37 Learning Reflections

Active listening is when one takes the time to process what a person is telling them along with how they are feeling. When someone is practicing active listening, they do not interject their companion with their own experiences. Instead, they use that time to let their companion fully explain things. Practicing active listening allows for the speaker to process their thoughts and feeling.

I chose to practice active listening with my roommate. We talk a lot and laugh about how we both just ramble and talk at each other. I decided to start up a conversation about school. She is taking a semester off and is missing it. I do not think she noticed anything, but she opened up to me. I think she took my head nodding and silence as an invitation to continue with the conversation. Normally, we are pretty open, but I definitely processed more of what she was saying. I was focused on listening instead of what to say next. We also stayed on the same topic the whole time, which is never the case. The hardest thing about active listening was not interrupting with my own experiences. I did respond to her, but I made sure not to start a story of my own.

Active listening is not an easy skill. It is something that is not taught. I was taught that I have to share my experiences with others to build connections. That is not always the case. I find that a lot of people just want someone to listen to them. In a world where we are all encouraged to stand out, it is hard to get someone to take the time to listen. Active listening is important to show people that they are valued.

I have worked with Visual Thinking Strategies before. I used it in a Rhetoric class in the past. We were practicing our analysis skills for our midterm paper. I understand it as stating the obvious to find a deeper meaning. If you can put together a list of all the obvious, you can find the connections between them. I find myself going through life without reflecting on the meaning of most things. When I watch a movie, I do not look for a deeper meaning besides the one that is obviously there. VTS can add beauty to ordinary objects and activities. 

From observing the painting in class, I learned that pictures say a lot more than I think they do. Emotion can be displayed through color, setting, and human expressions. It can be more powerful than words. While walking through the MERF, I felt relaxed. The art gave me some peace. School is stressful, so being quiet, colorful places with drawings all over the walls served as an escape. This made me reflect on the students who are in graduate school. The MERF must also help them relax. I felt better walking out of that building than I did walking in.

When our class visited the Stanley Art Museum, I learned that I do not try to interpret the meaning of objects enough. I often look at things and admire their beauty, but do not look for the deeper meaning. This is upsetting to me because meaning gives pieces even more beauty. When we looked at the coffin, I was shocked by its purpose. At first, I thought it was just a huge fish sculpture. It was moving to find out that it was meant to house the body of someone who had passed away. It also was built to tell the life story, or something meaningful, about that person.

I also experienced this feeling when we looked at the final piece. It looked like a rain stained sheet of paper with red, blue, and yellow splatters on top. I would have never thought to associate the emotion of anger with this piece. When my classmates pointed this out, I could then see what they meant. This visit made me realize the importance of having another person interpreting to point out what I missed.

A lot of instructors ban the use of AI, especially literature instructors. Having an instructor who encourages the proper use of AI to strengthen a student’s academics is refreshing. Since the emergence of AI in school, I have been told I will be kicked out of school if an instructor finds out I used it. Because of that, I have tried to avoid it as much as I can. It is getting to the point that it is unavoidable though. AI is something students need to learn how to use now, because it will be a big part of the future.

I have used AI to correct my grammar and sentence structure. I write my papers without it, and then ask AI to revise the finished paper. I have learned that different AI platforms are better at this than others. Grammarly is a platform I can install into my document. It is good at catching spelling errors and some punctuation errors, but it could be better at sentence structure. ChatGPT is better at sentence structure. I ask it what and where I need improvement, and it gives me a bulleted list of suggestions. This has been very useful. It also has helped me improve my writing techniques because I can read the reasons for the suggestions.

I have also used NotebookLM to help me comprehend research articles. I upload the articles to the website and it pulls important information out. It shows you where it pulled the information from too. I like this because I do not fully trust what AI tells me. So, I typically look at where NotebookLM got the information and read that. Then I go back and reread NotebookLM’s summary to make sure it is accurate. This has saved me a lot of time and stress while doing research. It is a very useful aid to help ease the writing process.