Stock photo of person writing in their journal.While students are in their field placements, they are asked to write field reflections approximately every 2 weeks over the course of the academic year. Their assignment is described as follows…

An important skill for all social workers is the ability to critically reflect upon the work they are engaged in. You may reflect on your growth, experiences, strengths, challenges, difficulties, successes, supervision, etc. from the field placement. It can be very informal writing (like a journal).

Last week, students completed their first field journals and here are some of the overall themes from their writing:

  • Do I deserve to be here (in the MSW program, in my internship, in the IV-E Fellowship Program)
  • Am I capable? Can I really do this?
  • Excitement, Open-Mindedness, Humility
  • Being challenged with not knowing, not being the expert, adjustment to being a learner.

As the year moves forward, we’ll share some of the student’s field reflections with you here.