Skills Assessment and Action Plan - Essay Example

Essentially, the purpose of learning or education is to generate new knowledge that can be applied in our lives in order to improve it. However, learning is a process that requires the people involved to possess certain skills in order for them to be good students. As such, this reflective paper is going to outline the basic skills that I think are essential for one to be a good student. I will also outline why I think that these skills are important to the learning process. The paper will also outline an action plan that can be taken in order to improve the skills identified that may need to be improved. In order to be a successful student, I think I should possess mainly two broad skills and these involve computer skills as well as the ability to interpret different texts in order to understand their meaning on your own. During the learning process, the students are exposed to different forms of texts and these often have different meanings. It is also important to develop computer skills since these are vital in the learning process. The advent of the computers has changed the learning process and this skill is a requisite in as far as academic learning is concerned during the contemporary period. I will outline the main reasons why I think that the above mentioned skills are essential in the learning experience of a student in any given situation. I think these skills are important in that the main reason why we learn is to gain new knowledge. At school, we learn different things that are new to us on a daily basis. However, it may be difficult to understand these things if one is not able to interpret different texts. In most cases, we learn about different things through reading different texts related to that particular subject. I am of the view that in order for one to be a good student, he or she should possess skills that include the ability to interpret different texts. Data is stored as written text and this information is used in our day to day learning process. One should be able to read between the lines and understand the context of the information that is written. This can be done through different ways. One can read aloud or he or she can read silently. However, he can choose the method that is appropriate to him. Of notable importance is the fact that reading requires a great skill since it is not all about browsing the written words. I also think that the ability to interpret the written text is another vital skill that should be possessed by the learner. Indeed, the teacher is there to impart knowledge to the students in a particular subject area but the student also has a greater part to play in his or her learning process. The student is expected to read on his own in order to generate more knowledge in a particular subject area. As noted, reading is a process which requires careful skills to interpret different texts that may be encountered. In most cases, it can be seen that some texts are interpreted differently depending on the context in which they are written. This cannot be easily done by a person who lacks the skill to read between the lines and interpret the meaning of what the author is trying to say. There are many ways of doing this as illustrated below. Some words have different connotations and meanings depending on the context in which they are written. Therefore, it is the duty of the student to learn to interpret the meaning of different texts so as to be able to grasp their meaning. This also helps the learner to gain a clear understanding of the different texts such that he or she can easily gain new knowledge. This skill is vital in as far as the learning process is concerned since it determines the level of understanding of the student in terms of different subject areas they may be exposed to. I also think that this helps the learner to distinguish one subject from the other if they are capable of interpreting different information. The same word can be used differently in various contexts so it is the duty of the learner to understand the context in which the word has been used. During the current period, it can be seen that we are not living in a society that is characterised by new information and communication technology. The use of computers has transformed different aspects of our lives and these gadgets are used in different ways by people. It can be noted that the same applies to the education sector during the current period. Computers are now part of the curriculum in different levels of the education system and they play a very important role in this process. Therefore, I am strongly convinced that one should possess sound computer skills in order to be a successful student. Some lessons are conducted through the use of a computer and the students are also given the opportunity to carry out their research and write assignments using the computer. Knowledge of computers is vital in order to be successful in whatever activity a student may be doing at a particular moment. There are different aspects that are covered in the subject area of computers and the students should possess knowledge in some of the basic aspects about computer science. It becomes easy for a student to perform various tasks if they have adequate computer skills. This also helps to improve the body of knowledge possessed by the student in various disciplines. In order to improve these skills throughout my studies, I am going to generate a course of action plan outlined below. In as far as the ability to interpret different written texts is concerned, I am going to implement different courses of action. First and foremost, I would need to identify the type of subject that would be dealing with before reading the text. This will help me to have a clear idea of what the text would be about. In order to understand what you are reading, it is imperative to grasp the meaning of the subject area. I would try to work around the difficult words in order to get their meanings without consulting other sources such as the dictionary. This will help me to work out the meaning of different words quickly and this will also help me to understand them. I will try to make it a policy that I will record any new vocabulary that I learn on a particular day. The other course of action I will take is related to the aspect off wide reading that will help me to access different forms of literature that are altogether educative. It is my strong belief that wide reading is a viable solution that can be implemented in order to improve one’s knowledge in different subject areas. I will also consult different sources of information in order to get a true meaning of certain concepts that may prove to be challenging to me. However, this I will do as a last resort after first making an attempt to try to work around the meaning of difficult terms that I may encounter during the course of my study. I will also try to think out of the box and try to imagine as many interpretations as possible that can be assigned to a particular text. As noted earlier on, learning is mainly concerned with generating new knowledge. Therefore, I will keep a diary to record my progress in as far as acquisition of new vocabulary is concerned. I will try to list all the new concepts I discover on a daily basis and I will go through them at a later period. This will help me to keep abreast with all new things that I will learn on my own. This will also help me to broaden my research skills where I will look further than the recommended academic text books in a particular subject. I believe that reading different books will generate the much needed knowledge in interpreting different texts. I will also keep the diary that will outline the areas that need to be covered in the future so that I keep on improving the body of knowledge I would have developed. The other viable course of action I will take is to engage in group discussions with other students. This will help me to share some knowledge with them. This is a very effective strategy since it helps the people involved to freely exchange their ideas which can help in improving their body of knowledge in a particular subject. Group or team work is very effective in as far as learning is concerned. This helps the members in a particular group to easily share their ideas which in turn can be transformed into new knowledge. I have realised that people who share their ideas quickly learn from each other and I will make sure that I properly take note of this course of action in a bid to improve my capability to understand different texts that I may encounter at school. I will also consult my teacher in cases where I encounter challenging terms that may prove to be difficult to deal with individually. I will also make concerted efforts to develop my computer skills. This in turn will help to improve my computer literacy such that I can perform various tasks that require IT knowledge on my own. I will start off from basic things that are quite easy to understand and I will try to master all the concepts that characterise the grassroots level of learning. I will also practice to use a computer on a regular basis so that I can quickly gain experience in using different computer programs. The internet is another viable too that can be used to search for any information. Therefore, I will strongly use this viable medium of communication to carry out my own researches on different subjects. I believe that I will learn a lot of things on the internet and I can apply this new knowledge in my daily life. Whenever I encounter problems related to computer learning, I would always try to consult other people who may have better knowledge than me. Basically, there are various skills that are required in order to make one a good student at school. As discussed above, computer skills and the ability to interpret different texts are vital components of learning. Once these skills have been properly mastered, the person involved is likely to significantly improve his or her knowledge in different subject areas. However, of notable concern is the fact that learning is a process. A certain course of action should be followed in order to achieve these desired goals as well as to improve our knowledge in different subject areas. Read More