks in assignments and in approaches to learning to create new knowledge.]
Writing this essay pushed me out of my comfort zone because I relied heavily on the seed metaphor to tie together my ideas about personal growth and community. I took a risk by structuring the entire piece around that metaphor, knowing it had to be both creative and clear. The process helped me learn how to blend poetic language with storytelling, all while ensuring that my message would resonate with young readers. This taught me how to present abstract concepts like purpose and belonging in a relatable, tangible way. Incorporating my faith-based perspective felt vulnerable, but it was important in showing how community played a key role in helping me flourish. This was also a risk because I know my faith is not one that many people are too fond about, especially in an educational setting. Knowing this, I still wrote it anyways.
Next time, I might push myself to experiment with different narrative techniques or maybe adding dialogue or shifting perspectives to challenge myself further. I could also explore using different metaphors to represent the theme of the writing, which would allow me to take my creative risks even further.
13.B Written Communication (15%)
[Uses appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the subject, conveying the writers understanding and the shaping the whole work]
I initially outlined the essay with plans to include multiple stories that each represented different aspects of community influence. However, as I developed the piece, I decided to shift my approach and focus on telling one cohesive story. This change allowed me to dive deeper into a single narrative, which I believe makes the message more impactful and personal.
Starting with the idea of writing several different stories helped me brainstorm the various ways community can shape individuals, from role models to peer pressure and support groups. However, as I began writing, I realized that focusing on one story would allow me to explore the emotions, challenges, and growth of a single character in more depth, giving readers a stronger emotional connection to the narrative.
This shift in approach pushed me to refine my storytelling skills. Instead of trying to juggle multiple storylines, I had to think carefully about how to weave all the themes—role models, peer support, and finding purpose—into one character’s experience. This challenged me to focus on character development and plot pacing, ensuring that all the important aspects of community influence were still included but mixed into a single story.
By including this artifact along with my first narrative essay, I’m demonstrating my growth as a writer, not only in terms of storytelling techniques but also in learning how to adapt and refine my ideas to make the final product more compelling and focused.
The presentation “Finding Your Place: Characteristics of a Healthy Community” fits the goal of using appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the subject by drawing on personal experience to highlight the key characteristics of a healthy community. I focused on qualities such as trust, support, and shared values, sharing examples from my own life to make these concepts relatable and meaningful. By presenting these insights in a way that connects with the audience’s own experiences, I demonstrated my understanding of what makes a community thrive and shaped the work to engage and inspire others to reflect on their place within their own communities.
7.C Skills for Lifelong Learning (30%)
[Reviews prior learning inside and outside of the classroom to reveal significantly changed perspectives about educational and life experiences.]
REFLECTION #1
The planning process with the individual and group projects has been going well. We all already have our individual products planned and got to brainstorm on how we are going to go about doing the products. For the group project, we discussed our website and what to do and the things we are going to add and change. I think our group is going well due to the fact that we are a small group and that we are all different in terms of race, backgrounds, interests, etc. The diversity helps us to come up with many different ideas that relate to our fields of study but also that our different ideas help to build off of each other. Just like in the reading where they use the example of ants and how the small individuals work together to build a whole colony. I feel like that applies to us.
REFLECTION #2
During the first part of the reading where a story is being told, I feel like both the work I do in CODES and my personal life can relate to that. In the story an indegnous girl finds some sap and then introuduces it to those in her community. When first demonstrating how she did this, it was not working right away, but those around her wait patiently and her mother encourages her. Eventually she suceeeds and her community cheers her on and this method she used was then passed on from generation to generation. I feel like in CODES I’ve taken lots of risk with certain assignment I’ve choosen that may have been challenging but had support from my peers. I also believe in my life I have an amazing community that is supportive and patient with me even when things do not go exactly as planned. I think about my major changes from early childhood to speech pathology for example and how supportive the people were around me when those things were happening.
REFLECTION #3
In the past semesters of CODES, I believe some of the principals that were most relevant in our work was communicating in images. We worked a lot with digital storytelling so choosing photos that properly portrayed the message of the story was something that we were familiar with. I also think that this goes into telling better stories. I think that was definitely a principal most relevant with our previous CODES semesters.
