Module 2 Journal Reflections 👈🏽 click here
Module 3 Journal Reflections 👈🏽 click here
- What is a career journal? The journal will help guide you through the process of discovering who you are as a new developer and how that translates into your career goals. It’s a way to check in with yourself through self-reflection, prompts, and questions, organize your targeted job search, and remember who you met as you build a professional network.
- Make it your own. Add questions and areas to reflect on each week. Just don’t forget to share all of your successes and achievements along the way!
- Ongoing progress checks. Throughout the module, you'll respond to the other prompts and update your progress in your document during professional development workshops and set aside work time.
- Module Expectations. A completed career journal is required for successfully passing the module. The career development team will be assessing your progress throughout the module, and you will submit it for final review in week 6. You will also include highlights from your progress in your end of module portfolio presentation.
- Copy the following into your own gist or Google Doc. You'll be sharing this with the Career Development Team.
- At the end of week 1, you'll submit the link to your journal in a survey provided to you by Allison. Please DM her with any questions you have.
#Mod1Week 1 1. Describe one of your strengths
- Detail oriented
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What is something you have learned to do well (list a skill)?
- To stay focused on what I want to accomplish in a specific amount of time.
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What is something you know about (list some knowledge/expertise you have)?
- Planning
- Time management
- Training
- Determination
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What is something you have a natural ability to do well (list a talent)?
- Curiosity
- Creativity
- Loyalty
- Athletic
- Artistic
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How do those combine to create a specific strength? When I am trying to accomplish something, I try to create strategies to bring me closer to my goals. My sense of curiosity is a factor that, combined with my determination and training, allows me to foster new skills.
2. Read through your Top 4 results from Pairin
- Cooperative Practical
- Loyalist
- Calm, cool & collected
- Lover of moderation
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In your own words, what do these top 4 qualities tell you about yourself?
Cooperative Practical
I enjoy working on teams because it increases the ability to accomplish goals that as a single individual, it would be more diffciult to achieve.
Loyalist
Being a team member is important for me because the success of the team represents everyone's success. I can see this clearly when training other people for new roles as well as when looking to accomplish goals in my career that require assistance from others. By creating a trusting space with my teammates I am happy to work tirelessly to accomplish our team goals. I value connections within a team as they create a supportive environment.
Calm Cool & collected
During moments of stress I tend to be aware of my actions and words and reflect on how this could affect my own state of mind as well as how it would affect other people. Most of the time I will pause before speaking during situations where I feel insecure. Thus, I prioritize my education and practice of new skills and topics that I am passionate about. I have the tendency to need to be 75% sure of what I need to address or talk about before sharing. Confidence is a strong factor for me that I require in order to accomplish my personal and professional goals. I can be reserved when needed or when I find it appropiate. I also like to share my ideas and to do so, I work hard on creating a healthy environment not just for myself, but also for the people around me.
Lover of Moderation
I belive emotions are important and more notably my own. This quality is new for me, but it has been revolutionary to being able to learn the qualities of my body and to understand the different ways my emotions help me to navigate this world. While I achieve my goals through hard work and discipline, I also have the need to know that what I am doing has a purpose and that my hobbies, passions, and job are getting me closer to living a more balanced life. "They avoid unfocused or impulsive words and actions that might lead to regret". This part resonates with me and I would add that I also avoid unecessary conflict when needed, while also practicing healthy conflict that strengthens relationships.
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Do they resonate with you? Why/why not?
I have taken the survey more than once already and it was truly fascinating to see that I have gotten two different results so far. These different results make me think about how this type of survey measures the different learning styles, communication and work, but we are beings that are in constant change. We spend most of our time learning and we will keep adapting to new enviroments and reshaping our thinking along the way.
The results that I received from my Pairing Survey are quite good frankly. They are reinforcing some of my own beliefs and stenghts, while also making room from change and improvement.
- How do they relate to the strength you wrote about in Prompt #1?
Detail oriented. This strength has helped me be aware of my surroundings by paying close attention to my environment and my work. It has also helped me be mindful about my professional life and to understand my learning stlye. I find joy in learning the most basic concepts even if they are inconsequential. To me even the smallest details have value.
3. Challenges with strengths
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What can make it challenging to recognize your strengths?
- I tend to distract myself very easyly and I know it is a personal battle that I fight every single day.
- Selfconfidence is an important element in recognizing my own strengths. The way I build this quality is by taking care of my basic needs and being able to talk about what brings me fear and joy.
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How can you work through those challenges?
- To me the way I work through these challenges are by having a clear schedule and having clear goals to start my day and sticking to the initial plan. I also try to be flexible with my time to allow spontaneity for unexpected pieces of joy in my life.
