reflection essay english class

Class Reflection Essay

Ever felt confused as to how you can write a good reflection paper on a class ? Confusion about what one can write in the essay is not uncommon. There are many types of reflection essay topics that may appear on your exam, and there are also several ways to structure a reflection paper in order for you to be able to submit a quality work.

The goal of writing this kind of essay is to reflect on what has been learned in class through your own personal reflections based on the information provided in the reflection paper topic.

It is also important to note that writing this type of reflection essay requires that one goes beyond simply copying down what the instructor says during lectures. The purpose of these essays is not just regurgitation rather it should be application of information and ideas that you learned from classes, observation and experience.

reflection paper conclusion

Reflection paper examples, internship reflection essay.

• How to start a reflection paper | Introduction Paragraph Examples

Course reflection essay

Self reflection essay, what is a class reflection essay.

A class reflection essay is a task that is given to you by a professor in order for you to learn more about a subject. This essay is usually written after the completion of instruction on a certain class or topic and serves two major purposes:

• To give information about what was taught, and
• To help students understand how they can continue their learning with the content presented.

Other students who write class reflection essays often use it to catch up on the topic or even get a better understanding of what their teacher is talking about. Such type of essay can also help clarify some thinking errors that may have been done by some student during the lecture period. A reflection paper on a class can also serve as reference for other students learning the same subject in case they would like to review everything once again and help them with their future tasks. Hence, writing this kind of essay ought to be treated as an opportunity for self-growth rather than just personal interest.

Class reflection essay topics

In choosing your topic, make sure that you fully understand the topic or subject that you have to write on before writing down your ideas and reflections. You can use a variety of class reflection essay topics from different cultures, religions, philosophical notions and practices, as well as other types of academic subjects. The most common types of class reflection essays themes include topics across disciplines such as history, economics, philosophy, art and others; you may also choose to write about other aspects that are not necessarily related with any specific discipline in order for it to be broad enough for many people or groups of individuals who might benefit from reading your work.

It is important to know that if you would want to be able to form a deeper understanding on the theme or principal content of your paper then you need to provide an unbiased opinion. Such unbiased opinion must not contain anything that you learned from books, other people’s opinions or be tainted by your own personal bias and perception. Often times, students forget to consider this factor when writing their reflection papers for classes.

A good way to start is to write down the things which inspire you in the subject matter of what you will be writing about. This could also help you build your point of view on the topic and give it a deeper meaning. If there are certain instances where you feel that you have a strong connection with the subject then make sure that this would hold an important place in building up ideas for your paper.

Constructing a well-structured class reflection essay

Class reflection essays can provide further information and knowledge to the readers. It is important to construct your paper in a way that would make it easy for the reader to follow. The best example of such an approach is by starting with a general overview before going on to really deep and specific details about certain aspects of the topic. Your paper may also provide some insight or perspective that you gained from other sources as well as through personal experience.

Another aspect for consideration in writing your reflection essay is by providing examples that support your ideas or arguments within the body of your paper. This explains why these types of papers are also referred to as argumentative essays because they serve to argue one’s point based on their personal understanding, perception and experiences- hence, creating a basis for further learning.

Persuasive class essays or class reflection papers can also help to promote a particular point of view that may be new to the reader. It is important to avoid personal attacks on other individuals because this could make your paper lose credibility. Make sure that you have made a detailed review of peer-reviewed literature in order to support what you are trying to say in your paper.

Class reflections essays are supposed to encourage others to think about specific topic based on their own assessments and experiences. With the right approach, writing such type of essay can not only provide an insight into the mind but also lead others towards further studies regarding different topics ranging from politics, science, religion and much more even if it does not pertain directly with them. One thing is for sure though; whatever the topic is that you will write about, it should have a deeper meaning and you must be able to convey this effectively through your writing.

Writing a class reflection essay on a positive note

Class reflection essays are some of the most important types of papers because they provide readers with information regarding different topics. If well-written, these can help benefit others by providing them with knowledge on how to deal or cope with certain aspects of life. It is also important that each student understands the purpose in writing such type of paper which is not only for personal gain but as well as for the benefits provided to others. Several people have experienced learning opportunities after reading other individuals’ class reflections essays and it has opened up new doors for further studies within their own areas of interest.

This kind of paper helps open up the mind of others to look at things in a different way from your personal perspective and it could also lead them to seek further knowledge or research about certain aspects of their lives. Class reflections papers could provide tips for dealing with personal issues as well as those that affect other people you know for example, family members, friends and co-workers.

Class reflection essays can also inspire others into learning more about different topics when they have never thought about it before, even if the topic is foreign to their own interests and knowledge base. Regardless what type of class reflection paper you are writing, make sure that this has a positive impact on not just yourself but all readers who will come across your work. When writing your paper, it is also critical that you have carefully developed an outline which can help you organize your thoughts into the body of your work.

When planning and writing a class reflection essay, one should always have an objective point in mind such as highlighting the importance of research or perhaps to make others aware about how to deal with certain aspects of life. These papers are intended for different audiences such as professionals, students and even layman who wants further information on a particular topic. Whatever type of paper you are writing, it must be written with care to provide useful facts and guidelines that other people will find helpful when trying to understand yourself or someone else’s situation better.

