‭Spring Reflection‬

‭This quarter was a great time for self reflection and personal growth. Throughout my‬

‭first year at the University of Washington I rarely felt like I had the opportunity to sit down and‬

‭think about myself. Honors 397 allowed me to think about myself, grow, and apply my skills for‬

‭the future and my lesson plans. In my retreat reflection I talked about how uncertain I was to be‬

‭a part of the retreat and a peer educator in general. I am happy to say that the uncertainty I felt‬

‭then, is still a faint echo and has been replaced by the feelings of comfort and community.‬

‭Throughout this course I have continued to experiment with how to balance the ideas of‬

‭individuality and community. The team teaches, ice breakers, and various activities of this‬

‭course allowed me to self reflect, and then build upon my ideas by collaborating with others. For‬

‭example, I got to practice my collaboration and public speaking skills by working with Sophie‬

‭and Aaron in my team teach. Not only was I considering important historical information, but I‬

‭was developing skills and making friends simultaneously. The final teach was a way to assess my‬

‭growth of planning lessons and teaching.‬

‭This course was an excellent balance of working on myself, and building community. I‬

‭am grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn and teach such a valuable lesson.‬

‭Over the course of spring quarter, in honors 397, I believe that I have begun the path of‬

‭achieving the goals that I set for myself in my spring reflection. My goals were: #1, I want to‬

‭ensure that I can build a safe space where people can share out and ask questions. #2, I want to‬
‭be able to have at least one (purposefully) unplanned discussion in each class. #3, I want to be‬

‭challenged and persuaded to deepen my knowledge to enrich the course.‬

‭Goal #1. I have learned how to properly build a safe space where people can share out and‬

‭ask questions. Although I have not implemented this skill in my classroom, I have gotten to see‬

‭it in action. It was inspiring to watch how Nadra mitigated the class and created a safe space.‬

‭Additionally, I weaved questions into my lesson plan and purposefully added spaces for‬

‭questions so students would not feel like they were interrupting.‬

‭Goal #2. I hope that I have achieved this goal, but I have not seen it in practice yet. I love‬

‭the idea of spontaneous discussion and allowing people to find what they are passionate about‬

‭and discuss it. I believe that I have seen what it looks like in class. Watching people do the ice‬

‭breakers or share in groups about team teachings was wonderful. I think that my slides and‬

‭lessons are engaging enough and consider important and relatable ideas that people will be able‬

‭to create that conversation amongst themselves.‬

‭Goal #3. I know there was some consideration if this goal was too challenging to‬

‭complete because it relied on my students, but I am sticking with it. In class I have constantly‬

‭been challenged to deepen my understanding and think more, and it doesn’t have to be explicit‬

‭or direct. I have a curious mind and love to learn so a student does not have to explicitly raise‬

‭their hand and say, “I think you’re wrong about ____ and should consider____” to make me want‬

‭to deepen my knowledge to enrich the course. I have been influenced by my peers to do that‬

‭naturally when I am creating my lesson plan and I hope the same will happen with my students.‬