National 4: Creation and Production

Personal Reflective

Learning Intentions

Understand the Creation and Production Unit and the outcomes we must pass

Understand what is meant by personal reflective writing

Improve our understanding and use of implicit thoughts and feelings.

The Big Picture

Learners who complete this Unit will be able to:

1 Create and produce straightforward written texts

2 Participate actively in straightforward spoken activities

Outcome 1

The learner will:

1 Create and produce straightforward written texts by:

1.1 Selecting ideas and content, using a format and structure appropriate to purpose and audience

1.2 Applying knowledge of language in terms of language choice and technical accuracy

1.3 Communicating meaning at first reading

Outcome 2

The learner will:

2 Participate actively in straightforward spoken activities by:

2.1 Selecting ideas and content, using a format and structure appropriate to purpose and audience

2.2 Applying knowledge of language in terms of language choice

2.3 Communicating meaning at first hearing

2.4 Using aspects of non-verbal communication

Success Criteria

To pass this unit we will:

Complete a piece of personal reflective writing which is structured well, filled with thoughts and feelings and reflection and is technically accurate.

Complete a solo talk on our personal reflective.

Personal reflective?

Personal reflective writing involves writing about an experience you have had. You should show how you felt about what happened to you both at the time and, if the experience is over, how you feel about it when you look back on it.

This requires that you stand back and look at your behaviour, feelings and reactions in certain situations you have experienced.

As well as trying to give an account of the experience, there are other aspects to be considered. The reader should get a sense of the writer's personality through how they reacted to or behaved during the experience.

The writing should also have a clear structure, with an opening, development of ideas and a resolution.

Personal reflective?

It should concentrate on an event or feeling which has stuck in your mind - it doesn't have to be unusual or earth-shattering but it should have changed the way you thought or felt or changed something about you/in your life- it needs to have had an impact on you!

It could be an object that has significance for you, such as a favourite toy from childhood or an old piece of clothing. Alternatively it might be a recollection of a time you felt a powerful emotion, such as fear or pride.

These are much more interesting than long sections of description about minor details of a holiday. That is not to say that you cannot write about a holiday, but you should concentrate on the part of it that affected you. Readers are not likely to be interested in every detail.

Personal reflectiveYou should select any experience that lets you do more than simply recalling events. It needs to be something that allows you to reflect on what happened and show self-awareness.

Compare the following two extracts. Which one is better and why?

‘I had arranged to meet my friends at ten o'clock. I left the house at half nine and walked to the bus stop. I had to wait twenty minutes because the bus was late. Eventually I got to town.’

‘It was with excitement and some nervousness I set off to meet my friends in town at the agreed time. As luck would have it the bus was late - this day of all days!’

Both examples are about the same experience. Yet the second one has a sense of reflection, thinking back over the event. It is not just a list of things that happened.To a reader the really interesting things are not the big events and every detail of what happened but the writer's own thoughts and feelings about what happened and how they are described.

Which of these two introductions is better and why?

“I have always wanted to be an actress. It is my main ambition. Drama is my favourite subject at school and I would like to study it in more depth.“

Acting: it has been my sole ambition ever since the day I met David Tennant on a plane coming back from holiday. We sat for hours chatting and planning my next step in my soon to be startling career… Well no, not really, but this is what acting is all about - pretending to be someone else for day, an hour, a while."

Implicit/ExplicitWe want to describe our thoughts and feelings both explicitly and implicitly.

Change the following explicit feelings to implicit feelings. Use of literary techniques will help you to do this.

Example: Explicit- he was disappointed when he opened the present.

Implicit- his heart sank when he opened the present

1. He was nervous about the exam.

2. She was happy because the sun was shining.

3. She was angry with the class.

4. He was excited about the gig.

TaskThink about a person you have met who has changed you or affected you in some way (a friend, your dad, a family member, a coach, a teacher?)

Write a paragraph detailing the following:

• Who they are and why they are important to you.