Written like a journal entry, a class reflective essay seeks to give more insight into the author’s feelings and experiences in a particular situation that has been recognized as influential. Unlike other essays, reflective essays are not always set in the past – they can also be written on the present or even future events. Reflective essays are more introspective than other writings – they seek to engage the reader into self-examination by listening to the author’s thoughts on a topic.

An example of a reflection paper on a class – High School Level

The following tips can give you some ideas how to write an effective class reflection essay on a class. Be sure to go through our guide on how to write a reflection paper .

A teacher will be happy if he sees his student talking about the great things that happened during a class. It could be funny moments or life lessons that you got from the course. No matter what, a good reflection paper is required to make an impression on your teacher and show them how much value you put in the class.

As a matter of fact, your instructor will not only want to see that you admired his teaching method; he will want to have examples of things he can use in future classes. A teacher will also be very happy if you cite the source used as an example or inspiration for your paper.

The best way to make a class reflection essay is just by writing down what you think about class, and not pretending that you’ve done something wonderful when you were really just sitting there, studying nothing.

Here are some tips for you when writing a reflection paper on a class:

Make it interesting : Do not make it too formal that no one will want to read, but do not use slang and words that most people wouldn’t understand either. Write about what the class was all about . Keep your reader in mind and write something that they will find interesting and useful. Cite the sources you used . When writing a reflection paper on a class, there must be an example from the course material or your teacher’s advice that you’ve used.

• Give praise to your teacher . Do not be afraid to say some good words about your instructor. After all, he was the one who taught you all the material that you used in your paper.
• Include both criticism and praise . Do not say only good things about the class, let your reader also know what needs to be improved for future classes. After citing some examples of what can be improved, then include something positive as well.
• Say positive things about the class. Do not say only bad things about your experience in the class, or you will just look like a person who has no gratitude.
• Make sure that what you wrote is true and correct . Avoid writing if you have no idea about it. In this case, make an effort to find out more so that you can write with confidence and sincerity.
• Finally, a reflection paper on a class should be presented well . Make sure that you don’t submit it too late or too early. Better yet, start writing as soon as the course is over so that you will not have to rush at the last minute.

A reflective essay on English class: Short Example

When I first began my English class, I was intimidated. I had never been a great writer, and I was worried that I would not be able to keep up with the other students in the class. However, my teacher was very patient and helpful, and she gradually helped me to improve my writing skills. By the end of the semester, I was able to enjoy writing essays, and I even found myself looking forward to the next English class.

I think that the most important thing that my teacher taught me was how to be a critical reader. She showed me how to analyze an essay critically, looking at both the content and the structure. This skill has come in handy not only in my English class but also in other classes and my work as a journalist.

Overall, I enjoyed my English class and I learned a lot from it. I am grateful to my teacher for her patience and guidance, and I would recommend her class to anyone who wants to improve their writing skills.

This is an example of a short English class reflection essay. Now you know how to write a reflective essay for English class. 

It’s good to enjoy a class and know how informative it can be, so don’t be afraid to praise your teacher. After all, writing an effective reflection paper on a class is one of the best ways to let everyone know how much you learned from a course.

Class reflection paper essay writing help

Get help to write a reflection paper on a class by hiring the best essay writers to complete your paper. We guarantee the quality and originality of your order. We will first help you understand what a class reflection paper is and how it differs from other academic papers.

You can find a number of online resources that provide help with writing class reflection papers, but many of them are difficult to understand for students who do not have extensive experience in writing academic papers.

Do you need professional assistance with your class reflection essay? Tutlance is the best online resource that can help you to learn more about creating a reflection paper on a class.

An example of reflection paper on a class – college level

Reflection paper is a device to critical thinking which was use in the philosophy but it is now common in the teaching and learning of psychology. Reflection has two meaning that are reflection of experience as well as reflection on a text. This essay will deal with the reflection of experience in psychology class. It discusses about my favorite class from this semester and what I have learn from the class. It is a reflection paper on an experience that has been very meaningful to me, the reflection paper on my favorite class.

If you have enough courage and will, no one can stop you from achieving your dreams. However, if there are too many reasons for quitting and giving up, it is hard to get out from them. I felt really bad when examination of this semester came near because I had quit studying due to job pressure since one month before the examinations. However, it was up to me whether I would stay at home or go back my books again every day though I was so tired after work as a waiter in a restaurant as well as lessons at university. Now I am happy with the result of my test, because it was better than I had expected. To stay in the university has a high chance to get good job and a good life for me but I must have tried my best at every class even though it is so difficult.

The first time that came into my mind why I choose this class was because it sounded interesting when I heard about it from one of my friends whose English name is also James. He said his teacher spoke English clearly and she knew how to control her students’ behavior well, although they were always interrupting each other in her class. The second reason why I chose this course was due to its title which changed as ‘A study abroad program of Psychology’. It seemed very funny and interesting for me to spend a semester or even a year in the United States and learn Psychology. I decided to take this course, although my major is Business Administration as I already knew that I could study abroad without majoring in psychology.

