How to Write Reflections for Volunteering

Running head: REFLECTION: VOLUNTEERING
Reflection: Volunteering
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1REFLECTION: VOLUNTEERING
Introduction
• What are reflection and experiential learning? Why are they important for learning
and professional development?
Experiential learning enables students to link their theoretical knowledge with real life
experience (Karlström and Hamza 2019). It gives them a chance to apply the classroom
learnings to real use and learn from reflecting on the experience that they had. Reflections are
an extremely effective learning technique that enables students to identify their strengths,
weaknesses, skill development and gaps that further helps them in their personal and
professional development (Irwin and Coutts 2017). Kolb introduced a learning cycle which
enables the compete process of reflection which ultimately leads to experiential learning.
According to the model that he developed, experiential learning is facilitated by education,
work and personal development, which in turn helps the future experience (Tomkins and
Ulus 2016). My motivation to join volunteering was twofold. The first reason was to help
others and assist children to learn better. The other reason is to develop skills that can only be
gained through practical experience. Gaining new skills will increase my employability. In
modern times, recruiters are looking for soft skills as an important aspect. Many of the
graduates are struggling for their lack of soft skills (Beard, Schweiger and Surendran 2019).
Thus, I wanted to develop the skills. Teaching seemed the best option because I have interest
in this profession and it provides all the necessary soft skills that I might need for my future
employment.
The volunteer experience also cleared up before me the future career path that I want
to pursue (McFadden and Smeaton 2017). Throughout the experience, I was able to develop,
both hard skillset and soft skills that will help me in achieving the job that I want in future.
This essay explores my volunteer experience and analyses the skills and knowledge that I

2REFLECTION: VOLUNTEERING
gained through the experience. Moreover, it reflects on the UEL employability task to
compare my skill level with the industry requirements. Finally, it reflects on the overall
learning experience and key takeaways from the volunteering.
Discussion
• What did you hope to achieve through your volunteering experience? e.g. what skills
and knowledge (Human Capital) did you hope to gain? What links/relationships did you
develop? (Social Capital) What impact did you hope to have? (also think about
Motivational theory - why did you volunteer?)
Through my volunteering experience, I hoped to achieve experience in teaching
students, planning, teaching and managing classrooms that consisted students of different age
groups and develop an ability to engage students into their learning and activities. I also
wanted to develop the abilities to monitor pupils, assess them through their tasks, record their
progress and create lesson plans according to that (Grimard 2018). I am planning to become a
fully qualified teacher, which also requires interacting with the parents and school authority. I
wanted to gain knowledge about the professional duties of teachers and legal aspects of
teaching (refer to diary entry at appendix). Teachers need to create an open and adaptable
learning environment, which will promote cultural and linguistic inclusion. Students might
come from different cultural backgrounds and might need special assistance in learning new
language (Rensburg et al., 2018). I want to be able to help these students so that they are able
to cope with the learning from their initial years.
Through the volunteering experience, I also hoped to gain social relationships, both
personal and professional. I hoped that during my tenure as a volunteer, I would develop
good working relationships with other teachers working there. I believe that teamwork is the
best way achieve an integrated learning process. Thus, if the teachers work as an unit and

3REFLECTION: VOLUNTEERING
develop lesson plans they will be able to integrate the learnings that the students are having in
other classes. This way, the students will be able to apply their knowledge better. I had hoped
that my volunteering experience would provide me with the opportunity to engage in similar
activities and develop a better collegial relationship with the teachers (Rensburg et al. 2018).
I thought that I would develop close relationships with at least some of them where I will not
only share my professional thoughts but my personal things. I also hoped to develop a good
relationship with other administrative staffs of the institution.
I had joined the volunteering to gain interpersonal communication skills in
professional environment, develop my teaching abilities, and become a successful teacher
later on. Other than these, my motivation was the development of social relationships. I am a
social person and like to interact with different people and learn by looking at their examples.
This volunteer experience was no different and it did not disappoint me in most ways. The
expected impacts from the experience was an increased ability of my present skills and
knowledge, gap identification and analysis, understanding of future planning and action plan
as to what I needed to do to achieve the necessary skills and abilities (Gibert, Tozer and
Westoby 2017).
• In reality what skills, attitudes and knowledge you were able to gain and/or develop?
(make reference to the development of social and human capital) Support your
observations with evidence e.g. a statement from a supervisor, workshops/session
plans/evaluations from activities you were involved in (include these as appendices)
The volunteering experience that I had was able to keep up tom my hopes in many
ways and I was able to learn many things. The most important skill that I wanted to learn was
class management and lesson planning skills, which I learnt there (included in the appendix).
My role as a volunteer was initially to observe teachers when they were taking class, assist