Metacognitive Reflection #1

Reflecting on the evaluations that the class made on my presentation skills, I feel that I have a better idea of my strengths and weaknesses. My biggest strength, is that I try and contribute as much as possible to the discussion. I also respect other peoples ideas and contributions. My biggest weakness in oral communication is that I don't articulate my ideas well. When I am in front of a lot of people I become nervous, and lose track of what I am saying. I often have good ideas in my head, but they don't get properly communicated in oral discussion. I am the type of person who likes to contimplate their ideas for a while. This means that I am great at discussing ideas that I have already thought about but not as good with ideas that are brought up in the discussion. It isn't that I can't come up with ideas quickly, but I wonder if they are good enough to share with my group. This is a skill that I really need to improve because it is so important in school and life in general. To improve this skill, I think I need to just say the ideas that come into my head. The worse that could happen, is people will disagree. I also think that I need to make sure that I am really prepared, so that I feel very confident to share my ideas. If I had to chose a word that described my oral communication skills I would pick a leader. However, I think I am only a leader when I have to be. If someone else resumes the role of the leader, I am quite happy to sit back, and to just contribute. If no one is stepping up to the leadership position, then I will gladly step in. I found it really interesting to look at the feedback from the class. I think it was also interesting how people changed their behavior when they knew that the outer circle was evaluating them.