A few days ago our class lost one of its members who was Mark. He had been absent for a month because he had problems with his health which made it difficult for him to come to university every day. For example, he sometimes had fever and body ached so badly that he just couldn’t get out from bed at all. However, we still missed him much when we were discussing about an article recently at last week’s class on the ground floor of Social Sciences Building where classes are usually held because the first floor of it was being repaired. We talked for about 10 minutes and suddenly Mark walked in, though I had almost forgotten his face which I missed so much at that time because we hadn’t seen each other for a long time. As soon as he entered the classroom, all students stood up to greet him including me. The teacher asked us to sit down again and she also left her seat immediately without saying hello or anything else to Mark but just smiled at him kindly like usual before class began. It seemed that both of them were quite nervous when they saw each other after such a long time, maybe because their eyes looked red and wet with tears but they didn’t cry aloud at all.

James said that some of his classmates were surprised when they saw him after a month. I think it is because he looked thinner than before but in fact Mark was still so handsome that made me miss him and fell in love with him all over again just at the first sight after such a long time. His presence in there gave us energy and raised our spirits to study this article much more seriously. We discussed about the article for two hours and then we moved on to another topic which was “how often you hang out with your friends”. To be honest, my favorite class indeed belong to Psychology since I’ve met the most interesting person I have ever known during these classes.

After listening to Jennifer’s speech, some students asked questions about what she had said in to the end of the class. She answered each question carefully and frankly as a good teacher. I knew she was trying her best to answer some complicated questions which were interesting yet difficult to understand by students in our class, most of whom didn’t have any idea about what happened in that day’s seminar at all, though they were fellow Psychology students like me who was supposed to know everything about it.

I felt so uneasy when there was just two days left before we took our tests on this course since I had not studied it seriously enough for one reason or another although I spent much time doing something else rather than studying. But after the final test yesterday, I started to think again why I chose this course even though my major is Business Administration. I was so interested in learning Psychology that I chose this course which seemed more interesting than others to me even though it was difficult for me to understand all of its materials at first. After passing the final test, however, I changed my mind because it turned out that I had learned a lot from this course and felt proud about myself for succeeding in taking it.

Having a coffee with Mark after class on the ground floor of Social Sciences Building where we took our classes last semester, we talked together happily as if everything would be fine. As soon as he finished his coffee, Mark stood up and said there were some students who wanted to see him at once upstairs because they needed help quite urgently concerning an essay writing. He told us not to worry about it because he was eager to help those students who had problems with writing such a paper. I don’t know whether he would be able to finish his work on time for the final class which was scheduled in two days because I spent much time thinking how nice it was to have known him after such a long time.

When we talked, Mark told us that some of his fellow English majors were still Hung up on what Dr S always said in his classes when they studied American literature at last semester and seemed unable to understand why they shouldn’t copy from books without quoting or paraphrasing them all the way. He said we might find this funny but none of us laughed definitely. It sounded funny indeed but not so interesting as I thought it might be. I was surprised by his voice and asked him to repeat what he had just said because I couldn’t quite understand him at first. Before we parted, we promised to meet each other again in two days, when the last exam of this course would begin.

We seemed so busy with our work that we were not able to talk about anything except how to finish our papers on time for the final examination which was scheduled in two days or even less than that. We knew it would be too late if we didn’t start working on them seriously then so somebody suggested asking Dr S for an extension but nobody agreed with her for one reason or another while Mark sat there silently without saying anything at all. He told us shortly after that he would like to have an extension himself and we might do the same if we found it difficult to finish our papers by then.

I spoke with Mark briefly about this course before last semester was over in December. He seemed so enthusiastic about it for some reason but I didn’t find him too interested in studying Psychology because he said something on this subject very quickly when somebody asked him a question at once as if he had known nothing about it, though he had studied both this course and English together since his freshman year. How wonderful it would be if we could understand what happened between people through a close study of their lives and behaviors which is exactly the main purpose of learning Psychology which seems so interesting to me.

When I tried hard to understand why I chose this course even though my major is Business Administration, I was so interested in learning Psychology that I found it difficult for me to pass the final test of this course at first. After passing the final test, however, I changed my mind because I felt proud about myself for succeeding in taking it.

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Reflection paper outline, how to write a movie reflection paper, biographical narrative essay, how to write a nursing reflective essay, related guides, how to start a reflection paper | introduction..., reflection paper topics.

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Reflective writing

Learn how to write a reflective text about a learning experience.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and tips and do the exercises.

Preparation

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In January I spent three weeks volunteering as an English teacher in my town. I've been thinking about becoming an English teacher for a while so it was a good opportunity to see what it's like. The students had all just arrived to start a new life in the UK and they had a range of levels from beginner to intermediate. They came from a variety of countries and had very different backgrounds and experiences.

For me, the most important thing was the relationship with the students. I was nervous at first and did not feel confident about speaking in front of people. However, I found it easy to build good relationships with the students as a class and as individuals and I soon relaxed with them. It was a challenge to encourage the lower-level students to speak in English, but at least they understood a lot more at the end of the course.

