Descriptive Response(Formal Introductory letter) Draft 2

  Subject: Descriptive Reflection

Dear Prof. Blackstone,

    My Name is Muhammad Zaki, but people normally just address me as Zaki. I'm a Mechanical Engineering student attending your critical thinking and communication class. I graduated from Singapore Polytechnic(SP) with a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. My interest in Engineering begins ever since I started riding a motorcycle, which has slowly developed into an interest of tinkering/repairing/fixing of the motorcycle which now includes general knowledge of how a motorcycle engine works. 

     My strength which I am proud of  is that I take an active role in listening. What this means is that I tend to listen and allow others to speak first or provide their POV before providing my input. This is so that whatever I am about to say, I have already taken into account their argument/point and I can craft my sentence around that. This helps to bring the discussion forward and provide meaningful insights for the party involved, instead of being a back-and-forth discussion where nothing of value was really brought forward/discussed. 

    However, a particular weakness of mine is that I develop anxiety when presenting to an audience. Generally, it could be a formal presentation where majority of the focus is on me. Having so many eyes and the focus of so many people on myself is something that bothers me. 

    One of my major goal for this module would be to work on my anxiety. I would like to further develop my confidence, especially when it comes to meeting new people/giving a presentation, and I do not want my anxiety to hinder myself from communicating effectively. Secondly, I'd like to improve on non-verbal communication traits like maintaining eye contact. 

    Being an active listener gives me the opportunity to work in a team. I can gather inputs and feedback from many others, before coming up with the right solution/method to carry on with the task at hand.  

Yours Sincerely,

Muhd Zaki