What is Reflection and Reflective Writing?

REFLECTION means careful and critical thinking about a subject. This thinking involves looking at the facts, as well as your own opinions, feelings, experiences etc. about a subject. It is your own very personal look at a subject.

Reflection involves dealing with questions such as these: What exactly is the subject? What is my experience with this subject? What are my opinions or feelings about the subject? What causes me to have these opinions or these feelings? What experiences or evidence help me to form my opinion?

If I am considering a problem. o Why or how do I believe that this is a problem? o Problems have negative results; what are they? o What are the causes of the problem? o Are there any solutions? Why are these solutions helpful? If I am considering something positive or beneficial . o Why or how do I believe that it is positive or beneficial? o Are there any positive or beneficial results worth noting?

Reflection can also be put into words or writing.

Gary Wayne - 2010 1

 G. Guidelines for Reflective Writing

You will be given several questions which are related to your presentation work or to class activities. You must discuss your opinions and feelings about these in writing. Keep your thoughts personal; use original thinking as you discuss your experience. Give reasons and explanations for your ideas. Use examples, etc. to help you do this. 1. Organization: Each question is best discussed in a separate paragraph. Each question in the task should be given more-or-less equal attention. Use topic sentences to begin each new idea you will discuss. 2. Answer the question: Each question must be discussed completely. Explain your ideas carefully. Discuss only the question. Dont discuss unrelated subjects. If the question asks for one important thing, or the two most difficult things, only write what is asked for. Dont write extra information.

a. No lengthy introductions: This takes up too much time and is unnecessary. (e.g. In this paragraph I will talk about 3 things. First I will discuss..) b. No lists of ideas: (e.g. My eye contact was good, my voice was excellent, my visuals were amazing)
c.

No narrative (step-by-step explanation) -unless its necessary to support reflection: (e.g. First we chose the topic, then we had a meeting, then we discussed how we would organize the presentation.)

d. Do not write about the obvious: (e.g. The most important things I learned in this course are how to make and use visuals. I also learned good verbal and non-verbal skills and how to do research efficiently.) Check your verb tenses and other grammar points.

Be sure you spell the key course-related words correctly.

Gary Wayne - 2010 2

 H. Assessment Criteria for Reflective Writing

Your Reflective Writing will be marked according to the following criteria. All Reflective Writing tasks are assessed by at least two teachers.

Marks 10 9

Criteria
The task is fully and very competently completed. All aspects of the task are explained well in a logical and balanced way. The content shows a lot of original, creative and critical thinking about the topics. Used the language well without many significant errors.

87

The task Is mostly completed and generally it is done well. It has logical organization and some attempts at creative and critical thinking but some ideas might need to be explained more carefully. Some points may lack some detail. Language structures are mostly OK. Although there might be a few errors, these dont create real problems for the reader.

The writer shows basic understanding of the task but some important ideas may be missing, or not enough time is spent on certain points. The content is simple without a lot of critical thinking or explanation, but the ideas are mostly clear and logical. Structure errors might cause some difficulty for the reader.

54

The writer doesnt seem to have a good understanding of what he needs to do, or he doesnt address the points very well. Some of the task might be done too briefly or not at all. There is some useful content and some logical development of ideas, but it is poorly organized and lacks important detail or explanation. Very little evidence of any critical thinking or originality. Structure problems might make it quite difficult to read at times.

Gary Wayne - 2010 3