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What is Reflection and Reflective Writing?

REFLECTIONmeans 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.

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G. Guidelines for Reflective WritingYou 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 importantthing, or the two most difficultthings,

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, myvisuals 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 goodverbal 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.

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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 Criteria

10 9

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.

8 7

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.

6

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.

5 4

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 ofany critical thinking or originality. Structure problems might make it quite difficult to

read at times.