- I also like spending time with people I care about and do activities that help me release anxiety and move my body.
- I have always criticized specific habits in my life and now that I have the opportunity to study once more I find myself motivated by all the people who have supported me to be here at Turing.
- I am commited to staying on top of my school demands as well as not loosing sight of my personal needs and family.
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Do you ever see yourself overusing certain strengths?
- As much as I like to be detail oriented I know that sometimes, I tend to spend more time on certain activities that I might find more comfortable than others or that I just simply need. This sometimes creates a feeling of rushing through others activities.
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In what circumstances would you want to use them less and amplify other strengths? How could you adjust your approach in those instances?
- When prioritizing my work flow to become more efficient in my time managment skills.
4. Strengths in action
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Write 1-2 sentences describing how you like to work (i.e., Do you pre-plan? Do you talk through your ideas first? Do you work better with deadlines? How do you stay organized?)
- I am a project oriented person and enjoy working with people to acomplish such projects. I enjoy talking about the different paths that we can take and trying new approaches. When working, I prefer to understand the entirety of the problem or project to plan a strategy. I definitely work better with deadlines, but it is something I am personally trying to improve, so as to not depend on and be motivated by a specific date and rather by my own desire to work regurlarly.
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How could you talk about these working preferences with your project teammates? Your mentor? Your instructors?
- I could reach out to people and talking about the different strategies they might have that I could try out to better undertand how they operate. I could also share my strategies and describe how they work for me.
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What would you need to be aware of when working with people who have different strengths from you?
- I would need to be aware of their strengths and the ways that as a team we could balance out our qualities.
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How could your Pairin results help you better understand your everyday working preferences?
- They allow me to recognize my patterns and identify the strengths within them.
5. Continued growth
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Is there any particular strength you'd like to sharpen while you're at Turing? Any area you consider a weakness that you'd like to strengthen?
-Communication is an area I have been working on over the years, but I know that there is more potential for growth in this area for me. It is an ongoing practice that has allowed me to deepen in relationships, strengthen and create a healthy enviroment. Different styles of communication vary from person to person and sometimes can create conflict that when handled properly with respect and kindness can result in stronger ties with my support group.
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What are some steps you could take here?
-Daily, weekly and monthly check-ins with whom I need this support from. Asking for help and letting me be vulnerable with my own fears and weaknesses.
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How could you be aware of progress you're making?
-By receiving reflections from people who can hold me accountable for my progress as well as taking time to look back and read my Career Journal.
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What is challenging about self-reflection?
- My biggest challenge about self-reflection is to recognize my own identities and personal achievements. As a person of color living in Colorado, I have now been able to have space and time to reflect on my past experiences, many of which are hard to remember due to their emotional weight. Self-reflection is a personal work to not only reflect on the good things, but also the things that bring me stress and anxiety. Self-reflection is about accepting how my past experiences are shaping my present.
- Another big challenge to my self-reflection is the way I cope with anxiety. I don't work well with anxiety and tend to distract and numb myself with activities that make it difficult to process the feelings associated with the anxiety.
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How can you continue to build the habit of self-reflection at Turing?
- The habit of self-reflection is a daily practice for me and I tend to accomplish it by making sure my basic needs are met. This allows me to have the time and space to think about the present moment. Reflecting on myself is difficult because I don't let myself hear the compliments that help me build a stronger confidence and sense of worthiness.
- Social identity mapping First, create you own social identity map on a piece of paper.
- Outer ring: write words that describe your given identity
Identity: * POC, Mexican, Black hair, height = 5.6 ft, first generation, male
- Middle ring: list aspects of your chosen identity
Chosen : * generous, flexible, trustworthy, efficient, responsible, perseverant, caring
- Center: write your core attributes—traits, behaviors, beliefs, values, characteristics, and skills that you think make you unique as an individual. Select things that are enduring and key to who you are.
Core : * Listener, family-oriented, positive, committed, hard-working, creative, honest, brave
After you complete your map:
- Underline the items that are important to you
- Put a + beside the items that you believe clearly demonstrate that you fit into the tech industry
- Put a - beside the items that you believe do not demonstrate that you fit into the tech industry
- Put a ? beside the items that you're unsure how they could show your ability to contribute to the tech industry
Reflect:
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What does your social identity tell you about what you already bring to the tech industry?
- What I bring to the world of programming is a person who was born in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico who became a first generation immigrant at age 25 in the U.S. My identities allow me to view the world in a unique manner and help broaden the perspective within the tech industry. My warm and loyal personality make me a good fit for team work. My positivity, courage, and commitment help me get through challenging situations. My perseverance allows me to find a solution no matter how hard the problem is, whether it be technical or personal.
