Example Reflection Matched to Questions
Example Reflection |
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| This is my week two reflection. This week I read the three modules for the week. They included Interacting with the Teacher, How not to Irritate Teachers and Techniques for Getting Good Grades.
I can see from the readings that I need to get to know my teachers. Knowing the teachers will give me an edge and will allow me to talk to teachers if I run into problems. I also need to check out courses in the future and make sure that I am not getting in over my head. I probably need to talk more to both teachers and peers do that I can hear diverse opinions and this will help me in my learning. I will try not to irritate my teachers. Some of the things like not looking at the teacher I was not aware of. I will have to try to manage my time better so that I have all the time I need to study. I didn't know that coach could, for example only require me to work 20 hours per week on my sport. Knowing this I will have more time for studying. I didn't realize that there were so many things that would piss teachers off. I have done some of these in the past and got in trouble and I sometimes didn't know whey. Reviewing the things that irritate teachers has helped me to see what I might have been doing wrong. I didn't know that coach could, for example only require me to work 20 hours per week on my sport. I didn't know that working more would be an NCAA violation. One reading said that you should ask questions of others to find out what they are thinking. I find that others are usually not interest and have only dumb things to say. Therefore this doesn't seem like a good strategy. I would much rather read another book than ask questions of others in my class, usually they are not to smart! There was some discussion of community among peers in this weeks discussion. I don't like this idea. It raises a real problem for me. I have always been a loner and I work well by myself. If don't like teams and others just slow me down. If we are supposed to learn a lot of team collaborative stuff I will be unhappy. I always end up doing all of the work when we team so this is a real problem for me. Generally though all of the weeks readings seemed to fit together and I can use many of the ideas in my study and in my in class performance. If some of the teachers we not so dull I would find it even easier. I found that developing the daily and weekly planner (performance objective 3 in reading 9) was a good exercise. This is not something which I have tracked in the past and now I plan to do it for several weeks to determine if I am planning my time efficiently. I also want to see if I am spending too much time on one of my classes. The one where the teacher wants us all to memorize all the vocabulary. I have posted my planner to a link because I cannot post tables in the threaded database and I want the teacher to see what I have been doing. (Nothing here, product described under new skill) I found the links for this week easily. Using the Internet is easy and there is sooooo much stuff out there. I have to watch to see that I don't spend too much top just looking around alt all the stuff that is available. Marcela was talking in class today and I told her to shut up so we wouldn't bet in trouble. Before I read what irritates teachers I wouldn't have thought to do this. However now she is pissed off at me and won't talk to me. Sometimes I wonder if it is all worth it. I have figured out why the zoology class my advisor put me into is so hard. It assumes that we have had two prerequisites, neither of which I have had. I am going to drop it. My advisor did not do me any favors by recommending that class, there is no way that I could have succeeded. Maybe I need to get another advisor to! All in all this has been a good week. I have made the decision about the Zoology class and things are now going to go well. All of what we have read this week has been valuable. Much of it I can use, if I take the time to remember it. (Nothing here this week) (Nothing here this week) | 1. What did you read this week?
4. What did the readings make you speculate about? 9. Can you integrate it so that it makes a cohesive whole? If not, why not? 13. Were the links you looked at useful? 16. Have you had difficulties this week which you have or have not been able to resolve? 19. Have you learned anything which has made you think about the world or your discipline differently? |
Some helpful journaling suggestions
Dr. Marrero's Rules For Keeping Journals
Several people suggested that I publish Dr. Marrero's rules for JOURNAL METHODOLOGY, and they shown below. I think his definitions are good and tend to promote creative thinking. I hope you find this useful and if you have any other suggestions please let me know.
JOURNAL METHODOLOGY
Empirical analysis - What happened? What did you see? What did you do?
Affective Domain - How did you feel, react? What
did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about your biases? What
did you learn about your assumptions?
Cognitive - How can you better understand #'s 1 and 2 above using course
readings, experiences, and discussions?
Reflective Journal Notes
A few notes that might help you keep your on-line reflective journal. This is the only journal you will be maintaining for my course so please be detailed and complete. You should always keep in mind that this journal may someday be read by people other than academics and they will be interested in your experiences, observations, the way you express yourself, how you interact with your peers as well as your superiors. Please think of your journal not only as a place to factually and clinically describe you internship experiences, but as a place where a stranger could get to know you.
At the end of the course I will print out your entire journal and place it in a permanent portfolio that will contain many items demonstrating your accomplishments while at Rogers State University.
Creating an on-line Reflective Journal
The learning
journal is a systematic process of documenting learning and collecting
information for self-analysis of your own learning and reflection on the
learning process. Journaling involves making reflections on your learning
explicit through writing and thereby making them available for future
action. A journal can also include collecting artifacts such as cut and
pasted articles and drawings that you might come across during your
internship.
Journals are used both as an occasional tool for
reflection and on a regular basis. Our internship journal is used on a
regular bases and serves as one of the methods for data collection to
review projects and programs. Journals are used to record observations, to
make meaning of those observations and to make notes about methods that
stimulate learning process. Journals stimulate the development of
observation, speculation, doubt, questioning, self-awareness, problem
stating and solving, emoting and ideation. Journals are also used to
record your reactions to current issues, changing responses to
understanding of the profession, changing interpretations of coursework,
and personal future directions. You write your journal in your own
authentic voice, which makes it easier to add feelings as well as
cognitions to your experiences and your reflections on them. The journal
is a safe place to practice new ways of knowing and to explore new ways of
thinking and responding.
Directions for Your Reflective Journal
As a part of your Internship you are expected to
maintain a reflective journal. This journal is a log of your experiences
while you are learning in this course. The journal will also provide you
with a place to record activities that tie into your learning activities,
readings, reflections and all other aspects of your Internship experience.
It should include thoughts about your observations, speculations, doubts,
questioning, self-awareness, problem stating and solving, emoting and
ideation. It may also include your learning responsibilities; new skills
and accomplishments that you acquire; critical incidents that occur; and
your thoughts and feelings about all of these.
You will find it easiest to maintain the journal by
jotting down notes at the end of each day you perform your service. You
might want to begin each entry with a brief factual account of what
occurred that day. What did you learn? What were your tasks? What are you
learning about educational issues? What are you learning about your class,
peers, and teacher? What questions, speculations, and doubts do you have?
Next, write about your perceptions about what occurred
that day. Describe your feelings and questions that were raised for you.
What was the most difficult part of the day? What was the most satisfying
thing that happened? Are your initial
expectations being met? Have you met anyone who is
especially interesting?
Next you may want to look at how this experience is
impacting your education and community knowledge and involvement. Is this
experience making your class work more meaningful?
The questions included here are offered only as
suggestions to guide you as you begin to keep a reflective journal. The
process is meant to enhance your learning experience, so use it in a way
that will be most beneficial to you. Your instructor may provide periodic
questions to focus the reflections in your journal. You may also find that
the journal is useful in classroom or online discussions and
presentations. You may also be asked to share your reflections with your
peers so that they can see different perspectives on similar events.
Please post your journal at least weekly to the Internship Discussion
Forum under the appropriate category and forum. You will find the journals
of other interns helpful and interesting. Hopefully they will give you
some insight into how you can make your own internship experience more
meaningful.