• Your first memories of them

• An experience which shows how they changed/affected you

• The extent of the impact they have had on you.

Include lots of thoughts and feelings, implicit and explicit, and try to use some descriptive language!

Learning Intentions

Improve our personal reflective writing.

Improve our use of similes, metaphors and personification to show implicit feeling

S.C.

1. Create a personal reflective toolbox

2. Improve a piece of writing using the tool-box

3. Write at least a personal reflective paragraph on a memorable object

Personal reflective essays

Personal reflective essays are a chance for you to really show off your creative skills. Inside your wonderful brain, you will have hundreds of memories of thoughts and feelings which you can tap into. It will be easy to describe these things because you have felt them and experienced them- you know what they were like!

Sometimes the easiest way to describe a feeling is to use figurative language- because emotions are complicated and therefore hard to explain simply, or through describing something else which implies your feelings.

‘I often think about her soft, lined hands as she chopped vegetables or fruit for her famous fruit salad. I wonder how many of those lines were a result of me and my difficult ways. I remember how those hands would shake with emotion as she tried to explain to me how worried she had been…’

Personal reflective toolbox

• Include lots of thoughts and feelings

• Use the 5 senses to describe things

• Use some figurative language- similes, metaphors and personification

• Use sentence structure for effect

• Reflect back- use phrases like ‘looking back now…’ ‘When I think about…’ ‘This changed me as… ‘I didn’t realise it then but…’

• Use implicit feelings instead of explicit- try to show things instead of simply telling them.

• Show how your feelings developed – beginning- middle- end.

Can you improve this paragraph using your tools?

When I first got my dog, I was really happy but a little scared. It was a warm, summer day, and I had just got in from school. The sky was blue. I was sad as my goldfish had died the day before. I got home to find my mum looking strange. She said there was a present in the living-room. I walked through and saw Bonnie. I called her Bonnie because she was. She was a grey Irish wolfhound. Irish wolfhounds are very big. I was very small. I remember I wondered what it would be like to sit on her back: whether it would hurt her or whether she would walk around with me. I decided never to try as I didn’t want to hurt her. On that first day she licked my face. I was disgusted but also really happy as I knew she liked me. I clapped her back and realised that she wasn’t scary at all. From then on, Bonnie and I did everything together. She would look after me when we saw scary people in the park, and I always felt safe when she was around. She would play with me when I was bored, and she even helped me to make new friends.

Learning Intentions

Improve our personal reflective writing.

Improve our use of similes, metaphors and personification to show implicit feeling

S.C.

1. Feedback our improved ‘Bonnie’ examples to the class

2. Write at least a personal reflective paragraph on a memorable object using our reflective toolbox

3. peer- assess either person or object example

The quilt that my Grandma made for me is my most loved and significant object in my life for a variety of reasons. It is a hand made quilt that my Grandmother made especially for me with complementary shapes and fabric choices. Nana gave me the quilt five years ago when my favourite colour was pink. Knowing that, Nana used as much pink fabric as possible. I love the way the patterns matched my room as well. My prized quilt keeps me cozy during cold days and provides me with calmness during hard times. The quilt is just the right size to keep me warm during a family movie on a chilly night, or when I am sad, I go straight to my room, grab my quilt, and wrap myself up in it. I always feel protected and better after I have spent some time snuggled in my precious quilt. Furthermore, nearly two years ago Nana passed away and now my special quilt reminds me of her and how hard she worked on it. Every time I went to her house, I always saw her working on a quilt. She would stop what she was doing and ask me my opinion on her project. I would always tell her that the quilts were perfect and beautiful. In life, Nana was a loving and detail-oriented person and she showed that through her work. Every section of my quilt has intricate and precise designs and I feel all the stitching of love sewn in it. I will keep this quilt my entire life as a memento of the joys I shared with my Grandma. All in all, my most cherished item is the quilt that my Grandmother made me due to the bright colours and ornate patterns, the solace it provides, and how it makes me remember her.