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What would it look like for some of your minuses or question marks to turn into pluses? In other words, how could some of these traits be assets for the tech industry?
- Values mapping Pull out 5 values for each bullet below from this list:
- Always valued: Career, Growth, Mental Stimulation, Respect for people, Gratitude, Family, Solitude
- Often valued: Persistence, Openness, Service, Caring, Tradition, Understanding, Self-respect
- Sometimes valued: Well-being, Being a role model, Competition, Financial Stability, Productivity
- Seldom valued: Being in control, Inspiring others, Work Alone, Connection, Self-discipline
Reflect:
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What do these values tell you about yourself?
- I realized that these values align with my personality traits and characteristics listed in the previous exercise. I see how driven I am by my loved ones' unity and well-being as well as my professional growth and creativity. I noticed that there are values in the "sometimes" and "seldom valued" lists that are truly important to me, however, I often find it difficult to make space for them in my life and occasionally underestimate them. A couple examples of such values are being in control and inspiring others. Being in control gives me a sense of security and allows for me to have peace of mind. Inspiring others provides me with a sense of fulfillment. I am aware that, at times, I hide from these values out of fear of being criticized or being viewed as overpowering of others.
- Workview & Lifeview
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Summarize what good, worthwhile work means to you (Tip: this is NOT about what work you want to do but about why work matters to you):
- Work matters to me because it brings me financial stability and it also allows me to build personal qualities such as discipline, perseverance and curiosity. Through work I know and learn more about myself. I have been able to build relationships and through these relationships to grow personally and professionally. A work place to me is a place where I can create and accomplish professional goals that bring me a sense of purpose. I have always been inclined to work hard for what I want and sometimes it becomes difficult to know where the line stands between my personal and professional life. I do believe that this is a daily practice.
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Lifeview: summarize what you value in life; what matters to you?
- What matters to me in life is family and the relationships I build along the way. I also value my work and the idea of helping others when they need it. If I have the power to help others, I make sure I do something to support.
- To be congruent about what I want and need is important to me and I ask the same of other people.
- It is important to stay true to my roots.
- To me, it is important to value and celebrate all the people who have supported me in my decisions and have guided me to be where I am today.
- I value learning and teaching others.
- I value when other people help me.
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Where do your views on work and life complement each other?
- When I am at work and I see someone struggling with a technical or personal problem I like to listen and help if I know how. I tend not to impose my point of view and always make sure to give space for others to share their ideas. This creates a sense of camaraderie and strengthens my relationships with others. I find this helpful when building relationships at work.
- I never forget when people help me and I make sure to give back in some way to appreciate the time and effort invested in my personal and professional life.
- My curiosity has always been a strong factor for cultivating new skills and meeting people. It has always been a strong desire of mine to stay curious and learn and I believe that that is one of the reasons I find myself immersed in the FE program.
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Where do they clash(conflict)?
- the most difficult part about my profesisonal and personal life resides in the fact that I am not able to determine where one starts and the other ends. I seek proficiency in my professional life and in a way I find myself with less time to spend with my family and friends.
- I seek to build a life in the USA but my immediate family lives in a different country. It is one of the main reasons I am persuing a career in software development, because I would like to have more flexibility and the ability to work remotely.
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Does one drive the other? How?
- I am positive that my professional life drives my personal life. As I moved to Colorado I have faced multiple challenges that have made me more aware of my identites and social locations. The financial piece has always been a strong factor of decision making in my life. I have always seeked stability and in this way I have had to compromise what is important for me like family and friends.
Ideas here are adapted from Atomic Habits by James Clear
Habits of a Software Developer
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What do you think are the traits of a good software developer? What are they like in the workplace? What would you as a co-worker think of this person?
- not getting mad or frustrated at code or people
- patience in development, making sure you understand the problem or job before coding
- productive habits, e.g. coding at specific times of the day where I silence all communication and just grind
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What are the habits that this person demonstrates to embody the identity of a software developer?
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Who do you want to be as a software developer? What kind of behaviors do you already have in place to be that person? What behaviors would you need to put into place? How will you do that?
Working on the 1st Law of Behavior Change: Make it Obvious
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Bring self-awareness to your current habits by making a Habits Scorecard. Make a list of your daily habits (examples: wake up, turn off alarm, check phone, etc.) as a way to bring awareness to what you do. Then, decide how effective that habit is for you and your goal of becoming a software developer. Put a + next to habits that are effective; put a - next to habits that are not effective; put a = next to habits that are neutral.
