Summative Reflection

I recently talked with someone who asked me about my educational pursuits. I expressed that my voice didn't matter and then needed to explain my meaning. Of course, MY VOICE matters; however, framing it in the context of scholars' voices that have gone before me and who have shaped theory and philosophy is helping me find a different perspective on my voice. My understanding of theory and philosophy is growing and deepening like a fine wine. I know learning a deeper understanding, appreciation and questioning for different theories will be enhanced in the coming years.

​In the past and now, my favorite writing style is free and purposeful; however, my new pursuit of learning and acquiring new knowledge makes my writing more strategic, concise, and organized. I had an assignment that had me reading about logical fallacies that I had just learned about this year. It's different, challenging, and worth it. Many things we strive for are challenging. Real progress may come in small increments. I'm intentional and purposeful about improving my knowledge, research savvy, and more, so it's positive and significant. Self-confidence is a powerful word and belief. I need to learn a lot more in my academic pursuits. Improvement for me is staying focused on what I need to accomplish and not feeling like I have to be in a race to get things done quickly. I'm not talking about turning in work or finishing projects on time. I'm talking about walking my journey of endeavors at the pace that my interests, stamina, patience, and time allow. This may look like reading more scholarly articles specific to my interests, writing more on the side that is not an assignment or being in a portfolio, networking, doing more literature reviews, or using things I've learned like the different types of fallacies to develop arguments and other writing types in the future.
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As I work on research studies, my difficulty will be staying focused on the tasks that must be accomplished. I find myself researching one thing, seeing a similar article but taking the content in a different direction because it was also interesting, going down a rabbit hole. There is nothing wrong with having multiple pursuits; however, staying the course is necessary. I'm hopeful that as I chart my course, I will see the light at the end of not a tunnel but my journey. When you go into a store, find something you like, and try it on to see if it fits because it's a specific size. The tag doesn't say one size fits all; where you just toss it in your cart and keep going. What's my point? My educational path will be the right fit for me.

Reference
Image by Manuel Enriquez from Pixababy