Assumes responsibility for professional behavior and growth, in accordance with AOTA standards
One of my key traits according to the Strengths-Based Leadership (Conchie and Rath, 2009) quiz is responsibility, which is a necessary skill to complete graduate school. Responsibility is needed to prioritize and complete tasks by a reasonable time without requiring the assistance of others to guide you. Even for my professional behavior and growth as an occupational therapy student, I made it a point to have a constant and open form of communication with my fieldwork educator to ensure I was receiving enough constructive feedback to hone my OT skills. Progress reviews every 3 weeks were a great way for me to grow as an occupational therapy student. In fact, I feel that any feedback that required modifications was well-received and adapted prior to the next review.
Another way that I assumed responsibility for my professional behavior to ensure growth as an occupational therapy student was by accepting the responsibility when something went awry and addressing how I planned to fix it in the future. Although this may not seem like much of a gesture, it went a long way with my fieldwork educators because they acknowledged my attempt to handle the situation as professionally as possible without pushing the blame onto someone else.
At one point, I had to assume professional responsibility by preparing and leading a Halloween-themed sensory activity for various groups at my second level 2 fieldwork. My fieldwork educator was sick and couldn't come in to work that day. She asked me if I felt comfortable to lead the group sessions that day. I was a little apprehensive but excited to lead my first sensory group. I knew this would be a great opportunity to learn and grow as a future occupational therapy practitioner. I spent the day getting the activity ready because the groups would arrive some time after lunch. I wanted to make the activity as realistic as possible. My fieldwork educator provided me with grapes, oily spaghetti noodles, packaging peanuts, cauliflower, Jello, carrot sticks, dried corn kernels, and dried mango. I put each food into its own plastic Jack-O-Lantern. Each Jack-O-Lantern was then assigned a Halloween-related theme; for instance, the carrot sticks were Witch's Fingers and the oily spaghetti noodles were Zombie Guts. The hardest food to prepare for the activity were the grapes. These were Monster Eyes and so the grape skins needed to be removed to simulate a soft and squishy texture. Everyone participated in the textures they were more comfortable with. Several kids even tried textures that were unpleasant without experiencing a meltdown afterward.
I feel that I carried myself as professionally as possible throughout this activity because that is my responsibility as a developing practitioner. I know that I grew as a future OT practitioner based on this learning and leadership opportunity and I hope to continue learning from these experiences and applying them to my practice in the future.
Another way that I assumed responsibility for my professional behavior to ensure growth as an occupational therapy student was by accepting the responsibility when something went awry and addressing how I planned to fix it in the future. Although this may not seem like much of a gesture, it went a long way with my fieldwork educators because they acknowledged my attempt to handle the situation as professionally as possible without pushing the blame onto someone else.
At one point, I had to assume professional responsibility by preparing and leading a Halloween-themed sensory activity for various groups at my second level 2 fieldwork. My fieldwork educator was sick and couldn't come in to work that day. She asked me if I felt comfortable to lead the group sessions that day. I was a little apprehensive but excited to lead my first sensory group. I knew this would be a great opportunity to learn and grow as a future occupational therapy practitioner. I spent the day getting the activity ready because the groups would arrive some time after lunch. I wanted to make the activity as realistic as possible. My fieldwork educator provided me with grapes, oily spaghetti noodles, packaging peanuts, cauliflower, Jello, carrot sticks, dried corn kernels, and dried mango. I put each food into its own plastic Jack-O-Lantern. Each Jack-O-Lantern was then assigned a Halloween-related theme; for instance, the carrot sticks were Witch's Fingers and the oily spaghetti noodles were Zombie Guts. The hardest food to prepare for the activity were the grapes. These were Monster Eyes and so the grape skins needed to be removed to simulate a soft and squishy texture. Everyone participated in the textures they were more comfortable with. Several kids even tried textures that were unpleasant without experiencing a meltdown afterward.
I feel that I carried myself as professionally as possible throughout this activity because that is my responsibility as a developing practitioner. I know that I grew as a future OT practitioner based on this learning and leadership opportunity and I hope to continue learning from these experiences and applying them to my practice in the future.
Disclaimer: I have gone through the correct and ethical procedures to receive permission from the guardians and school for posting pictures of my clients on this website.