Professional Documents
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Artifact H Portfolio Process Assessment
Artifact H Portfolio Process Assessment
16 April 2019
The process of creating my online portfolio and my final presentation for my committee
was much more emotionally taxing than I assumed it would be. I have been challenged in the
past with positive “self-talk” and with allowing myself to talk about aspects of myself I am proud
of; I feel doing so alienates people since it can feel like “bragging.” Additionally, I am often my
own toughest critic and that, paired with persistent feelings of imposter syndrome, has made it
Through the portfolio process - particularly writing my learning outcome narratives - I was
forced to talk positively about myself due to the nature of the assignment. In having to identify
several things I am proud of about myself, name those things explicitly and resist the urge to
about oneself is like a muscle and it gets stronger and easier to do with practice and exercise. The
portfolio assignments I completed forced me to give myself permission and allow myself space
to reflect critically on where I am as a professional, a student and a person without that reflection
becoming a vehicle for self-defeating or hyper-critical self-talk. In the future, I hope I can
remember this lesson and continue to practice positive self-talk and self-congratulations in a
healthy way.
Secondly, I learned I am a better public speaker than I give myself credit for. I am still
not “off-book” and don’t feel comfortable speaking to people without notes or a script, but I have
grown significantly from where I was at the beginning of my time in the SDA program and even
when I began the portfolio process. I have always been so concerned that I will say one wrong
thing during a presentation and everyone will realize I’m a charlatan. However, during this
portfolio process, my Chair, Dr. Tim Wilson, shared an invaluable piece of advice for public
speaking: just tell the truth. By the time I had finished crafting my final presentation and
reviewed my portfolio, I realized I wasn’t as nervous as I had been in the past before speaking in
front of folks because I felt there was nothing I could say “wrong” because I was speaking
openly and honestly about the truth of my experience and the depth of my knowledge. I feel
confident moving forward that I will continue improving as a public speaker because I will focus
on telling the truth over saying all the right things and protecting myself from any potential
errors.
presentation told the story of my journey from childhood to my last quarter in the SDA program
and it was intensely intimate in its subject matter at times. I re-wrote my final presentation three
times because I realized I can tell a compelling story about myself that is meaningful within the
context of higher education and student affairs without “over-sharing” the less savory details or
withholding the truth of my experience because it can be unsavory. Maintaining this balance in
my professional life will be important moving forward and I’m glad I began thinking about how
to do so early on because I do think speaking about my lived experience is important and has a