Task

Finish your writing about a person who has impacted you, and then try this.

Write about an object that means a lot to you.

Explain what the object is, why it is important to you and outline the memories that you have had with it. Explain how the object makes you feel and how you would feel if you lost it. Outline the impact the object has had on you.

Writing about yourself

In order to really reflect upon yourself and the changes to you, it is a good idea to look at yourself and think about who you are and how you would describe yourself.

In Personal Writing, when you write about yourself you write about yourself with the kind of detail and accuracy an author might devote to his most important character, a journalist might devote to the personality of a famous politician or a doctor might devote to a detailed analysis of a patient's body. Before you write, try to look at yourself in a calm, dispassionate way.

You should start by writing about your appearance and then write separate paragraphs on your personality, life, friendships etc. Try to reflect on why you are like this as you write.

Writing about yourselfBasic example:

‘I have a very round face. It is a bit like the moon, except I have very red rosy cheeks. My eyes are quite rounded too. My eyebrows are brown and they arch very slightly over each of my eyes. They do not join in the middle. I have freckles, but not too many, and they are mainly around my eyes. My hair is brown and I keep it short. I sometimes gel it into a spike. My nose is not very big and a bit like a button. I have a dimple on my chin. My chin isn't too sharp either but it is there and doesn't just disappear into my neck! My ears are about medium size. They don't stick out too much and I like them.

(The rest of this piece would examine different aspects of the narrator - moods, different sides of personality, friendships, etc.)

Learning Intentions

Improve our personal reflective writing.

Improve our use of descriptive language

Improve our self-reflection

S.C.

1. Finish writing a reflective piece on ourselves

2.Finish writing at least a personal reflective paragraph on a memorable object/person using our reflective toolbox

Effective writing about yourself

A better example:

My forearms have blood vessels which stand out as blue lines from the elbows to the fingers. People who play in music bands tell me that they are the sort of forearms and hands that should play a guitar as they look very dramatic. My fingers are quite slender: I have often thought that they would be good for playing either guitar or piano. My arms are covered in fair, brown hair and my skin is quite pale but it tans easily and quickly becomes a light brown. I don't have lots of muscles but I am a little bit bulkier than the some of the distance runners that might be seen in a marathon. I have noticed a slight curving of my shoulders and feel it is linked to poor posture which I have never done anything to improve on.

That’s an issue of mine- not doing things to improve. I know I am lazy but my laziness stops me from improving even this. My teachers are always shouting at me, and they are almost as bad as my parents.

→ variety in wording and sentence structure, with attention to detail, makes this an effective piece of writing

TasksNow, finish your writing about a person who has impacted you and about an object that means a lot to you.

Person task- Think about a person you have met who has changed you or affected you in some way (a friend, your dad, a family member, a coach, a teacher?)Write a paragraph detailing the following: who they are and why they are important to you, your first memories of them, an experience which shows how they changed/affected you, and the extent of the impact they have had on you.

Object task- Explain what the object is, why it is important to you and outline the memories that you have had with it. Explain how the object makes you feel and how you would feel if you lost it. Outline the impact the object has had on you.

Peer-assessmentRead over your person, object and self writing and choose your best one.

Pass this to a partner to peer-assess for you.

Read your partner’s writing and give them two stars and a wish.

Choose five words or phrases that you think could be improved and under-line them.

Beneath their writing, write suggestions as to how they could improve each under-lined word or phrase (number them 1-5)

Learning Intentions

Improve our personal reflective writing.

Improve our use of descriptive language

Improve our self-reflection

S.C.

1. Write about an experience we have had and reflect on how it has changed us

2.Use our piece of writing on ourselves and our personal reflective toolbox to help us write

ExperiencesSome of the most interesting writing you can do is writing about an experience and then reflecting on what that experience means to you now. Your writing should be full of descriptions - what you saw, heard, smelled, tasted, felt and thought - and should also convey the growth of your personality from what you valued and believed before, to what you value and believe as a result of the experience.

