Assignment 1: Reflection Rough Draft
We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.
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―John Dewey, 1916, Philosopher and Educator
As an adult, you bring so much life experience into the classroom, the connections between the life you’ve lived and the things you’ve learned are made through the process of reflection. Some of you might picture reflection as a time where you are seated comfortably, and your mind is free of all other thoughts. The truth is that life affords few opportunities to actually reflect and dwell on learning. The great part of being an adult in college is that you will be exposed to new voices, images, and ideas. Reflection might not be a deliberate act of sitting silently, but instead, you might find that ideas come to you while you are driving or shampooing or petting the dog. Reflection allows your mind to make the explicit connections between your lived experience and the academic content that you will encounter here at Walden.
This week you will begin a draft of the Week 6 Reflection Assignment using your weekly journal entries, your self-assessment scores, insights you’ve gained about what you need to be successful as a learner as you move through your program and this technological world, and by reviewing everything you have done and learned so far in this course to inform your written narrative. The purpose of this assignment is to reflect on your journey over the past few weeks and in this course.
To prepare for the Assignment:
• Return to the Montante article, Thinking on Paper, from Week 3.
• Review your weekly journal entries.
• Review all Self-Assessment results, Discussion posts, and Assignments.
• Read through the specific parts that are required in your paper described below.
• Use the Week 4 Reflection: Rough Draft Worksheet in this week’s Learning Resources to guide the development of your rough draft.
• Review the Week 4 Reflection Assignment Rubric.
Assignment Instructions:
By Day 7
Submit a 2- to 3-page rough draft of your Reflection Assignment.
Assignment Instructions:
As mentioned above, you are working through a writing process where you will compose the first draft of the Reflection Assignment paper. This week you will begin with actually writing and submitting a rough draft.
During Week 6, you’ll be guided through a revisions and proofreading process that will help you further develop and improve your rough draft by adding more thoughts, incorporating any feedback received, and ensuring you’ve followed Academic Writing Expectations. Your final draft will be due at the end of Week 6.
The required elements for both weeks are the same, but the expectations are slightly different. The grading rubrics for Weeks 4 and 6 demonstrate this. For example, this week’s rough draft represents a first attempt at putting your thoughts down on paper and only covers four weeks. By Week 6, your final paper should be longer, include obvious improvements to the rough draft, and include aspects from the entire six weeks.
Your paper should include four sections. Be sure to review all four sections before starting. Remember to include an introductory and a concluding paragraph, and to support your ideas with specific examples and resources whenever possible.
Include the following parts:
Part 1: Today I am…
The first and longest section of your essay should describe who you are today as a result of this first-term course and starting your educational journey. Specifically consider your personal plan for success at Walden. Answer these questions to develop this section:
• Who are you as a Walden student?
• What tools has Walden provided?
• How do the tools and available support play into achieving your goals?
• What did you learn about yourself through the assessments? How is that going to feed into your plan for success?
• What has this first course done for you? What might this course do for you moving forward?
Think about some of the course themes and big ideas we discussed and connect them to the way you will approach learning and future classes.
Make sure to get specific and point to course examples to support your ideas.
Part 2: I promise to…
In the second section, make a promise to yourself and the classmates who might need your support during the program. Think about your reasons for being here and why you are promising to work towards success. Consider the following:
• Here is why I am not going to walk away
• Here’s how I will help myself
• Here’s how Walden will help me get there
• Here’s how I will be part of positive change
Part 3: How I will become part of the Walden Community
In the third section, explain how you might identify a mentor (colleague with different professional skills, someone in your profession, or a Walden Faculty Member) to support your educational efforts. Share how a mentor would have a positive impact on your education and the role you would like him/her to take. How you might become a mentor to others in the program?
Part 4: Visual Representation [This step will be due by Week 6]
After you have completed your Reflection, find or create a visual artifact that shows your aspiration and hang it above your desk. Think of something that will motivate you and keep you engaged and focused as you complete each Discussion and Assignment as you move through your coursework toward graduation. Be sure to include a picture or copy of this visual representation with your reflection paper by copying and pasting it into your paper or attaching it as a separate file.
By Day 7
Submit a 2- to 3-page rough draft essay of your Reflection Assignment using the guidelines above. Your rough draft should demonstrate use of the Academic Writing Expectations, such as proper grammar and sentence structure, and address the parts described above. It should also include an introduction and conclusion. Make sure to support your ideas with specific evidence and class examples. If you used the worksheet from the Week 4 Learning Resources, you may submit the completed worksheet as your rough draft.
Montante article link:
https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=adefffdb-c7ba-4ad2-a231-6b845273f6bb%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=14750450&db=a9h
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Week 4 Reflection Rough Draft Worksheet:
Easy as A, B, C, 1, 2, 3, Baby, You and Me!
