Purpose, Reflective Practice, and Career Goals
Resources
For this assignment you will create a meaningful purpose statement.
People who understand their purpose are more likely to gain the full value of their education. Purpose serves as both an anchor and an inspiration as you take on the challenge of real learning. Your purpose is something that is unique to you. It draws on the passions, strengths, and relationships that energize you. Purpose is what drives you to contribute to something greater than yourself, to make a difference in the lives of others. What you do in this exploration will help you see more clearly what you have to offer and why it is important. Do not be surprised if your purpose statement evolves as you grow throughout your studies and your life journey. But do make the most of this current moment to stop and reflect on what is truly important: that purpose that nobody else is qualified to live out in the same way you can.
Effective educators continuously reflect on their professional actions and consequences to identify growth areas and professional development strategies designed to improve performance. As you begin your first course at Capella, you will explore resources and readings relevant to self-reflection, professional goals, and career aspirations.
For this assignment, write a paper that presents your professional purpose, career goals, and professional attributes.
Include the following required sections in your paper. Except for the introduction, each section must have its own heading, as noted:
Introduction: Provide an overview of what will be included in this Purpose, Reflective Practice, and Career Goals paper.
Professional Purpose and Career Goals: Reflect upon your career goals, including how your career aspirations align with your program or specialization outcomes. This self-reflection activity should inform your decision to reaffirm or reconsider your chosen degree program.
Professional Attributes: Articulate your professional strengths and opportunities for growth. Discuss why effective educators must be lifelong learners. Identify organizations, resources, and activities that could be used for professional development to strengthen your skills.
Career Center: Visit Capella University’s Career Center. Discuss how the Career Center resources and services may be useful as you pursue your career goals.
Conclusion: In one or two paragraphs, provide summative comments, including your thoughts about the value of identifying your professional purpose.
Assignment Requirements
Your paper should meet the following requirements:
The paper should be 4–6 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Double-space and use 12-point, Times New Roman font.
Include a title page with the following title: Purpose, Reflective Practice, and Career Goals. Model your title page after the Writing Center’s example (see APA Guide: The Title Page, in the Resources).
Follow current APA style and formatting for in-text citations.
Set proper margin justifications: Left aligned text, 1-inch margins top, bottom, left, and right.
Paginate your paper properly (in the header at the right page margin).
Incorporate appropriate headings and subheadings.
Note the APA Manual 6th edition (2010) instruction for the running head: Per section 8.03, “Use the automatic functions of your word-processing program to generate headers and page numbers for your file. (Do not type these manuscript page headers repeatedly in your word processing file)” (p. 230). “The running head is an abbreviated title that is printed at the top of the pages . . . should be a maximum of 50 characters, counting letters, punctuation, and spaces between words. It should appear flush left in all uppercase letters at the top of the title page and all subsequent pages”