At first, planning lessons took a really long time and I was not happy with the results. Classes seemed to be too difficult for some students and too easy for others, who finished quickly and got bored. I found it was better to teach without a course book, adapting materials I found online to suit their needs. I learned to take extra activities for students who finished early and that was much better.

I still need to continue improving my lesson planning. I would like more ideas for teaching mixed-ability groups and I want to plan the whole course better next time. That way students have a focus for each lesson and a sense of progress and of what they've covered. I'm also going to put more confident students with beginners when they work in pairs so conversation activities give everyone more chance to speak and students can help each other.

Overall, it was a really positive experience and I learned a lot. I've decided that I would like to become an English teacher in the future.

• Reflective writing is more personal than other types of academic writing. You can use the first person ( I ... , My ... , etc.) and explain how you felt.
• Think about the experience in detail. Explain what went well and what was challenging, and say what you learned in the process.
• Short introduction to the situation
• Evaluate the most important things about the experience, including solutions to problems
• Say what you would do differently next time
• Say what you learned overall.
• Keep the focus on your learning process and what you will do better in future.

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What was your last challenging learning experience?

Language level

I move to London when I was 16 and I joint to college to learn English. At that time I wasn't really focusing well with learning and I never imagined that I would struggle in the future with this language. The challenging that I face nowadays at work place to complete my patient's notes and at the university to understand the subjects. Finding difficult to put into my own words when I read a context and struggling for my assignments. I choose this platform to improve my writing level and stay more focused with my study. Therefore, I decided to spend everyday at least an hour to improve my English level.

Thank you. Lalitha

• Log in or register to post comments

when I was going to start learning programming 2 years ago, I spent a vast changing process. At first, I didn't know anything about it. actually, something would attract me to it. at that time I was working as a full-time sales expert in a big company. As a result, I didn't have enough time but I decided to start learning for 30 minutes in the morning.

In the beginning, I would take a lot of time to understand the concepts and also much time to review the concepts which I had learned before. Sometimes It was so tedious and frustrating because I would spend a lot of time trying to understand a concept but after a week I would really forget the details. As it turned out, I found out I had to take notes and make a plan to review them every two days.

Another problem was that I was short of time. I couldn't get around to reviewing the notes steadily. none the less I would use all of my free time including weekends and my two days off in a month. but a situation came up to me caused I had two hours of free time a day at work. this happening was a gift for me for my passion and persistence.

I continued this trend for nine months. My mind had become sharper and faster in learning and analyzing new concepts. my mind had nothing to do with one last year. On the one hand, I had fallen in love with this new skill, and on the other hand, I couldn't find in my heart to resign. What it boils down to is that I was wondering whether I stayed on at my job or put my back into my favorite skill in order to become a specialist in it.

To cut a long story short, I decided to resign and study focused for a while. this decision improved my efficiency and made me use my intellectual capabilities to the maximum. It was one of the best gifts that I had ever given to myself. I allowed myself to do what makes me happy and alive and enjoy doing it.

Hello Ensiye,

I just wanted to thank you for your contribution and applaud you for your efforts. I'm so glad it worked out for you.

All the best, Kirk LearnEnglish team

hello Dear Kirk Thanks for your kindness Doing the tasks of the lessons has made my learning process regular I'm glad to be here Best regards Ensiye

My last challenge it was about analyze an international conflict in my major, so I read many books, texts, notes about conflict but isn't easy for me to find information about the topic. Overall it was great, I approve my course with a good grade. (:

Hi everybody. I'm trying to translate my project into English but honestly, it's very hard. I know is better to hire a translator but I want to learn more by translating it. I would like to share the first sentence of my project with you. Is it possible to take a look at it, please? and tell which part is wrong and why? I need to know can you understand it or not. " The global publishing network is a mechanism designed to unite publishers to integrate publishing industry. The network by revolutionizing the publishing process, delivers printed versions of text-based works such as books, articles, and magazines in less than an hour, regardless of the client’s location, and without printing and storing the works beforehand. During this process, if only a few seconds have elapsed since publishing a work in the network, the selling process of its print version starts at such speed. The objective of this mechanism is to remove intermediaries and storehouses, reduce the time of producing and delivering, and provide global access without geographical, cultural, and linguistic barriers. The network also strives to be a global gate for income generation for game, song, and movie companies and producers and sells Blu-Ray versions of their works through this mechanism. The distribution mechanism is the main idea of the network that completes many other features of this project."

Hello aliyaseri,

That sounds like a great idea and I'm sure you'll learn a lot, but I'm afraid we don't correct people's texts. 

If you have a specific question about a specific sentence, please let us know.

I started learning English at school, when I was ten. I didn't like this language because i thought it was bored. I didn´t pay attention to the classes so I din't know anything. Now, I have absolutely notion that i should have paid attention. I really started learning English, last year, by myself, because in school, the level of English was already B1 and I was in A1. I started learning randoom things and with that I realize that my main problem was the grammar. I studied all the verb tenses. Right now, I still have difficulties on that but I am improving everyday. I´m going to Turkey next week without anyone that I know and I will spend one week there speaking just in English. Probably that will be a challenge for me but I want to explore my limits. My main problem now is the vocabulary. I have a lack of vocabulary wich doesn't let me maintain a normal conversation. I'm doing my best to pass that but I know it takes time. I'm in the B1 level right, and I'm so happy that I managed to be here. I'm really pround of me.