I think creating meaningful calls to action and invoke emotion with intention are definitely ones that we are focused on now. I believe that with our final project a lot of us are adding in little pieces of our own personal skills or personal lives within it which can relate to evoking emotion with intention. As well as creating meaningful calls to action since a lot of the work we are doing is with the purpose for the audience to utilize it to their advantage with either helping other or themselves
In these reflections, I can see how my perspectives have shifted academically and personally, demonstrating growth as a lifelong learner.
In Reflection #1, working with a diverse group showed me how collaboration can be enriched by different perspectives. Initially, I saw group work as task-oriented, but now I recognize how diversity fosters creativity and problem-solving, both in school and in life.
In Reflection #2, I explore how taking risks with the support of my community has changed my approach. Like the indigenous girl in the story, I’ve learned that persistence, even in uncertain situations, leads to growth. Where I once hesitated to take risks, I now embrace challenges, knowing I can rely on my support network to help me succeed.
In Reflection #3, I reflect on how my understanding of storytelling has evolved. Before, I focused on the technical side, but now I see the power of using emotion to create impactful narratives. This shift has helped me better connect with others, both academically and personally.
These reflections reveal significant changes in how I approach collaboration, risk, and communication, showing how my learning experiences continue to shape my perspective.
This reflection demonstrates Skills for Lifelong Learning by reviewing both academic and personal experiences that led to a significant shift in perspective. Previously focused on meeting expectations through structured, “safe” approaches, I embraced creative risks this semester, particularly in my narrative essay “Roots of Purpose: Finding Purpose Through Connection.” This shift allowed me to express my authentic voice, making my work more meaningful and engaging. Additionally, balancing academics and commitments taught me resilience and highlighted the importance of personal growth in connecting with others. These experiences have reshaped how I approach challenges and reinforced my commitment to becoming a compassionate, resourceful speech-language pathologist who empowers others to find their voice.
9.A Problem-Solving Skills (30%)
[Constructs insightful problem statements with evidence of relevant factors]
The dissemination plan fits the goal of constructing insightful problem statements with evidence of relevant factors by clearly identifying the purpose of sharing information, considering the target audience, and addressing the need for effective communication. It outlines key factors, such as the specific audience’s needs and interests, the message’s relevance, and the best methods of delivery, ensuring the plan is well-supported by evidence. By focusing on these aspects, the dissemination plan demonstrates my ability to articulate a problem, analyze relevant factors, and create a solution-oriented approach that aligns with the project’s goals.
12.C Collaboration (15%)
[Works independently toward goals by contributing and meeting deadlines set by our team.]
[add an artifact or two here and a few sentences about how the artifact demonstrates your learning; you should talk about process. How did this assignment help you develop a new skill, push you to try something new? What might you do differently next time? Note that when you have a heavily weighted goal, you should include more than one artifact]
My narrative essay, “Roots of Purpose: Finding Purpose Through Connection,” fits perfectly with the goal of working independently toward group objectives and meeting deadlines. As part of our team, each of us had specific products we needed to complete individually to contribute to the larger group effort. This essay was my contribution, and completing it on time helped ensure that we, as a team, stayed on track with our overall goals.
Working on this essay required a lot of focus and time management, as I had to balance my personal writing process with the deadlines we agreed on as a group. I took responsibility for my piece, making sure I put in the effort to meet our shared timelines while still producing a high-quality, thoughtful essay. Even though we were each working on separate pieces, it was important to me to make sure I held up my end of the team’s work by completing my contribution in a timely and organized way.
This experience reinforced my ability to work independently within a group setting, and it felt rewarding to know that by meeting my deadlines, I was helping our team move forward as a whole.
The capstone project meets my collaboration goal by allowing me to work effectively with my team, contributing to the overall success through communication and shared responsibilities.
The dissemination plan meets my collaboration goal of working independently toward goals, as I contributed my part and ensured I met the deadlines set by our team. This demonstrated my ability to balance individual responsibility while still fulfilling the team’s objectives.