Reflection on Stot

Reflection On STOT

Name: Choi Chun Wai

Sid: 1155093627

Going back to my days in secondary school, general education meant nothing but endless paper drillings and frustratingly boring lectures in which students acted like soliders receiving long orders from their commanders interestingly called ‘teachers’. So, I walked into the classroom on the very first STOT lesson with extreme anxiety, thinking whether it would give me the same pain I endured in the past. However, as it turned out, the University-version of general education was so rewarding and meaningful that it became my favorite courses throughout the semester. In the followings, I would like to share my what I have acquired and cherished in that very four memorable lessons.

First of all, STOT was a brilliant opportunity for me to constantly polish my interpersonal skills. Before attending lessons, I was afraid of joining group activities as I often could not communicate with others with ease and confidence. I have been teased by my friends as a nerd for many years. Yet, on the first lesson, peer discussion was introduced to me in which the responsible group would sent their groupmates to each of the small group to lead the talk. I could remember the topic concerned was ‘what would you do on the blink of doomsday’. I refused to talk at start but I was repeated encouraged in a warm and polite way to share my thought. Then, when I said I would like to spend time with my family, everyone agreed with me. I found people around me were so open-minded that you could always talk with them only with a bit of initiative. Sadly after that, some of us added that they had some family issues like divorces so that being together was ideal but not possible. Knowing this, I tried my best to show my sympathy and comforted them. So, the point I found was the importance of understanding the feelings of others when communicating, both for preventing unnecessary disputes and respect. Also, I gradually discovered that when exchanging ideas with others, even if you disagreed with them, it did not mean their views were utterly pointless as not everything was so black and white. Therefore, to discuss with them, I should always tried to point out some good things in their argument first, before introducing mine. This was the best way to show your awareness in a talk in my opinion.

        Moreover, I was delighted to get a touch with the art of groupwork. In the past, studying was all about tests and exams. You always fought alone and collaboration with others was unnecessary. But, at university, thins was strikingly different. We had to work as a team to compete assignments or did some group projects. Luckily, I, together with three other newly met classmates, were assigned into a group and asked to prepare the presentation on the second lesson. At the very beginning, we did not even have an idea on the topic. But, we went to search for the recent news about university and students’ life in the city together to narrow down the scope. Few hours later, we managed to find a load of them for reference, possibly enough to do a term paper, and decided to talk about ‘dreams’. I was stunned by the power of collective work. Even though you were unfamiliar with something, your partner could help. When preparing presentation, we tried to distribute work according to the speciality of each of us. For incident, I was asked to found a heart-touching video to show one’s determination to realize dream as I always spent time on youtube. Considerably, such way of working was efficient in the way that everyone could exert his or her utmost to achieve overall excellence. This was probably the greatest value of doing group project. During presentation, we made some accidental dead air and, sometimes, audiences gave no response to us. Yet, I found this kind of embarrassing situations were solvable by implicit recognition. We just did not leave each other alone and kept the show going for the good of the team. I could clearly feel the strong bonding connecting us. Admittedly, there were many mistakes made the presentation was not that ideal, I still gain plenty of valuable experience for improvement in the future.