This worksheet is meant to help you develop a Rough Draft for what will become your Week 6 Reflection Final Paper
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This week you will begin drafting an essay that pulls together all your class experiences to reflect on the start and future of your educational journey. Then in Week 6, you’ll revise what you start here to create a final draft.
Due Date: Day 7 of Week 4
Length: 2-3 pages, rough draft
You will notice that the instructions for Week 4’s reflection assignment ask you to look at many different documents, including:
Week 3’s Article: Montante, S. (2004) Thinking on Paper. Literary Cavalcade, 57(3), 36-37.
Your Weekly Journal entries
All your inventory results, discussion posts, and assessments
The directions for both Week 4 and Week 6’s Reflection assignments
The Reflection rubrics for Week 4 and Week 6
Before you put a single word on paper, make sure you look at all the documents specified in the assignment instructions. Next, follow the steps below to make this as easy as possible. If you need to hear the Jackson 5 to get ready for crafting a rough draft, click on the hyperlink above!
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Tan boxes contain writing help and resources. Use them as needed.
Blue boxes contain things you need to do.
Let’s start by thinking about writing. Think back to the last time you wrote a paper that was a few pages long.
How did you get started? How do you begin to organize your ideas?
And what elements have to be included in a formal paper?
Here’s an interesting podcast from the Writing Center discussing the overall writing process:
https://soundcloud.com/writecast/writecast001
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Section 1. Introduction
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Your first paragraph should be the introduction
. It will include background information and also summarize what the rest of the paper is about. It will establish the purpose, audience, tone and point of view. The introduction should be designed to attract the reader’s attention and give him/her an idea of the essay’s focus.
The attention grabber you use is up to you, but here are some ideas:
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· Startling information
This information must be true and verifiable, and it doesn’t need to be totally new to your readers. It could simply be a pertinent fact that explicitly illustrates the point you wish to make.
If you use a piece of startling information, follow it with a sentence or two of elaboration.
· Anecdote
An anecdote is a story that illustrates a point.
Be sure your anecdote is short, to the point, and relevant to your topic. This can be a very effective opener for your essay, but use it carefully.
· Dialogue
An appropriate dialogue does not have to identify the speakers, but the reader must understand the point you are trying to convey. Use only two or three exchanges between speakers to make your point.
Follow dialogue with a sentence or two of elaboration.
· Summary Information
A few sentences explaining your topic in general terms can lead the reader gently to your thesis. Each sentence should become gradually more specific, until you reach your thesis.
Need More Guidance about Introductions? Try:
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/introductions
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/undergraduate/paragraphs/introduction
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Start by Brainstorming. Think about all the work you’ve done in this class a trail of breadcrumbs that lead you all the way back to the first day of class. Use them all to travel back to your first day and how you came to Walden. What was happening in your life? How did you feel about starting the class? How do you feel now?
Write a few sentences to gradually introduce your reader to the topic of your paper. Try to be creative and original.
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The second part of a proper introduction is a thesis or purpose statement. A possible thesis for this paper would be:
This paper will help me analyze how I can use what I learned in this class in my future success.
Remember, a thesis statement is usually one clear, concise sentence, located at the end of the introduction.
It tells readers exactly what you are going to discuss within the essay. In this reflective essay, your thesis should
tell readers about the ways you will utilize your learning from this term in your future success.
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Write a few sentences that preview what your three main points for this paper will be. In the directions for the final paper in week 6, you have already been given the three main points. They are:
1) Part 1: Who you are today.
2) Part 2: What you promise to do for yourself in the future.
3) Part 3: How you will become part of the Walden Community.
Here is an example of a solid preview of these three main points:
In this paper, first I will explain how I view myself as a Walden student. I will then discuss my plan to remain engaged in my education until I graduate. Finally, I will describe my plan to identify a mentor who will support me and keep me in track and how I can, eventually, become a mentor to someone else.
In the space below, write a preview of the main points in your own words. Make sure to include a clear thesis statement.
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Need More Help to Develop Your Thesis Statement? Try:
Writing Center Academic Guide: http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/thesisstatements
Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/writecast/002-thesis-statements
Writing Strong Thesis Statements:
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/webinars/practicalskills#s-lg-box-2773753
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Section 2. Body of the paper
In order to complete this part of your paper, you are instructed to go back to your Weekly Journal entries, return to the Montante article from week 3, to your Self-Assessment results, review the directions for the final paper due week 6, and take a look at the Week 4 rubric for this assignment.