Whatever experience you choose to write about, your essay will be better if you have had time to reflect on the experience sufficiently and can convey that in your writing.

You can describe the event and then add your reflection at the end but we have found that the best personal writing 'weaves' reflection through it - you reflect on parts of the event as you go along - before adding a final reflection.

Basic writing about an experience and reflecting on it

Basic guidelines:

• capital letters to start sentences and full stops to finish sentences

• sentences to make sense

• make clear the experience is in the past

• keep tenses correct

‘I remember when our class was writing in a short story competition. We had been asked to write about aliens coming to our hometown which was only a small village. Being a boy and keen on all things to do with space, I was really enthusiastic. I started it that night. I had a computer game, for the now ancient ZX Spectrum, called 'Head Over Heels'. The heroes of this game were two creatures that could join together or separate. One could only move by flying and was called 'Head'; the other would move by running and was called 'Heels'. They were to be the two heroes of my story, along with myself.

At home we had a big oak table. I sat down at it and started to write. I sat for a long time. It may have been hours, but since, in those days, minutes felt like hours, it was probably more like an hour and a half. I can't imagine it being more than that. Time now goes a lot quicker and as I get older it gets even faster.’

(The rest of the story would tell about the events that followed but would include reflection by the adult writing about the childhood experience.)

Effective writing about an experience and reflecting on it

To create an effective piece of writing, you need to pay more attention to the language and techniques you use. Again, you describe an experience that happened to you and interweave it with reflections on changes in you as a result of the experience.

Effective guidelines:

• words are carefully chosen and are varied

• sentence structure is varied and conveys writer's personality

• important changes/emotions highlighted and commented on

• emotions/ideas from the past compared to the present

• evaluation/judgements about compared feelings/thoughts

• deeper understandings conveyed

• conclusions about the past and, possibly, the future, made clear

This type of personal writing, the reflective essay, is about your past - emotions, thoughts, actions - and your present, so much of the writing should come naturally.

‘I was about to perform my dance routine for the first time on stage. I was so nervous; I could not stop shaking. I looked down at my legs, dressed in tights, and they were vibrating. I couldn't help it, and I thought everyone would notice. Fear before a performance can be good or it can be very bad. I've experienced both. Now I think there are two types of nerves: the first type heightens your senses; you experience the nerves but you feel that this is preparing you so that you will be at your peak in the performance. You are like a harp that quivers at the most delicate touch. This is exciting and helps me believe in myself.

The other type, though, is horrible. It is like being on the rack. Your muscles tighten and drain your confidence. you have a growing sense of failure, like black clouds across the sky. Well, this is how I felt at that moment. I had performed many times before but this time I'd been feeling tired and did not practise as much as I should have. Instead of practice giving me confidence, the lack of practice had the opposite effect. This is something I would never do now. I peered round the curtain at the side of the stage: it seemed like everyone was watching me alone.’

→ more use of simile and metaphor → an awareness of the feelings then along with understanding now

Structure

Your reflective should follow a similar structure to a creative piece.

You need an introduction which should introduce what you are going to write about and why you felt it was important. It should set the scene.

Then your rising action to describe the build up to your main experience

Climax- will be your main experience

Falling action- what happened after your main experience

And then you need a conclusion

The conclusionIn a reflective piece of writing the conclusion is very important.

