Peter's ePortfolio

Reflection

                This assignment has helped to gain more knowledge about the use of drugs that I would be able to use in the teaching profession.  As I watched the movie, I was able to relate the information in it to people I have known and understood the frustration they experience when they do try to seek help for their addictions.  One of the social workers at our school pointed out the fact that if you do not have insurance or parents who are able to help get you into a treatment program, it can be a difficult process.  A friend of our family was an alcoholic and his family had to find $18,000 to get him into a treatment program.  The program worked and he was able to stop drinking, but died two years later because of health problems related to his drinking.  He was fortunate to have family who could help him, but many of the families I work with at school would have no way to come up with this amount of money.  This assignment has made me aware of the fact that I need to explore more resources I could use to help students as I pursue employment in the education field.

                The ability to communicate in both spoken and written language is important to teachers and this type of assignment helps me to better understand how to get my ideas across to those I work it.  It gave me the opportunity to analyze the movie from a critical thinking point of view and try to understand the messages that the film maker was trying to convey.  He brought up many issues related to the topic of drugs, be he also brought issues that were related to race and how prejudice people can still be in our society.  This helped me to make connections with some of the classes about disabilities and sociology and see how many factors may play into the circumstances a person may find themselves in in life. 

                This class has helped me to look at various graphs and tables and learn how to analyze them.  It has given me the opportunity to compare information across different disciplines and see how statistics are used to give us further information at a glance.  The information I have gained in this class will help me to be able to seek out help from other members of my discipline and become more involved in trying to find help for students with disabilities.

               The discussion assignments were very helpful in improving my critical thinking skills.  They gave me the opportunity to look at issues, analyze them and also evaluate other people’s opinions about various topics.  This class gave the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of human differences.  It made me stop and think about how I treat others at both of my jobs and how I can improve relationships with my students and co-workers.