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Pick 1 new habit you'd like to build and create an implementation intention following this template: "I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]." Then, stack the habit onto something you already do: "After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]." (Hint: make this highly specific and immediately actionable)
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Design your environment for success: what changes could you make in your space to better implement your habit? How could you remove any triggers for bad habits? How will you implement these changes?
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Respond after a few days of this implementation: What are your results? How do you feel about this method? How will you move forward with this habit?
Additional Optional Reading: The Five Triggers That Make New Habits Stick
Mod 1 Week 4: Creating a Vision, Part I
- How have you seen yourself become more aware of your habits? Have you tried implementing anything new? What have the results been?
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How would you rate your overall health on a scale of 1-5? How do you currently make time for activities associated with your health? What is a small change you could make here to readjust your health ratings?
- I would rate my overall health with four
- I am trying to make time for me, family and friends. Since I started Turing my social life has almost vanished and it has been difficult to connect with other people. Also, I am not letting my self take enough breaks which is affecting my mental and physical health. Any activity that pulls me away of the computer has been really helpful such as playing soccer, going for a hike etc.
- I have been dealing with anxiety due to school projects and trying to keep up with the program's pace.
Make a short list of all the ways you work right now; How much value do each of those things bring to your life? How are those activities purposeful for you?
- right now I am working 100% on Turing to build my techincal skills.
Play: what brings you joy? Think about joy just for the pure sake of doing it; everyone benefits from this kind of play
What activities do you do that bring you joy throughout an average week? In what ways could you make a small change to bring more joy into your life? Love: sense of connection; who are the people who matter in your life and how is love flowing to and from you and them?
- When I think about "play" I think about being a kid a again and all the activieties I used to do that would bring me joy. One of those activites was to play soccer with friends and family members. Being able to go for a long walk and enjoyr nature around me.
- An other activity that brings me joy is to cook a meal to share it with my friends and partner.
- Being able to have enjoy a breakfast and lunch with my partner brings me you daily.
- It brings me joy to communicate and connect with friends who are far away.
- it bring me joy to excerise in the morning
- I love hot showers
How does love currently show up in your life? How do you show love to others right now? What adjustments would you like to make in this area?
- My main source of love is the relation I have build with my partner for the last ten years, even when things get complicated we are able to work through our differences and support to each other. This kind of love is new for me and has helped to find the strength and resillience through the hard times.
- When thinking about the adjustments that I would like to implement in this are are they would be, to spend less time infront of the computer to make time for more conversaion with my partner.
- The love for my immidiate is big but our relationship has been difficult due to the distance that separates us. I'd like to commmunicate more often with them and share more my struggles.
Looking back at the 4 areas, do any problems emerge that you want to begin designing solutions for?
- I am trying to figure out how much I do actually need for studying but also for resting.
- I want to be more active and make more time to excercise.
- I would like to communicate more with friends and family.
- I would like to build stornger relationships with my cohort peers.
Define your needs, problem, and insights: Based on what you wrote about above and your group conversation, what problems have you identified that you'd like to design solutions for? What do you already about what you want for your career? What do you still need to find out? Who or what do you want to grow into by the end of the Turing program?
- I'd like to design solution about how to communicate better and effectively.
- I'd like to get better at time managment.
- What I want for my career is to have a better work-life balance
- I'd like to obtain financial stability
- I'd like for my job to have an impact of what I am creating and developing
- I want to be able to aknowledge the people I am working with and to be aknowledge by them.
Ideate -- challenge assumptions When you discussed software developers with your small group, what assumptions came up about what software developers actually do? What steps could you take to challenge those assumptions and find more facts to answer the question of what developers do? In addition to what a typical software developer life could look like, what do you want yours to include?
- The assumption I have about software developers is that they have to adapt quickly to the different industry's needs and requiremets. They have to be accurate and to not show vulnerabilities to being able to see and understand every single problem and solve them.
- To being able to challenge my own assumptions I would like to spend time looking at what a software developer actually does, to do some job shadowing and maybe do more informational interviews.
- As my life as a softwarte developer goes, I want this area in my life to allow me to spend time with family and friends. I want to be able to work remotely and so I can have the flexbility to visit my family overseas. I also want to find pourpose in my life, to know that I am contributing to solve problems that can help communities.
Prototype -- start creating solutions
What is the basic threshold that your new career must meet after Turing? What would you hope WILL NOT happen in your future after Turing? What is your absolute, no-holds-barred, ideal dream for your future after Turing?
- After my time at Turing I would like to find a job and keep practicing habits that would allowme to increase my skillset and knowledge.
- I DON'T WANT to not practice my coding skills, I don't want to feel overlwhelmed by the job hunting and truly find the job that would allow to have the life that I want.
