End Point Essay Psychology

End Point Essay

In the beginning of the semester, we as a class learned about the 8 Habits of Mind. We learned about curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, and metacognition. They were all good habits but many of them, I lacked in all honesty. I already came equipped with some of them but they needed a refresher, which this course did give. How I choose to use them while growing as a student is up to me now.

The first habit of mind that I lacked was openness. I was afraid to reflect on ideas and responses of others. I was also afraid to think differently about anything previously learned. At first I thought it was just me being rebellious thinking I knew it all when in fact I just lacked it. I improved greatly with my openness and how well I communicate ideas and listen to others. I can make clearer arguments based on truly what I feel, no longer allowing me to feel afraid .During the beginning of the class I often felt like what I had to say wouldn’t sound right. Today I am able to speak in front of many

people and develop new ideas with people, and better present the knowledge that I have.
I also lacked persistence.

I would often give up easily and never look back. I don’t believe before coming to this class I actually kept up with anything. Having to write so many essays this semester, I followed through with it. I didn’t give up or not complete them. Although it was hard persistence is something I can truly say I gained the most. Now I can follow through with pretty much anything. I learned to use the right tools to help with time and better spend the time I did have. Also annotation quizzes was something that I truly wanted to give up on. There were just so many and sometimes I didn’t quite understand how to annotate certain ways. As I learned more throughout the class, I began wanting to see more of them. They were challenging for me so I no longer was overwhelmed with them. I became more persistent than ever. I would go home right after class and it would be the first thing I did, if we had

one.
There are still Habits of Mind that I do not completely lack but I need to develop further. One Habit of Mind being Creativity. I don’t think I allow myself to be as free on paper as I would like. Sometimes I find my stories bland and often needing to add more detail to them. I’m still afraid to take risk with certain projects and I find myself not showing my full potential in the diversity of things that I know. Although I engaged in learning new things in this class, I believe I could have engaged a great deal more. I didn’t act upon the new knowledge that was learned, instead I focused on what I already knew. Doing this caused me to need improvement in the writing of my essays. I believe that if I develop these two habits further they will make me a better writer, creator of words, but most of all a student. I will be able to act upon the new knowledge that I learn and get better grades.
In conclusion there are still some of the 8 Habits of Mind that I need to develop further. There are some that I think this class have made even stronger. The ones that I lack I will continue working on. I think next semester I will have all of them down pack and it will reflect in my grades and my everyday work.