Reflection:

Critical reflection is vital to self-improvement, whether that be in the form of personal or professional improvement. If you do not take the time to evaluate your progress you will not capitalize on all that you have gained from your various experiences. One of my favorite quotes is “you are the sum of your experiences”, I think this wonderfully encapsulates how everything you go through is a learning opportunity. However, if you experience something and then never revisit it, it may be difficult to truly appreciate what that experience means in your life. Putting together this portfolio has been a fun way to reflect on my internship experience as well as reflecting on my entire academic career at Loyola. Had I not taken the time to reflect on these together, I may have missed some important connections between my working experience and my academic experience. I also have been able to reflect on my time as a dental assistant at a very small practice and my time as a rehabilitation aide in a large, busy clinic. I have learned very different things from each. Though both of these experiences involved working in the health field they are very contrasting. By reflecting on each of them I have a better idea of how I want to practice physical therapy in the future. My learning artifact I chose for this section is my final research paper from an evolution class I took last semester. I included it because it was the first time I felt comfortable working with primary research texts. I had come across them in previous classes, however, this was the first time I had to do in-depth analyses of several papers. I was able to break down the complex research to the main ideas of each paper and combine findings of many studies to answer my own hypothesis. It was challenging at the time, but I am so grateful now because I will take the skills I learned with me as I continue my education as a medical professional. As a physical therapist it is imperative that I can retain new research findings and keep up to date with advancements within my field. Learning how to read and interpret research is a lifelong skill. I think critical reflection fits in well with our reading of “Thanks for the Feedback”, this chapter discussed how it is not always about actually accepting the feedback, though this is important in some cases, instead, it is the ability to engage in meaningful conversations that is truly imperative. It is opening yourself up to learning new ways and becoming secure enough in yourself to realize there are things you can improve upon. I see each of my new experiences as an opportunity to learn something new. I believe by revisiting your experiences from time to time through critical reflection you are able to make connections with other happenings in your life and therefore get the most out of each experience.

Below is my final research paper from my evolution class last semester. I chose to include this here because it was the first time I really felt comfotable reading primary research papers. I learned how to sift through the dense research, annotate, and break down the main concepts of several research papers. This was an important accomplishemnt becuase in order to be the best physical therapist I can, I will need to be able to educate myself with current research and new techniques as they are developed. 

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