How can I continue to forge my professional and academic development? How might I inquire (research) into my learning in an ongoing manner? How might my professional and academic development and practice be informed by my ongoing research? How do I respond to opportunities for inquiry (research)? How do I meet my own learning needs?

I believe that learning is very important throughout life, no matter whether you are in school or not. When I become a speech-language pathologist, I must be willing to learn new things if I want to be good at my profession. I think I will be able to accomplish that by going to a variety of seminars and meetings, reading articles, searching the internet and not being afraid to ask other speech-language pathologists questions and what their thoughts are. There is always something to learn, no matter how smart you think you are. I will need to always be open to new ideas and information.

I realize that everything I learn in school is not the only useful information that may be beneficial to me. Science changes and studies are being done everyday that may lead to changes in how I can, not only better my therapy with clients, help me to be a better SLP and person.

I think that I meet my own learning needs by knowing what I have to do in order to learn. When I am trying to learn new material, it is very important that I am not distracted. When I am doing homework or reading I have to be in my room or in the library, no television or radio; I need to have a quiet atmosphere. Therefore, when I know I need to get something done, I set aside time for me where there are very few distractions, so that I can concentrate and learn as much as possible.

What were some of the values and attitudes toward education expressed in your family? How have these influenced your thinking and your practice (as a student)?

My family has played a big role on what kind of student I am. They always made us feel that education was not only very important, but a way of life. Whenever I was little my mom would play games with me that taught me things. She made it fun for me so that I wanted to learn. After school, I would have to show her the work that the teacher handed back. If I ever did poorly on a paper, we would talk about it. She never made me feel unintelligent, if she knew that I could do better, she would tell me and ask me why I didn’t try my hardest. Also, my parents showed praise when I would do well on my report card. They would never bribe me or tell me that if I did well I would get a new toy. Now that I look back, I really appreciate them not doing that. I think that taught me to do well for myself and to get that feeling of accomplishment…not to get a physical reward.

My parents continue to play a major role on my education. I love telling them that I did well on an assignment or having them receive my grades in the mail when they are good. Not only do I feel better about myself because all my hard work has paid off, but that shows them that I AM working hard. It is my way of showing them that I appreciate all the hard work that they are doing to be able to send me to college.

Why do you want to become a speech-language pathologist? What was it about being a speech-language pathologist that drew you to this profession?

It is kind of a weird story as to how I came about wanting to study communication disorders. It’s similar to Mrs. McCommas’s actually. My freshman year first semester I was studying engineering. I wasn’t sure if that was what I wanted to do or not, I just knew that I liked math and science, so becoming an engineer seemed like a good idea. Half way through the semester I knew that engineering was not what I wanted to be doing the rest of my life. I didn’t care how much weight a rope could hold when you consider the weight of the rope and the angle of it, etc. No thanks! Luckily, I was taking UNI 101. One day I was sitting in the class and I got to talking to a girl about her major: Communication Disorders. I asked her what classes she needed to take and what being a speech-language pathologist consisted of. I soon became very interested and convinced that being a speech-language pathologist was what I wanted to do.

My mom was very happy and supportive when I brought the idea up to her. She is a special education teacher and most of her students go to a speech-language pathologist.
After I got done talking to her, I had made up my mind. It seems like a perfect job for me. I love children. Helping them learn to communicate with others would be very beneficial to me. I believe that I will enjoy working with them and seeing how my knowledge & instruction has helped them.

I also like the fact that I will have very many options as a speech-language pathologist. Yeah, I love working with children and right now, I think that I want to be in the school system, but what if I decide that I want something different, or need a change? There are many other places I can work. I can work in a clinic or in a hospital with all ages. To me, I feel like being a speech-pathologist is going to give me the best of both worlds: I get to help people and have the option of being in different settings.