reflective writing sample pdf

reflective writing sample pdf

The Importance of Reflective Writing

1. Introduction

Reflective writing: The importance of asking others Reflective writing is an essential part of learning and understanding. It is an unbiased and objective form of writing. Reflective writing is used to analyze and examine an event, memory, or observation. In doing so, it is a way for anyone to clarify what they are learning, to question what they happen to be unsure about, and to generate ideas from his or her own experience. It is also a way to make a connection between the learned material and one’s own life. This form of writing is expected of a student during or right after taking some sort of test or examination, as a way to better understand the material tested. It is also frequently the first step in the process of developing research. Reflective writing is often assessed through learning logs or portfolios, which act as a repository for the items. Reflective writing ultimately helps the writer to communicate an idea, to compare the course material with anything, to understand a concept, and to assess what we learn.

2. Benefits of Reflective Writing

Other high benefits for language learning students are: – They can practice and learn how to express opinions in good sentences and paragraphs. – They can improve their language skills. – They can increase their metacognition skills. – Additionally, they can get motivational learning from the contents to improve their learning process.

Reflective writing has many benefits. It can be used by language learning students as a useful aid for teachers, a development tool, and a reflective thinking method. Reflective writing is important to increase students’ learning. After a teacher explains a topic, the student needs to find references and think about the topic before writing down the results in a way that can be understood. This method is much more useful compared to other learning methods. By doing reflective writing, students can improve their writing abilities. Reflection is a thinking process that can be done alone through writing. Students who have less confidence in making reflections can contact their teacher, who can serve as a facilitator. Students can share the results of their reflections and ask questions or discuss interactively with the teacher. The teacher can correct or confirm the students’ reflection results.

3. Techniques for Effective Reflective Writing

This is not a grammar exercise and doesn’t have to be made public. No one else ever has to read it, so you may write in the first person and abbreviate if you find it easier.

One of the best ways to increase the significance of an event or experience so that you can improve your reflective writing skills is to focus on what you feel or felt about it. This involves describing the event, experience, or moment in terms of an emotion; trying to pinpoint the depth of the emotion from being very precise in what it was right through to the intensity of it. Becoming skilled with this technique takes a lot of practice (usually in the form of many years).

Plain description does not demonstrate that you have reflected on the event and gained from it. What you would usually consider to be the climax of the event, the part where something actually happened, isn’t necessarily the most significant part of the event for you. High impact events can be superficial, and what matters is what was happening for you at the time.

Reflective writing can take many forms. It is not a tidy, linear process. Getting a feel for this kind of writing can be a bit of a challenge, but it’s a good idea to start by consciously reflecting on an event or situation and thinking about what you learned from it. Use the following techniques to help you get your thoughts flowing onto paper. Remember that reflective writing has a descriptive component and so must have a wide range of adjectives to draw from. Basically, what this means is that you need to reflect on how a particular event or experience has affected you and what you might have done differently next time because of this. It is important to keep the focus on your experience. It is your reflection’s significance.

4. Examples of Reflective Writing

Place: Bernard Mzeki Secondary School. Period: 22 August – 2 September 2005 Working as a student teacher for the past two weeks has been a unique and profound opportunity. I had imaginings of what life would be like as a student teacher but reality blew them out of the water within the first two days. I experienced many different emotions during my time at the school which has led to some deep personal changes. My assumptions about teaching and my abilities as a teacher were challenged and redefined. My eyes were opened and a whole new world revealed. This has been valuable experience which I will carry with me for the rest of my days.

In order to get the highest possible grade for your work, it is vital that you understand the various expectations and levels of reflective writing you will be assessed on. The following is an example of university level reflective writing. This one looks at the individual elements which make the essay good. This piece is particularly good at understanding the underlying assumptions in the arguments and the cultural biases in the material. Both of these are essential to a good argument in history. This example also explores the writer’s personal thoughts about the material and this enhances the level of analysis. Personal thoughts are often the best way to gain insight on an issue and this is communicated well. This piece also talks about the implications of the arguments raised in the source material. This is important as good analysis can often produce several possible interpretations. Consideration of these conclusions is the logical end to good critical analysis. The following is an extract from a first-class reflective journal written by a university student working at a Zimbabwean high school. The student completed the Higher Diploma in Secondary Education this year.

5. Conclusion

Reflection is the necessary bridge in the learning process that takes place when a student is involved in a service-learning experience. There are the traditional strategies such as writing in journals, reporting orally in front of the class, or writing an essay describing the experience. Since reflective writing is an inquiry means to generate meaning, it is rightfully the methodology to employ. It has proved most insightful in the deepest level of gaining understanding. That very well may be the reason it is immovable in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in reaching one’s BATNA/client. BATNA is Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. Negotiations can be one of the most complex types of communication, particularly in a setting where interests are opposed and the bargaining power is imbalanced. This is a typical description of how a lawsuit can begin and lawyers are the most familiar talking about their adversarial experiences in negotiations. In recent years, the realist paradigm of negotiation as war has given way to the mutual gains approach and a few less adversarial methods of ADR to resolve disputes. For lawyers, they should reflect on their experience to learn the interests behind the positions, understand what caused the dispute, and determine how to better influence their counterpart in the future. Any of these reflective commitments could be considered a learning goal and reflective writing would be the natural assessment to see if they are met.