The conclusion should:

• sum-up the experience

• show thought about the experience

• (possibly) make statements about the future

Example:

‘At the time I thought the world had caved in. I felt absolutely humiliated and a complete fool. The feelings at the time were like a thousand pins pressing in on me at once, creating a huge amount of panic. My thoughts, instead of allowing me to take control, screamed in my head ‘Why did I try something I had never practised before?’ I had hoped for a miracle. Nightmare. Yet now I don't feel that way. I feel almost grateful, in a way, for that awful experience. The feelings were so intense for years afterwards that I never forgot this lesson: practise. I always practise hard now before a performance. It has become so much a part of my preparation. I know if I practise, then all will be well. I know if I don't then I'll be on that rack again. My rule now is until I can do it perfectly time after time, then I haven't practised enough. So I do more. I learned that night that I wasn't good enough not to practise. I couldn't just do it. I had to work. This lesson opened the door to all the great moments that came later with my dancing career. I went further than I thought because I saw that practice made me better - so I practised more! I believe, rightly or wrongly, that failure has been my best teacher. And that evening was its greatest lesson.’

Techniques- 5 sensesMost of us experience life through our five senses. You can describe describe objects, places, people and feelings very effectively in your descriptions if you make use of the senses in your writing.

The five senses are smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing.

The use of senses in this description of waiting in a queue in a fish and chip shop makes the readers feel they are in the chip shop along with the writer. The 'senses' expressions have been highlighted.

‘I stand in the queue in The Corbie, my hands clutching my cold two pound coin. My eyes are fixed on the chips - assorted shapes of delight -lying outwith my grasp, behind the thick, heated, protecting glass. I look past the steamed up window at blurred multicoloured shapes hurrying past. The smell of frying tweaks my nose and I can even smell the bitter, delicious, scent, of brown sauce being squirted on the white pudding supper of the lucky recipient in front. My taste buds can't wait. Suddenly the door bangs open behind me and the chip shop is filled with the sounds of rain hammering on the pavement outside as someone else joins the queue.’

Learning IntentionsImprove our personal reflective writing.

Improve our use of the five senses

Improve our self-reflection

S.C.

1. Finish identifying the five senses in the exemplar

2. Evaluate the exemplar

3. Use the exemplar, our piece of writing on ourselves, our plan and our personal reflective toolbox to help us write about our own experience.

Example

Read the example and underline all uses of the 5 senses.

What did you like about the essay?

What do you think could be improved?

PlanningThink about an experience that has had the greatest impact on you- a holiday? A gig? Winning/losing a competition? Some-one’s death? Someone’s birth? A time you got into trouble?

Create a mind-map of ideas for that experience- remember to include emotions and changes that have occurred to you as a result of your experience.

Failure at performance

nerves

Hadn’t practiced

Sea of faces staring at me

Felt sick

Guilt/embarrassmentPeople told me I had done well but I knew I had let them down

Dancing instructor disappointed

Disappointed in myself

Now always practice

Made me a better dancer long-term

Now, plan the structure of your writing

Introduction-

Rising action-

Climax-

Falling action-

Resolution-

In each section you should try to reflect at least once- so you may want to put a brief note of how that bit makes you feel now, or how it changed you on your plan. Use the exemplar to help you.

Now, plan the structure of your writing

Introduction-

Rising action-

Climax-

Falling action-

Resolution-

In each section you should try to reflect at least once- so you may want to put a brief note of how that bit makes you feel now, or how it changed you on your plan. Use the exemplar to help you.

Learning IntentionsImprove our personal reflective writing.

S.C.

1. Write detailed version of chosen personal reflective piece.

2. Proofread as we write to check technical accuracy

3. Use personal reflective toolbox

4. Stick to plan/correct structure

5. Work silently and remain focused on task

6. If finish, fill in AVU log and evaluation sheets for folio.

Writing time

Now, use your plan and your tool-box and begin to write.

Use the exemplar to help you also.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Assessment pieceChoose either your person, object or experience piece to base your personal reflective on.

Choose the one that you think shows the biggest impact on you, and that you know you can describe and reflect on in detail.

Introduction- introduce your object, your person or your experience

Rising action- how you found your object/ met your person/ describe the build up to your experience

Climax- Describe main reason object means something to you/experience with person that shows why they mean so much to you/describe main experience

Falling action- effect of having object in your life/ effects of experience with person/describe result of experience- what happened after

Resolution- How you feel about it now/the impact on you/future impact