Test –- solutions Based on this week of reflections, write out your initial vision statement for your career:
- By commiting to a full-time front-end program course and studying between 9 and 11 hours a day, I will gain the skills needed to create web projects. By creating my own protfolio with personal projects, I will be able to display my work and knowledge of the different developing languages, like HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Once graduated I will work tiressly to find my first job as a software developer and stenghthen the habits needed to hone my problem solving abilities. I want to find a better work-life balance that will provide me with financial stability and time for my love ones.
Habits Reflection: How have you seen yourself become more aware of your habits? Have you tried implementing anything new? What have the results been?
- I have being able to make time for group projoject, meet with mentors and talk to other other Turing students. This habit have proven efficient and helpful. I have being able to go to be at 10pm and rest so I can wake up at 6:00 am to finish my homework and read the lesson of the day.
- I have tried to make time to practice more coding but without succes, I'd like to set 2 hours of my day to practice testing and other problem solving excrcises. I have not being able to succed at this but with the finals comming next week I am aware that I need to get into this habit.
Design Thinking Reflection: Cultivating Beginner's Mind How can beginner's mind be helpful when it comes to thinking about your career and job search? What are some habits you could put into place to cultivate beginner's mind regularly? Optional additional reading: How to Cultivate Beginner's Mind to Become a True Expert
Go through the Flower Exercise brainstorming worksheets linked here. Then complete your Flower Exercise final worksheet here and link that finished worksheet here.
Flower Exercise brainstorming worksheets
Flower Exercise final worksheet
Write out your top 5 strengths that you've seen in action this module; then write out the strengths of a software developer. Where do you see these lists overlapping? Where are they different?
- active listning * discipline * commited to my studies * time maangement * planning
Write a refined vision statement here (what new things have you discovered this week to incorporate into your vision statement?):
- Please create a new section of your career journal and title it "Mod 1 Repeat Journal Reflections."
- For this module, you should consider 1-2 goals you want to work on and track your progress towards those goals. What should these goals look like? Whatever will be most helpful for your professional growth this module. Here are some examples:
- Organization & time management
- Communication
- Project & priority management
- Stress management
- Take on a leadership role within your cohort through organizing study groups, leading a review session for the class, assist SAB reps in facilitating cohort retros, organizing a non-coding social activity, etc.
- Participate in an activity related to your new career outside of Turing (i.e., attend a meetup, network with an alum, research companies you're interested in, etc.)
- Write a blog post about something you're learning
- Please copy and paste these prompts into your career journal:
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Week 1:
- Reflections from last mod (what did I do well? Where can I improve?):
One of the reason that I decided to repeat Mod 1 was because I didn't feel I had the confidence to write the functionality needed to move to the next mod. I was able to identify multiple areas were I need more grow and practice.
- Goal(s) for the module:
my priorities this MOD are Organization & time management
- This is extremly important because I want to be more productive
- I tend to work a more on specific projects than others
- I neglect other areas that require my attention when I don organize my day
- I want to be able to have time to study, spend time with my love one, reach out to my mentors and rocks
- I want to be able to teach other when they need help
Communication
- Habit to put into place this week
- being able to create flash cards
- read my notes and flash cards in bed at 9pm
- practice mythical creatures in two sets of 45 min a day
- do one codewar excercise early in the morning whan I wake up.
- reach out for help when I get stuck
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Week 2:
- Reflections on week 1 (what went well? What would you like to do better? What do you need help with?):
- Progress on your goal(s):
- Progress on your habit(s):
- New ideas or changes to put into place this week:
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Week 3:
- Reflections on week 2 (what went well? What would you like to do better? What do you need help with?):
- Progress on your goal(s):
- Progress on your habit(s):
- New ideas or changes to put into place this week:
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Week 4:
- Reflections on week 3 (what went well? What would you like to do better? What do you need help with?):
- Progress on your goal(s):
- Progress on your habit(s):
- New ideas or changes to put into place this week:
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Week 5:
- Reflections on week 4 (what went well? What would you like to do better? What do you need help with?):
- Progress on your goal(s):
- Progress on your habit(s):
- New ideas or changes to put into place this week:
- Reflections on the module as a whole (where have you improved? What do you want to continue doing in Module 2? What do you want to stop doing?):
You are expected to be reflecting and responding to these weekly prompts every week during the module in your PD work time. If you have any questions about these expectations, please reach out to Allison.
Reminder that Allison is available for professional coaching. If you'd like to sign up for a session, please fill out this request form.
Hi Orlando, nice job on setting up your journal. I dont see any Mod 3 updates such as resume or alumni page set up. Please let us know if any support is needed.