Cumulative Portfolio and Self-Assessment

Cumulative Portfolio and Self-Assessment

Cumulative Portfolio

Reading Analysis

Susan Tardanico, in an article published by Forbes magazine, wrote about tools that leaders and people in business could use to communicate with their employees and customers. Some of these ways include simple but formal forms acceptable and easily understood by people at the same time maintaining professionalism (Shi, Cui, & Li, 2015).

Experience and Feedback: In a business setting, using simple language while speaking with customers creates a sense of comfort. Transparency and giving clear instructions on policies and roles to customers promotes understanding between them and the service provider. Customers also tend to relax and end up enjoying the services without hidden responses. Maintaining eye contact is also essential as it helps one read non-verbal cues and reactions. On the customer’s side, they feel well to take care of, appreciated, and listened to. However, the action is necessary to serve a customer adequately.

From personal experience, I agree with the author’s idea of communication, involving listening with both ears and eyes. I find it helpful to talk to my colleagues and supervisor in a simple, natural language with clear and straight forward points. Simplicity helps in saving on time, and it ensures acceptance to correction. For example, in this assignment, there were grammatical errors and repetition of words that have synonyms. Following the feedback given by my colleagues, I was able to learn new vocabulary.

Research Analysis

Marijuana Legalization

The legalization of marijuana remains to be a debatable issue. Some individuals would consider the use of marijuana, while others still find it illegal (Cerdá, Wall, Keyes, Galea, & Hasin, 2012). The advantages and disadvantages have a major role in the way people perceive the issue. The arising question is how marijuana use will be regulated when finally legalized. The purpose of this paper is to support marijuana legalization.

Experience and Feedback: from this assignment, I learned a few facts about marijuana. For one, Marijuana has health benefits as it is considered a pain reliever, reducing nausea and spasticity. Although most drugs are used for the same purpose, the effects caused by marijuana are less adverse. Finally, there has not been any reported case of death due to marijuana usage. Common drug-related deaths are due to an overdose of hard drugs, such as heroin and cocaine.

However, I realized that I was biased on only giving positive aspects rather than giving detailed research on the topic. Therefore, the document is more of a debate than a summary. Also, with the little research I carried out, I came to learn some of the negative impacts of marijuana and other hard drugs (Monte, Zane, & Heard, 2015). The main challenge of my topic is that most of the documented information is biased, and for clear results, a relatable source is necessary. However, with the nature of the assignment, it is impossible to talk to drug users for security reasons.

Feedback given by my colleagues on the topic and assignment, in general, was positive. The topic was interesting to my colleagues as it is an issue affecting most young people. Thus my research was helpful and informative for any individual willing to start the use of marijuana or any other hard drug.

Oral presentation

Experience and Feedback: The oral presentation was about the research paper on marijuana legalization. As I wrote this presentation, it was an exciting experience since my research topic was interesting enough to keep my work relevant. I received Positive feedback from my colleagues on the use of PowerPoint. The use of background images created a clear and imaginative view to support my research. However, some colleagues complained that I overdid the animations.

Self-Assessment

Goals

my main aim was to improve on spelling mistakes, proper use of present and past tense as well as prepositions. Since I am from an Arabic descent, grammar has been a problem, especially in writing. For example, as I write words as they are pronounced ignoring the fact that some words are written with silent letters, such as ‘write’ as ‘rite’ ignoring the letter ‘w.’ As I finish up the assignment, it is clear to say that I have partly achieved my goal. However, more practice is required.

Assignments

The assignment that has made me improve and achieve my goal is the research analysis as it involved individual research and writing from scratch and in detail. I am thus giving me ample time to exercise my weakness. The oral presentation has also helped me improve my pronunciation skills. The non-helpful assignment was the reading analysis. Even though there were new words learned, their use, meaning, and application remain challenging to contemplate.

Improvements

Through the oral presentation, I have improved on my expression skills. My colleagues and supervisor corrected pronunciation errors. However, my grammar is still an issue of concern. Thus, I would have to do more writing practice to ensure I ultimately achieve my perfect grammar goal. To improve on the proper use of preposition, I will watch more movies, talk to people, and read more books.

Conclusion

Communication is an essential tool for human beings. For proper notification, the right words must be applied and used correctly. These assignments help build one’s language to facilitate communication. Basic things such as paying attention to others, giving a response, and reacting to what is said are essential skills to nature for a respectful conversation. Each feedback should be taken positively since every day is a learning experience.

References

Cerdá, M., Wall, M., Keyes, K. M., Galea, S., & Hasin, D. (2012). Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse, and dependence. Drug and alcohol dependence, 120(1-3), 22-27.

Monte, A. A., Zane, R. D., & Heard, K. J. (2015). The implications of marijuana legalization in Colorado. Jama, 313(3), 241-242.

Shi, Y., Cui, X., & Li, D. (2015). Discrete-time behavioral portfolio selection under cumulative prospect theory. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 61, 283-302.