My last challenging experience was working az a Turkish<>Arabic translator in a factory which working in textile field, So I have to tranlate some phrases which I didn't before in this field. I tried to learn more about textile field and how they making this process of pants production.

When I started learning Spanish, honestly pronunciation was bit easy but verb conjugation was a total struggle for me since I studied on my own. I had gotten pretty good at some grammar points in Spanish but still couldn't speak, I was so overwhelmed and frustrated. It was really challenging to learn another language.

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Part 4: Rhetorical Modes

19 Reflections

The final assignment in your English course will include a reflective essay in which you describe your growth as a writer over the course of the semester. This activity of reflecting on your growth and performance is what is called a metacognitive activity: one in which you think and write about your learning.

Writing a formal reflective essay may be a new thing for you, so this chapter will provide an overview of why we write reflections on our learning and how to approach a reflection assignment.

Student reflection about their thinking is such a crucial part of the learning process. You have come to this course with your own writing goals. Now is a good time to think back on your writing practices with reflective writing, also called metacognitive writing. Reflective writing helps you think through and develop your intentions as a writer. Leveraging reflective writing also creates learning habits that extend to any discipline of learning. It’s a set of procedures that helps you step back from the work you have done and ask a series of questions: Is this really what I wanted to do?  Is this really what I wanted to say? Is this the best way to communicate my intentions? Reflective writing helps you authenticate your intentions and start identifying places where you either hit the target or miss the mark. You may find, also, that when you communicate your struggles, you can ask others for help! Reflective writing helps you trace and articulate the patterns you have developed, and it fosters independence from relying too heavily on an instructor to tell you what you are doing.

Reflective Learning

Reflective thinking is a powerful learning tool. As we have seen throughout this course, proficient readers are reflective readers, constantly stepping back from the learning process to think about their reading. They understand that just as they need to activate prior knowledge at the beginning of a learning task and monitor their progress as they learn, they also need to make time during learning as well as at the end of learning to think about their learning process, to recognize what they have accomplished, how they have accomplished it, and set goals for future learning. This process of “thinking about thinking” is called metacognition. When we think about our thinking—articulating what we now know and how we came to know it—we close the loop in the learning process.

How do we engage in a reflection? Educator Peter Pappas modified Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning to focus on reflection:

This “taxonomy of reflection” provides a structure for metacognition.  Educator Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano has modified Pappas’s taxonomy into a pyramid and expanded upon his  reflection questions:

By making reflection a key component of our work, students realize that learning is not always about facts and details. Rather, learning is about discovery.

How is reflective writing in the academic setting different from journaling or writing in a diary?

If you write in a diary or a journal, recording your thoughts and feelings about what has happened in your life, you are certainly engaging in the act of reflection. Many of us have some experience with this type of writing. In our diaries, journals, or other informal spaces for speaking – or writing- our mind,  write to ourselves, for ourselves, in a space that will largely remain private.

Your reflection essay for college courses will contain some of those same features:

• The subject of the reflective essay is you and your experiences
• You can generally use the first person in a reflective essay

But writing academic reflections, like the one that is due for the English 100/101 portfolio assignment, is a bit different from journaling or keeping a diary:

What can be gained from metacognitive activities that ask you to reflect on your learning and your performance as a writer?

One of the major goals in any First-Year Writing class is to encourage students’ growth as writers. No one is expected to be a perfect writer at the end of the semester. Your instructor’s hope, however, is that after 16 weeks of reading, writing, and revising several major essays, you are more confident, capable, and aware of yourself as a writer than you were at the beginning of the semester. Reflecting on the process that you go through as you write – even if your writing is not perfect – can help you to identify the behaviors, strategies, and resources that have helped you to be successful or that could support your future success. In short, reflecting on how you write (or how you have written during a particular semester) can be quite powerful in helping you to identify areas where you have grown and areas where you still have room for more growth.

How can I write a reflective essay?

As with any essay, a reflective essay should come with its own assignment sheet. On that assignment sheet, you should be able to identify what the purpose of the reflective essay is and what the scope of the reflection needs to be. Some key elements of the reflective essay that the assignment sheet should answer are:

• What, exactly, the scope of the reflection is. Are you reflecting on one lesson, one assignment, or the whole semester?
• Do you have detailed guidelines, resources, or reference documents for your reflections that must be met?
• Is there a particular structure for the reflection?
• Should the reflection include any outside resources?

If you are struggling to find the answers to these questions, ask your professor!

Another wonderful resource for writing a reflective essay comes from  Writing Commons , in the article  “Writing an Academic Reflection Essay” . This article offers great information about the following:

• What it means to be “academic” or “critical” and at the same time personal and reflective
• How you can achieve focus in a reflective essay
• What “evidence” is in a reflective essay

Time to Write

Purpose:  This assignment will demonstrate the understanding of how to do a thorough reflection of an experience. Students will write for a target audience reflecting on the English Composition experiences.