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The body of the paper is made up of the body paragraphs which are all the paragraphs of the paper excluding the
introduction and conclusion. Each paragraph follows the same general format. For each body paragraph, you need
a topic sentence.
A topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph.
It serves two functions: (1) It lets your reader know
what you are going to discuss within the paragraph; (2) It also lets your reader know that you are moving on to
discuss another topic (or that you are talking about a different aspect of the same topic).
In other words, it serves as a transitional sentence between paragraphs.
For example, let’s say I am writing an essay about why dogs are better than cats. One of my topic sentences is as
follows: To begin with, dogs are better than cats because they are easier to train.
Every idea in this paragraph must tie back to training. I cannot discuss how they like to play, how they are more loving, or any other idea that does not tie into training in the paragraph with this topic sentence. Those would be ideas for another paragraph. I must also support this idea fully. Why are they easier to train? What do I mean by this? In other words, I must support my ideas with detailed explanations.
You must also ensure you transition between ideas and make sure they connect. Transitional words help our ideas flow together smoothly. They ensure our ideas connect and make sense to our readers. Here is an example: Dogs are easier to train because they are eager to please their owners. Consequently, dogs will work hard to learn what their owners ask of them.
Need more help? Please see the following links for further information about topic sentences and transitions:
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/paragraphs/topicsentences
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/paragraphs/transitions
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/transitions/
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In your final week 6 Reflection paper there are a number of questions to be answered that will help you understand what to include in each section. They are included below for your convenience, but please answer them using complete paragraphs rather than as a question-answer format.
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Part 1: Today I am…This section should describe who you are today as a result of taking this course.
Who are you as a Walden student? What tools has Walden provided? How do the tools provided and supports available play into your plan of study? What did you learn about yourself in the assessments? How is that going to feed in your plan for success? What has this course done for you? What might it do for you moving forward? In your paragraph, try to talk about specific instances, assignments, challenges that lead to the class having the impact it did. If you learned something significant about yourself from a self-assessment and/or particular assignment, then make sure you mention it by name and explain what happened.
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Part 2: I promise to…This section should be about a promise you make yourself and your classmates who might need your support during the program.
What will you do to ensure you don’t walk away? How will you help yourself? How do you think Walden can help you? How can you be part of positive change? This is the paragraph/section where you specifically explain how you are going to proceed from here. What is your plan for success at Walden and beyond? How will you make sure that you execute your plan and achieve the goals that you set? Don’t forget to start each paragraph with a topic sentence and tie each sentence back to it.
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Part 3: I will become part of the Walden Community…This section should explain how you will identify a mentor and how you plan on becoming a mentor yourself.
Your journey with Walden should not be solitary. Yes, you sit alone at a computer and type long into the night to meet deadlines…but you are not alone! There is a vibrant community of educated, dedicated, and interesting people who can share ideas, give advice, or listen. Explain your plan to identify a mentor (colleague with different professional skills, someone in your profession, or a Walden faculty) to support your educational efforts. Share how a mentor would have a positive impact on your education and the role you want him/her to take. How might you become a mentor to other in the program?
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Section 3. Conclusion
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Your last paragraph will be the conclusion.
The conclusion is one of the most important parts of an essay because it is the last thing people will read. This is your “so what” moment. What do you want to leave the reader thinking about? Oftentimes, my students simply repeat what they have already said in their essays. This seems a bit unnecessary since your reader will have already read your body paragraphs. Remember, you really are writing this paper for yourself, to reflect on your first course here at Walden and what you hope to achieve throughout your educational journey. Here are some ideas for your conclusion:
· Ask a provocative question.
· Use a quotation.
· Evoke a vivid image.
· Call for some sort of action.
· End with a warning.
· Universalize (compare to other situations).
· Suggest results or consequences.
Need more help? Try:
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/undergraduate/paragraphs/conclusion
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/conclusions
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Start by writing a few sentences to “ease” your reader out of the overall idea of this paper. In other words, let your reader know you are “closing” the paper.
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A review of the thesis for the paper would also go somewhere in the conclusion. For example:
Through writing this paper, I have come to a better understanding of how the experience I have gained by taking this course can help me with my future success as a Walden student and beyond.
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Write at least one sentence for each main point that summarizes the most important idea of that main point. This is not the place to introduce new information. This is similar to what you did in the introduction, but more comprehensive.
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In the full paper next week, you will want to end with something memorable.
Just like the opening, you want to try to be creative and original.
So, be thinking about what you will put in the final paper next week to give it a good ending.
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Go through each of the white boxes above and copy/paste what you have written into the box below. Now it is starting to look even more like a paper! (If you want, you could also open a new document to do this. Your instructor will accept this worksheet OR a more traditional looking paper)
Read through what you’ve written and make quick revisions for clarity. If you see something that could be improved, why not do it now? Make sure the paragraphs flow into one another and make sense since you’ve written them separately.
