Week 10: Degree Engagement

This week we began by discussing our degrees and career maps. I learned that we can find the career map by simply searching it through Google. It was also good to learn that if our program decides to update its program map while we are in college, we have the opportunity to choose which one we want to follow in order to graduate. This is helpful because it gives us as students some control over the classes in which we choose to and have to take.

Next we discussed our values by looking at a value guide. This activity was very helpful and eye opening because it showed me what the things are that I care about the most. Some of my top values were family, wisdom, self-improvement, honesty, and sincerity. I learned that I can look for ways to use these values in my future and in my career path. This is good because it showed me the things that matter to me and the things which I am passionate about. For example, family was one of my top values, and I want to find a job which allows me to start a family of my own and provides me with plenty of time off where I can spend with my children and wife. I think that is one of the big reasons I am currently majoring in education because it provides weekends and breaks throughout the year.
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In my group with Charlotte and Bry-Anna we discussed our top values and found that we had some that were the same while others were different. Two of the most common values were in family and in love. I think these two are very important in our lives because they give us a sense of belonging and of relationship with others. I think this activity was very good for us because it allowed us to reflect on what matters most to us.
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We also watched a video called Working Backwards to Solve Problems. In this video Maurice Ashley discussed the strategy he uses in chess to . This strategy is called retrograde analysis which means to look ahead, it pays to look backwards. This is helpful because it allows you to steer difficult chess positions into easier situations to play. He also applied this to life by giving a few examples of situations where it pays to work backwards. My favorite was the math problem because it looked like a really difficult problem but all you had to do was work backwards. After the video, we applied this kind of thinking into our future careers, and I learned that instead of just sticking with a set career path, I should look at my values and research careers which use those values.
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Overall, this week was very helpful because of the values activity. I think that it is always good to just look back to what things matter to you the most in order to see if those values are being displayed in your life. Thanks for reading this weeks blog!