Task: This assignment frames your experiences while utilizing rhetorical appeals to target a specific audience.

Write a reflection in the form of a letter to a specific stakeholder.  Consider a parent, a family member, or a student in a future class.

Key Features of a Reflection Letter to a Stakeholder:

• The audience is identified in both the salutation and throughout the body of the paper
• The reflection discusses writing habits and processes
• The reflection discusses challenges
• The reflection addresses course-specific elements
• The reflection discusses Peer Editing or Peer Review
• The letter is in business letter format

Key Grading Considerations

• A critical self-reflection
• Connection to experience
• Accurate statements about the course experiences
• Clearly expresses ideas using examples
• Describes relevant learning experiences throughout the semester
• Considers other student’s experiences
• Draws conclusions
• Discusses personal goals
• Transitions
• Some Narrative Elements that flow with the paper
• Clear introduction, body, and conclusion
• Limited errors in spelling, grammar, word order, word usage, sentence structure, and punctuation
• Good use of academic English
• Demonstrates cohesion and flow
• Fully in Business Letter Format

ATTRIBUTIONS

• Content Adapted from Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL). (2020).  Excelsior College. Retrieved from https://owl.excelsior.edu/ licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-4.0 International License .
• Content Adapted from Composition II. Authored by : Alexis McMillan-Clifton.  Provided by : Tacoma Community College.  Located at :  http://www.tacomacc.edu .
• Reflection.  Authored by : Daryl Smith O’Hare.  Provided by : Chadron State College.  Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative.  License :  CC BY: Attribution
• Image of woman against wall.  Authored by : VisualAge.  Located at :  https://flic.kr/p/CScnK .  License :  CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Content Adapted from Composition II.  Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington, Ph.D..  Provided by : Chadron State College.  Located at :  http://www.csc.edu/ .  Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative.  License :  CC BY: Attribution
• Image of Taxonomy.  Authored by : Peter Pappas.  Located at :  http://www.peterpappas.com/images/2011/08/taxonomy-of-reflection.png .  Project : Copy/Paste.  License :  CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
• Content Adapted from   A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing  by Emilie Zickel is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License ,
• Image of pyramid.  Authored by : Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano.  Located at :  http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/06/20/reflectu00adreflectingu00adreflection/ .  License :  CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Original Content from  Christine Jones. (2021). Reflection Letter to Stakeholder. Licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication .

English 102: Journey Into Open Copyright © 2021 by Christine Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Department of English College of Liberal Arts

The Purpose of Reflection

Why is reflection important in the writing classroom .

Reflection— a process where students describe their learning, how it changed, and how it might relate to future learning experiences (“ Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind ,” 2008) —is a skill that often goes undervalued in classrooms that are packed with content. However, reflection is an important practice for students to make sense of and grow from a learning experience, and it is a practice backed by scholarship (see List of Scholarship below). A 2014 study by Harvard also confirmed that reflecting on one’s work improves job performance. Although often situated in the humanities and social sciences, reflection is an important practice across academic disciplines including nursing, business, the sciences, and more (see WAC Clearinghouse for a list of disciplinary reflection articles). As a result, reflective writing is one great method for students to reflect on their learning experiences in the English 106/108 classroom. Students, therefore, should be exposed to continuous reflective writing practices so that they become “producers” and not “consumers” of knowledge ( Costa and Kallick, 2008 ). 

In terms of writing studies, reflection has been tapped as an important skill for students’ abilities to transfer writing skills. Writing transfer, according to forty-five writing researchers from the Elon Research Seminar , is defined as “the phenomenon in which new and unfamiliar writing tasks are approached through the application, remixing or integration of previous knowledge, skills, strategies, and dispositions.” In fact, two enabling practices within the Elon Research Seminar focus specifically on metacognition—i.e., thinking about thinking. Additionally, the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing —a collaboration between the Council of Writing Program Administrators, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Writing Project—further supports the use of reflection as it is one of the eight habits of mind needed for student success. 

Reflection is a broad term that includes many different applications . Instructors can assign many different reflective activities, both guided and unguided (e.g., class discussion, journals, interviews, questioning, etc.). Nevertheless, the goal of reflection, according to Yancey (1998) in Reflection in the Writing Classroom , is as follows: 

In method, reflection is dialectical, putting multiple perspectives into play with each other in order to produce insight. Procedurally, reflection entails a looking forward to goals we might attain, as well as a casting backward to see where we have been. When we reflect, we thus project and review, often putting the projections and the reviews in dialogue with each other, working dialectically to discover what we know, what we have learned, and what we might understand. (p. 6)

Furthermore, there are two purposes of reflection according to Ryan’s (2013) “The Pedagogical Balancing Act: Teaching Reflection in Higher Education” : 

• Reflection allows students to make sense of material/experience in relation to oneself, others, and the conditions that shaped the material/experience;
• Reimagine material/experience for future personal or social benefit (p. 147).

Recurring reflection activities encourage students to think critically about their writing practices and to make sense of and reimagine their experiences for future benefit (see Dyment et. al, 2010 for further discussion). 