Lastly, make sure to save this worksheet using the usual naming convention: WK4Assgn2+last name+first initial and submit to your instructor for feedback!
It is as easy as A, B, C, and Section 1, 2, 3!
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Thinking on Paper. By: Montante, Sarah, Literary Cavalcade, 00244511, Nov/Dec2004, Vol. 57, Issue 3
Database:
Academic Search Complete
Thinking on Paper
Contents
• WRITE IN THE MOMENT
• YOUR ENDGAME
Full Text
Listen
American Accent
Australian Accent
British Accent
Section:
THE PERFECT PAPER: Writing the Reflective Essay
FORGET ABOUT MAKING AN ARGUMENT-THE REFLECTIVE ESSAY IS ALL ABOUT ENTERTAINING YOUR CURIOSITY
The reflective essay is the luxury assignment of papers. It gives you the opportunity to explore an event or a topic in any way that interests you, without having to prove anything to your reader. It’s easier to write than a personal essay because you don’t have to analyze yourself, and it’s often more fun because you get to incorporate other people’s thoughts and ideas.
So what is a reflective essay? Simply put, it’s thinking on paper. Every reflective essay begins with an occasion for reflection, an event or experience that makes you stop and think. It could be something as dramatic as a political protest or as mundane as a sunrise — as long as it sparks a question in your mind.
The essay describes the occasion for reflection and then explores a question about it. The purpose of the essay is to share a provocative experience, allowing the reader to follow the meanderings of your mind.
Let’s say that you went to the beach one morning and saw cigarette butts and soda bottles that the tide had washed in, and a pair of fish that had been caught and left on the sand. Let’s say that the sight of those freshly caught fish abandoned on the beach made you think about how much people waste. This would be a great topic for a reflective essay.
• WRITE IN THE MOMENT
To write it, you would first want to describe the occasion itself — the smell in the air, perhaps the usual saltiness mixed with the sweet but noxious odor of something rotting. You would want to make the litter visible by describing the faded labels on the plastic soda bottles, the way that the paper has long dissolved from the outside of the cigarettes, leaving nothing but the gray, frayed filters. And then you would show your reader the fish, their scales still shiny, their bodies firm and plump. The fresh blood implies that they were caught just this morning. They are a good catch — a little small but still edible — and you wonder why anyone would catch them with no intention of eating them. And so you come to a question: Are human beings taking more than their fair share from the earth? Now that you have thrown the doors wide open to reflection, you can incorporate ideas and information that take you beyond your own experience. You might include a quote from an ancient philosopher that talks about the place of human beings in the food chain, or reports from modern-day environmental scientists who are worried about the rate of consumption of the rain forests.
• YOUR ENDGAME
At the end of the reflective essay, you will want to draw some conclusions about your experience or about the general topic. Since you aren’t writing a formal argument or a persuasive essay, you don’t have to worry about hammering home your point the way you would in a formal conclusion. All you want to do is close the loop on your thoughts. How have you been changed by the experience of examining this topic? Maybe there is some change in your own life that you can demonstrate to tie the essay together — perhaps you have decided to be a part of a local beach clean-up crew, or maybe you have decided to recycle more in your house. Maybe not. The change you’ve experienced may be purely abstract; you might be newly aware of the fragility of the environment and feel a greater respect for the other organisms that inhabit it. Your reflective essay will reflect your thoughts and ideas.
CARTOON
CARTOON
CARTOON
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By Sarah Montante
HOW TO REFLECT
YOUR ESSAY SHOULD PRESENT A PROVOCATIVE EVENT TO YOUR READER AND MAKE YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS CLEAR
• Choose an occasion. Think back on the significant events in your life that changed you or helped you form your opinions. Write down all the moments that come to mind and then choose the one that feels most vivid to you.
• Make it real. Your first task is to make this event come alive for the reader. Use sensory language and plenty of concrete details. Try to make the experience thought-provoking for your reader.
• Pose a question. Tell your reader exactly why this experience made you stop and think and what it made you curious about. Be sure that your question is broad enough that you can explore it in an essay and that it is about the topic, not about you.
• Explore. Do a little research to find out what other people have to say about your topic. Do you agree with them? Do you find their perspectives interesting? Incorporate two to three other ideas into your essay.
• Draw a conclusion. The reflective essay should demonstrate a thought process that begins with a question and ends up somewhere else. You don’t necessarily have to answer the question, but you should show development in your thinking about the topic, even if it means coming to a new question at the end.
STAY TUNED:
Next month, LC shows you how to write the perfect introduction.
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