This, undoubtedly, has been a very busy week for me assignment-wise. Since we didn’t meet online this Wednesday, I chose to take that time to do some of the reading assignments for this week. I had no idea it would take as long as it did. Wow! I think maybe I’m just not accustomed to reading large amounts of information online and it became a little exhausting. One tactic that was helpful for me was to print out some of the various assigned readings. I didn’t mind using the ink and paper, and I’ve found that having something concrete right in front of me helps me to better absorb the information. That way I can underline, highlight, and jot down notes if I so desire. I really enjoyed reading about MOO, too. Previously, I had never even heard of this form of communication. Now, I’m very excited to be a part of it and to learn how to become more proficient interacting there. Next week’s online meeting will surely be exciting because everyone will get to try out the new commands and acronyms we’ve learned. It always takes me a while to catch on to new things so I will probably be the one flipping wildly through my print-outs and notes in order to understand what commands to execute and what others’ acronyms mean. Hopefully, people won’t use the acronyms too excessively because I think that can really get annoying unless the acronyms are basic and everyone knows what they mean.

In addition to the reading, I really did a lot of reflecting this week for the personal history, personal values, and learning futures sections. I called my mom in Buffalo and my dad in St. Mary’s before I began writing to get their perspectives on the values they think I was exposed to while growing up in our household. I read them some notes I had jotted down and everything matched up quite well. Once I finished writing, I read over it again and realized that both of my parents would probably enjoy reading what I wrote because it was very complimentary to them. I ended up emailing them both a copy today so now I’m eager to see how they will respond. Surely, they’ll be very appreciative…but everything I wrote was true. :-)

One problem area I need to work on is not overanalyzing my work. Writing comes fairly naturally to me and it doesn’t take a considerable amount of time or struggle for me to arrive at a response to certain questions or writing prompts. My fault, however, lies not in completing the assignment but in overanalyzing my work once I’ve finished. I constantly read over passages and try to find ways to make them sound better. I rearrange sentences that probably should be left alone. I spend such a ridiculous amount of time reading over and changing my work after finishing that sometimes it’s just like starting from scratch again. With that being said, I am going to try to not be so hard on my own work and writing. There is no escape from the fact that it’s never going to be perfect or even remotely close, so I need to work on accepting my best effort exactly for what it is. I really don’t like comparing the work or writing of one person to another (I think everyone’s personal style should be respected), but I’ve found that I love reading my classmates’ journals and responses to various things. I already have a greater appreciation for the variety of styles of expression and writing found within our class. I am lucky to have such talented and inquisitive classmates because they not only enrich my understanding of the topics presented, but offer me new perspectives and ideas to consider, as well.

I suppose my primary objective this week was to really put a lot of thought into the assignments where I had to reflect. I was happy to do those assignments because they allowed me to put my learning history, future, and goals into a new perspective (writing instead of thoughts). Although I liked this reflecting, I was glad that there was also a good amount of “doing” assignments (reading, bookmarking, etc.). I really learn a lot from hands on assignments and they offer a good break from writing. Also, I wanted to make sure that I was grasping the information I read on the computer (instead of only skimming through it) since there was so much. Certainly in time I will become better at this. I don’t really have many questions at the end of this week, but I definitely have learned a lot about myself through the reflecting I’ve done and the decisions I’ve made about how and when to complete the given assignments. All of this week’s discussion, thinking, and reflecting about learning goals and interests persuaded me to leave these quotes for this week’s journal …

“How we remember, what we remember, and why we remember form the most personal map of our individuality.” -Christina Baldwin

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.” -Doris Lessing

I can continue to forge my professional and academic development by always keeping an open mind to the new concepts, ideas, theories, and information that I encounter. Certainly, there will always be immeasurable amounts of information available, but if I learn to seek out what is pertinent and connect it in some way to my previous body of knowledge, then I can truly become an efficient student and professional. Something I am not afraid of is asking others for help or offering my assistance to someone in need. I think it will be wonderful in the future to create a network of other SLP's and related professionals who can rely on each other for new ideas, advice, or assistance with a certain issue. In addition to creating a network to advance my development, as an SLP, I will make it a point to never stop learning. I will take continuing education classes, attend seminars and meetings, possess a good collection of reference books, read books and magazines on a variety of diverse topics in the field, and continually advance my research and computer skills. Through continuous exposure to new opportunities for advancement and growth, my professionalism and knowledge as a clinician will further evolve. As aforementioned, I will respond to opportunities for inquiry/research with an open mind. As long as the topic is remotely interesting to me, I will make an earnest effort to internalize the new information and use it to make myself a more productive and well-informed clinician/human being. Currently, I meet my own learning needs through completion of my school work. In school, my learning is often directed by the objectives a particular teacher has for a certain class. This is understandable (and actually helpful) for the time being, but I will most definitely look forward to being a professional and inquiring about specific subject areas which really interest me. It's not that I can't currently inquire into these interests, but time is a factor when I have all of my other coursework to think about. Without a doubt, taking charge of one's own learning is a very empowering thing and it is a skill that will greatly influence the quality of my future as a professional, as well as, a lifelong learner.

There are endless areas relating to this field that have captured my interest. First of all, I am really fascinated with how children acquire language. More specifically, I would like to further explore the interconnections between a child learning to speak and learning to read. I already know that research has shown a correlation between phonological development and later reading skills. Also I am aware that a child’s awareness of the sounds in their language impact their reading ability. A question I have concerning this subject is…do children acquire metaphonological skills as a result of their emerging literacy or are these skills necessary to have before they can become literate? I’m unsure if there is a definite answer to this question, but I would be interested in examining some of the research concerning this matter. Children with phonological disorders are also at great risk for certain related literacy difficulties and I’d like to see if specific phonological disorders cause specific reading difficulties or if the connection between the two is not that precise.

Another area that piques my curiosity deals with speakers of English as a second language. I would like to find out if certain native languages are more conducive to an individual's success in acquiring the English language. My guess would be that many other factors would come into play as well, such as the individual's determination, teachers, intellectual ability, and their willingness to learn. I would also be interested in finding out what methods therapists use when working with people whose native language is not English. I know that a clinician must be knowledgeable about the vowel and consonant differences between the inventories of the English language and that of the speaker’s native language. This is crucial in order for the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis of a phonological disorder. Personally, I love the Spanish language and would definitely love to one day work with a native Spanish speaker on their acquisition of English. I'm not very familiar with other foreign languages but I think Spanish would be one of the easier languages to work with because the Spanish language is similar in many ways to English. While it would be relatively easy to find clinicians to work with people natively speaking Spanish or French, I wonder if it would be difficult to find clinicians qualified to work with individuals with not so common native languages such as Mandarin or Cantonese. If so, my question would become...who would the individual be referred to for help if a qualified clinician could not be found. I assume in that case, the clinician must take it upon themself to become more proficient in and familiar with that specific language.

Both of my topics of interest have been briefly covered in my previous courses, but I am looking forward to increasing my knowledge of them in the future.