Initial Self Analysis, Essay Example

My strengths and weaknesses as a communicator.

In communicating I am aware that I have the courage to talk to people. I can address a crowd of people however large the crowd maybe. I never fear what they will think of me.  I am also convincing when I am handling a huge crowd. I can entice them to listen to me and also to buy my ideas. This is one aspect I like so much about me.

I am also a charismatic speaker. I can communicate to other in an organised and clear manner delivering the message I so wished to pass. While I am speaking no one complains of my not hearing me audibly.

I am a very good listener. I always listen to what others have to say while in a conversation. Through listening I am able to give confidence to the speaker to carry on. This also enables me to get the message from the speaker. I also believe that I have a good command of the English language. Being my first language, I have learned and mastered the English language very well.

I am not a dominating person when it comes to communicating with others. I let others say anything while in a conversation. This allows them to express themselves clearly. I believe in giving an equal opportunity to all in a conversation with others.

However, despite my strengths as highlighted above, I have weaknesses that are inherent in me. First while in a conversation, I at time give too much time to the others in the conversation and end up saying very little. When in an argument, I also tend to be quite. The person that I was in an argument with then takes advantage of me.

Reactions to classroom discussion materials.

Most of the class members liked the materials that were presented for discussion by the instructor. We all received the materials and studied it well before the class discussion. One such material was an article on pronunciation. When the article was distributed, almost everyone could be heard reading it aloud. The following day almost all of us carried our dictionaries to the class. The article was very educating.

Secondly we were given an article on tongue twisters. Some tongue twisters were very difficult to pronounce. During tea break, most of the students could be heard repeatedly repeating some of the sentences. The tongue twisters were a very good aid to help us improve on our diction and pronunciation.

Then the instructor brought an article on interpreting pictures. At the start, we were wondering why the instructor had brought up an article like that. He however explained that communication also involves pictures. We were all so amazed at how much information can be deduced from a picture by just looking at its colours, lighting, texture and size.

The instructor then gave us a discussion material that dealt with team work. Many students ruled it out as not useful. However after the presentation, we were all in agreement that we had learned a lot from the article. It involves each individual playing a different role in a group and then the rest of the group analysing his action.

Self evaluation of the group.

My group consisted of people who were willing and curious to learn. We met four times a week and the discussions were very lively. We all came for the discussion well prepared for discussion topics. Once the discussion topic was determined, it was communicated well in advance to ensure that we researched well on it.

Among the group members, no one particular person was domineering over the others. We all seemed to be people who were more concerned in learning than showing off. None among us pretended to know more than the rest. So during the group meetings, we were always peaceful. It also seemed like though everyone minded about the development of the other person. When someone did not understand what we were discussing, we all took our time to explain it to him or her till such a person understood.

During the preparation of the presentation, everyone in the team group genuinely contributed to the presentation. We ensured that no one was left behind during the preparation. We researched on the topic of presentation as a group and each one gave his or her penny of contribution.

However during the preparation, we experienced difficulties of group members failing to keep time. Many came late on a number of occasions. This tended to delay the progress of our presentation since we did not want to leave any member behind.

During the preparation I learned that working as a group makes things easy and faster to do than doing them alone. While working as a group we subdivided the tasks into smaller tasks that were assigned to each individual in the group. This enabled the assignment to be completed quickly. During the presentation everything went on as we had planned. Everyone was in at the presentation and where the presenter could not answer a query, another group member helped him or her out.

Final self-analysis.

The assignments have enabled me to improve my communication skills, both written and oral. To start with, the assignment has added my courage. During the preparation of the presentation, I had to make a presentation to the group members to convey my ideas. This has made me more courageous when dealing with people.

Secondly, the assignment has sharpened my listening skills. During the course of the assignments, I had to listen keenly to the instructor and also to the group members. I have learnt that by just listening to others I am able to recall that which I heard and had listened to it keenly.

Again the assignments have made me to learn to respect the views of others. During the discussions, many diverse views were expressed and as a group we had to listen to what the others were saying. I first listened carefully before airing my views on the issue. Through this we were able to agree as a group on what to take from the diverse views. I believe that I respect others views currently that I did before I took the course.

The course has enabled me to improve my diction. Though I could pronounce words well before the course, I am able to pronounce them freely now and with no worry of mispronouncing any. During the discussions, the group members made sure that no one pronounced words wrongly. We always had dictionaries for our use in aiding us to pronounce words well.

The course has also enabled me to e better team player. Initially I used to study alone. However after we were organised into groups, I realised that we were getting things done faster than before. We used to subdivide work and share the small pieces of assignment among ourselves after which each worked on his or her bit. Once we all had completed our assignments, we then assembled pieces into one assignment. This has shown me that working as a group gets things done efficiently and effectively.

The assignments have also made me improve my handwriting. During the group discussion most of the people complained that my handwriting was not very visible. At times I had to read some sentences I had written down to the group members since they could not see it well. I took this as a challenge and decided that I had to improve my handwriting. With time my group members congratulated me for the improvement they noted on my handwriting. Now they all tell me that I have the best handwriting in the group.

Working as a group has some weaknesses among them being time wastage. During the assignments, we always had to wait for everyone to catch up. At times the same topic had to be repeated severally to ensure that they all understood. This repetition caused delays and time wastage.

At times there were also disagreements among the group members. In particular, there is this slim gentleman who kept on opposing everything I said; even when he knew that I was right. At times I felt very nauseated on hearing him oppose my views. I will find it hard to forgive and forget this gentleman.