Benefits of Reflection: 

• What Benefits Reflective Writing Might Have for My Students—WAC Colorado State: Discusses the various benefits reflection has for students, and it also contains a list of reflection scholarship in various disciplines.
• Cultivating Reflection and Metacognition—Sweetland Center for Writing : Discusses how and why reflection is beneficial within the classroom. In addition, the website discusses how to incorporate reflection into practice. 
• Learning Through Reflection—ASCD : A discussion of reflection’s benefits in K-12 classrooms, but provides scholarship for why reflection is beneficial overall. 
• Writing@CSU: The Writing Studio : Colorado State University’s page provides information on the benefits of reflection, how to facilitate reflection, and activities to use within the classroom. This resource is service-learning focused. 

Reflection Activities: 

• Facilitating Reflection : Contains a plethora of writing and non-writing reflection activities to incorporate into the classroom. Some of these activities are short and others could potentially take an entire class period. 
• Digging Deeper : Contains reflection activities from Depaul University that works through the different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. 
• 15 ways to spark student reflection in your college classroom by Tricia Whenham: As the name foreshadows, Whenham briefly discusses 15 activities that spark reflection in students. 
• What Are Some Strategies for Reflection Activities—UMSL Center for Teaching and Learning : Provides a list of reflective activities to include within the classroom.

Teaching Resources:

• Reflective Writing Guide—Auburn University Office of University Writing : This fantastic resource succinctly provides instructions for incorporating reflective activities, how to assess them, and provides examples.
• Reflective Writing in Education—Monash University : An excellent resource that discusses reflection as a whole and how it factors into disciplines outside of writing (e.g., critical incidents in nursing). This source also presents sample assignments that are composed in other disciplines, including trigger warnings when necessary (e.g., law reports). 
• Reflective Writing Guide—Dundee and Angus College : Provides an overview of reflection and various methods for incorporating it into your classroom. 
• A Short Guide to Reflective Writing—University of Birmingham : Similar to the other guides as it presents examples for reflective writing and how to include it into the classroom. 

Scholarship: 

• John Zubizarreta (2008) The Learning Portfolio: A Powerful Idea for Significant Learning : This article discusses writing portfolios, or learning portfolios as they are termed in the article, and why reflection is critical to its success. In addition, the article argues for reflection to be collaborative, consistent, and guided.
• Kathleen Blake Yancey (1998) Reflection in the Writing Classroom : A pivotal piece on reflection and its use within the writing classroom. This work provides several chapters on reflection in various areas, including the classroom, assessment, and reading.
• Kathleen Blake Yancey (2016) A Rhetoric of Reflection : An edited collection of various writing scholars and how reflection factors into their practice.
• Mary Ryan (2011) Improving Reflective Writing in Higher Education: A Social Semiotic Perspective : This article discusses the various theories of reflection and uses systemic functional linguistics to build a social semiotic model for reflective writing. 
• Vankooten (2016) Identifying Components of Meta-Awareness about Composition: Toward a Theory and Methodology for Writing Studies : Works towards a theory of meta-awareness in composition and discusses the four observable areas of metacognition: 1) process, 2) techniques, 3) rhetoric, and 4) intercomparativity. 
• Jenson (2011) Promoting Self-Regulation and Critical Reflection through Writing Students’ use of Electronic Portfolio : This empirical study discusses reflection and how its consistent use illustrated a deeper mode of thinking in students. 
• Zohar and Dori (2012) Metacognition in Science Education : Discusses research in metacognition and its use within science education. 
• Israel, Block, Bauserman, & Kinnucan-Welsch (2006) Metacognition in Literacy Education : This source brings research from education, psychology, linguistics, and reading to illustrate the need for reflection within literacy education. 

*Note: This is not an exhaustive list of reflection scholarship and a simple database search will yield more results.

Reflection Essay - Clarissa Steinbacher English 101 ePortfolio

Reflection Essay

Final reflection.

My Portfolio

Andrew duffy.

• Literacy Narrative
• Image Analysis Essay
• Argument Research Essay
• Other Works About My Writing

Final Reflective Essay

At the beginning of the course, I was new to college writing. My writing skills were not bad, but they needed some fine tuning. A lot of the skills I have translated over easily from high school, but some did not. I was always good at getting information and laying down a foundation. Alongside that, I’ve always found writing easy once I have that base. Filling out the main ideas were simple. However, once I arrived in college it was apparent to myself that I needed more detail, and that it was something I lacked. It needed improving, but it was not a hard fix. Sometimes it is hard for me to understand why some writing needs more detail but others do not. This class has helped me fix that issue a bit, while also strengthening my proficiency in other areas. Throughout the semester, I have completed assignments that have increased my skills, and broadened my sense as a writer in different areas. By taking this class, I have been able to develop rhetorical knowledge, develop critical thinking, reading, and information literacy, develop effective strategies for drafting texts, and develop knowledge of conventions.

