blog assignment
In assignments on December 3, 2009 at 8:31 am
Freewrite for ten minutes about what you believe you have learned in your ENGL 101/Transitions cohort. This can be an open, honest reflection of the successes and challenges that you experienced in these courses, identifying the accomplishments that you are proud of and things that you might have done differently.
Specifically, think about the kind of writer/student you were in high school. Have your writing strategies, habits, or academic identity changed at all? If so, how? If not, why do you think that is the case?
This post will get you thinking about things you might want to address in your final reflection essay, so anything is fair game. At the same time, not everything you address in this freewrite needs to be included in your essay.
In assignments on December 3, 2009 at 8:22 am
The reflection essay offers you a chance to look back at what you have learned and accomplished this semester. The following questions may help you brainstorm some things you would like to discuss in your reflective essay:
- Improved Writing Skills What have you worked hard at improving this semester? How can we see those efforts in each of your essays? For example, a student who spent a lot of time working on providing more detail in his writing might talk about those efforts as part of his reflective essay.
- Exposure to New Ideas Were there any ideas or issues that we discussed in class that really captured your attention? If so, how, and how did you incorporate those ideas into your essays?
- Changed Understanding of Writing Did your opinion on writing change as a result of the course? If so, how? How can we see that change in the work you did over the semester? Example: A student who always wrote papers the night before might have learned that his writing improves when he allows himself the time to write and revise drafts—that could be something he discusses in his reflective essay.
- Applicability to Other Courses/Life Do you think the writing skills and rhetorical concepts discussed in this class will have relevance to the courses you take in the future? To your future career? Your non-academic life? A student who really got into discussions about appealing to audiences might be able to explain how those concepts better helped her understand how to communicate effectively with different people like her parents, partner, or boss.
REFLECTION PITFALLS
- Not Reflecting. Reflecting is hard, for sure, but many students shy away from the task of thinking critically about their work and instead simply provide a roadmap of the course syllabus—My first essay was about X, my second essay was about Y, etc. While it’s okay to explain what each essay what about, don’t forget to also explain what they helped you learn.
- Not Providing Details. Be sure you explain the statements you make about what you’ve learned during the course. If you say you’ve learned more about the value of revision, explain when you learned it, how you applied that knowledge, etc. Don’t assume your reader knows what you’re talking about.
- Kissing Up. I know it’s tempting to think of this reflection letter as one last ditch effort to bump your grade up, but please, please, please don’t try to kiss up.
DUE DATE
The final reflection essay is due at the same time as your revised draft of Project 4– 12 noon on Thursday, December 10. Please post it to your blog with a post titled “Reflection Essay.” You don’t need to upload the document; drafting it as a regular blog post will be sufficient. Essays posted after the 12 noon deadline will not be accepted.
project four
In assignments on December 3, 2009 at 8:21 am
As with past assignments, you will be turning in your fourth and final project online. When you submit your final revised project before noon on Thursday, December 10, please remember to include links to the following components of your work:
- Revised draft of Project Four
- Peer Review Reflection blog post
- Peer Review Documents (P4 Peer Review Questions that your responder completed for you, and the document with comments on it)
- Link to first draft of Project Four
- Link to Project Four invention blog post (Post #9)
Because this material will be turned in during finals week after our last class meeting, you must be certain that your uploaded documents were added to your blog correctly, so be sure to check your work! Projects turned in after 12 noon on December 10 will not be accepted.