This class has helped me develop rhetorical knowledge by analyzing and composing multiple forms of writing to understand how genre conventions shape readers’ and writers’ practices and purposes. This means that I have been able to analyze different types of writing in order to understand how a genre affects how an author writes, and how the reader reads. One assignment that comes to mind that helped me achieve this outcome was our advertisement analysis assignments. In class, we spent time looking at different advertisements, and how they appealed to certain audiences. We all had to bring an advertisement to class, and analyze it ourselves, pointing out what techniques the ads were using, if they were effective or not, and who were they targeting. This assignment helps develop rhetoric as it allowed me to understand how the category of advertisement writing can differ from not only other genres, but other ads as well.

Rhetoric knowledge was also developed by practicing purposeful shifts in structure, content, diction, tone, formality, design, and/or medium in accordance with the rhetorical situation, which means to be able to change your writing to reflect the rhetorical situation at hand. This was not the result of one assignment, but many. During the course we were asked to write different essays that reflected different styles of writing. From storytelling and analyzation, to infographics and research assignments, I have been able to change how I write in order to meet the requirements. For example, in the literacy narrative, I had to write to convey a story. This means using traditional elements of a story, such as a beginning, middle, climax, and resolution, along with elements such as foreshadowing. This style of writing is different from an image analysis essay, where the purpose is mostly informative rather than anecdotal. In this case, elements such as facts, context, and comparison are common, and story like elements would not be appropriate here. I display that I have met this outcome by understanding how to write in those genres and how to keep it appropriate.

Another outcome this class has helped me meet is developing critical thinking, reading, and information literacy by composing and reading for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating. One such way I have met this outcome is by writing journals almost every class about different things. Every so often we had to write a journal about our thoughts about either our writing skills, how we defined different terms, and our reflections on our assignments. By completing these journals, I was able to look back on certain assignments, and learn how I was able to accomplish what I did. This style of writing is helpful because of its creative nature, and allows myself to become better as a writer.

Two more ways I was able to develop my critical thinking, reading, and information literacy skills was by using outside materials in their own writing through techniques such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign, and incorporating outside materials through quotations, paraphrase, and summary. By completing the image analysis essay, I was able to meet the outcome about using outside materials in your own writing. I used two advertisements in the essay, and analyzed how they were done, and who they targeted, in order to compare and contrast them at the end. I appropriately commented on their effectiveness, and how they could have improved. Speaking of using outside materials, my research essay demonstrated the outcome related to using paraphrase due to the nature of the assignment. By using outside sources, I was able to make my argument stronger, and I was able to improve as a writer because my skill to read and take information away improved.

The third outcome this class helped me to achieve was to develop effective strategies for drafting texts by working through multiple drafts of a project and recognizing the role of reflecting, revising, and editing in the process, engaging in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes, such as learning to give and to act on productive feedback to works in progress, both by and with peers and in one-on-one instructor conferences, and critically reflecting on how they may further develop and apply writing skills in the future. The first outcome was reached simply through the rough drafts of each project. I usually had to brainstorm first, but afterwards, I was able to just write in order to get the information down. It had quite a few flaws to begin with, but during editing, most of them were ironed out easily. The second outcome was achieved through peer review. This was something I had always struggled with because I did not know how to do it. After learning, I saw how important it was. It allowed me to see mistakes my brain would have never saw, and let me see what my most common mistake were, which then allowed me to know what to avoid when writing. By reviewing other’s works, I was able to see common writing errors in general, and thus gave me information about what to avoid. The last outcome was achieved through peer review reflection. This is self-explanatory, but being able to reflect on the advice given is helpful. Mostly because it allows you to take a step back, and go over everything. You can see what you did well, and what you need to avoid in the future. This way, in future endeavors, the same mistakes will hopefully not be made.

The last outcome this class helped me to achieve was to develop knowledge of conventions by demonstrating competence in grammar, punctuation, and spelling, practicing genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone and mechanics, and understanding the concepts of intellectual property that motivate documentation conventions through application of recognized citation styles. The first two outcomes are rather similar, in the regard that most of the assignments help reach this outcome. Grammar will never change in writing, so it is important to get it write initially. The only assignment that really tested this was peer review. Being able to recognize sentences that do not make sense is helpful, and will help a writer catch confusing or contradicting statements. As for practicing genre conventions, almost every project helped display that. Writing paragraphs and formatting them correctly is easy, so there is not reason to drag on about this point. Lastly, the assignment that helped reach the outcome about citing intellectual property was the research assignment. It is important to cite your sources so that you do not plagiarize someone’s work, and jeopardize your own academic career. The research assignment helped because you had to find sources for you argument, and as a result, citations would follow.

During the course, I was faced with a few assignments where I had to write day by day, and not just in one day. Writing is not something to do, but rather a process that you have to follow in order to succeed. Many of the different assignments helped improve my skills in rhetoric, critical thinking, drafting, and conventions. While some did not improve much, others did exponentially. The work is not perfect, but for a beginner in college, it shows that I am willing to put in the time and effort to become more than just a beginner. As I progress through school, I hope to not only maintain these skills, but improve them also. Writing is not something that you leave behind after leaving school, so it is important that I take these skills not only with me for the next four years, but for the rest of my life. If I succeed in doing that, then I will always be prepared for any assignment that my field of interest throws at me.

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