Reflection is very important, it is not simply about looking into a mirror (like the silly cat in the video), but it is about looking back at your experiences and explaining them to your audience using your own personal feelings. Think about it like creating a story. It’s important when doing a reflection to use your emotions in the words you write, tell them about that class you took that opened your eyes to a new experience or that class that made you want to learn more about something. Description tells you details of what something is. Reflection tells you how you felt or your thoughts and reactions to something. This type of writing will give a special meaning to your experiences.
I think one of the hardest parts about reflective writing is how to go beyond just being descriptive. Once you figure out the focus, to be reflective you need to go into things you figured out, wondered about or felt. It’s important to keep the narration personal, so that the person reading it feels what you were feeling or thinking.
While developing my content pages for my e-portfolio I am writing about my experiences in school and at my job. My audience will be a future employer so I want to be sure that my reflection focuses on struggles I went through, and ultimately excelled at. Reflecting back while going to school, working full time and having a family I have been through some really tough times, very stressful. This has definitely made me realize my capabilities and that I can handle numerous things and still be able to accomplish great stuff.
Identify the main differences between descriptive and reflective writing. How are you going to use reflective writing in your ePortfolio? What is the hardest thing you find about reflective writing? What are some strategies to overcome these difficulties?
Here’s a great link that talks about reflective writing that might be helpful: http://www.yourdictionary.com/for-students-and-parents/what-is-reflective-writing.html
I look at reflective writing as more of a progressive type of writing where it begins as fairly descriptive yet it holds a moral or beneficial value as the writing continues. Descriptive writing is more so an writing of explanation or telling of events. In both you can project your feelings and thought processes yet reflective writing has more of a path and turning point. In my ePortfolio I am going to write about my internship experience and really go over the things I learned and overcame through it. I believe telling about any internship would be great for a reflective writing as it explores growth. The hardest thing I find about it reflective writing is that it is not extreme writing. Where descriptive writing can either be very positive or very negative, you have to find a happy medium in reflective writing to portray the experience as a milestone. To overcome these difficulties it is very important to keep perspective as you write. Start with what was challenging or what ever you didn’t like but always end on a positive note shedding the light on the situation.
ReplyDeleteBrittney Ferrell
I believe reflective writing is definitely more challenging than descriptive or creative writing. Reflective writing forces you to examine not only the causes of events, but the results, consequences, and underlying meaning to them as well as the effect they have on yourself and others. It is definitely a difficult process to really examine yourself and your feelings, even though it seems as if this would be easy and almost second nature. I find it hard to objectively analyze myself and my experiences. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for doing so?
ReplyDelete-- Kristina Young
Kristina,
ReplyDeleteFor me it is the exact opposite. I always tend to put reflective writing in my work. I just find it so much easier to write what I have learned about a specific event rather than writing about things experienced by other people. The best tip I can give you for reflective writing is to picture something that relates, in your life, to the experience you are writing about. How did it make you feel? What specific things did you enjoy or dislike about it? If you keep asking yourself questions that help you recall the moment and the emotions you experienced in it, it might help you create a similar mental image for your audience and in that, they can relate.
Hope it helps!
Danielle Sandvick
Brittney,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your ideas on reflective writing. Ending on a positive note is a huge thing for potential employers to read. They know that you have experienced hardships in your life, after all what person hasn't, but what they need to know is how you overcame them? What made you stronger because of them? If you stick to an optimistic attitude employers will see much more potential than if you are constantly using excuses to explain the situation instead of using results.
Danielle Sandvick
For me, reflective writing is something that just comes naturally. I was a story writer as a child and generally they were personal stories. The hardest part for me in school is actually trying to use more descriptive writing and tone back my reflective writing usage. I have a hard time connecting with my writings if they are not personal. I stick more with the details of the research and usually only put my personal ideas in the introduction and conclusion paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteDanielle Sandvick
I really don't have much experience with reflective writing. I do try to use reflection in my life to grow as a person and use it as a way to grow personally. I try to take something away from everything that I do, especially if it was something unpleasant, so I can turn it around to something that was worthwhile. I just looked at it as a way to stay positive and use things as a learning opportunity. The only time I really have used reflective writing was while I was in nursing school. I found keeping a personal journal helped me make the most out of my clinical experiences. It helped me look back on the day and see what I could have done better and how I could have done more for my patients. It also helped me sort out different feelings especially if I had a difficult patient that day. The journal helped me make improvements in areas that I needed to improve and allowed me to focus on my weak areas.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Castorino
I always had the most trouble writing descriptive papers. I am not a very creative person, so trying to describe has always been a challenge. I see descriptive writing as a way to objectively explain something. For me, reflective writing is a way to write how you feel about something, and can give personal meaning and purpose to your writing. The hardest thing for me about reflective writing is to focus it in on making a point and not just a journal entry. I am going to try to identify my purpose before I begin to write. I think that will keep me focused on the point I am trying to make.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Castorino
I think using reflection in our e-portfolio is a great way to reflect on the accomplishments that we have made. It will give the person looking at it a better understanding of who you are as a person. They will not only see what you have done, but also what those things meant to you and how they impacted your life. I think this is especially important for charity work. Even if you volunteered for only one day, that one day may have had a tremendous impact on your life. Without reflection, someone may look at it and not think it was anything significant, but through reflection the personal experience can be conveyed.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Castorino
In my opinion reflective writing is about personal experiences that you have been through. Personal feelings and thoughts about how you handled situations or how you went into situations all express reflective writing skills. It also addresses things of the past that made you react to different situations in a new light. Descriptive writing illustrates very detailed occurrences and gives key examples to demonstrate this in this type of writing technique. It describes what something is whereas reflective writing tells more of how you feel about something.
ReplyDeleteHu-Ann Gayle
In my e-portfolio I will use reflective writing skills to tell potential employers about me and all of my passions. I want my audience to understand more about me and my personal experiences. I would like for my audience to take what I have been through and where I am at the time of reading, use that to determine and get a feel of who I really am. I will be sure to include more experiences such as, schooling, work, volunteering and all other activities that helped shape me. I will include the good things and some bad things that happened in my life. All of these things will help future employers get a better feel of their reader and I want them to see the real me and understand all of my obstacles is what made me today.
ReplyDeleteHu-Ann Gayle
Reflective writing can sometimes lead to really personal predicaments and this can sometimes be hard for any individual to share with others. This is especially hard when you know that this information is what is being used to critique you, whether it is for a future job or whatever it may be. Personally, I write with more of a reflective outlook usually. It is easier because it is the truth and just coming from past and present experiences. Descriptive writing requires more of a creative type technique to elaborate on certain situations. I don’t think that I am very creative so I would see this technique a little more difficult to write as opposed to reflective writing which I use more often.
ReplyDeleteHu-Ann Gayle
Hu-Ann and Danielle,
ReplyDeleteI don't think you could have said it better, if you don't use your past experiences to write any kind of paper, you will be writing something that is very boring, basically fluff just to get the assignment completed. The reflective writing is what keeps the reader engaged.
Robert Gonzalez
For me, I would research an issue and see how I could relate a piece of my past to tie it together with the subject matter that I was assigned to write about or what I have chosen to write about. That is why I like to be able to choose my subject because I will decide which I can incorporate my past experiences into to it to relate to the subject better. This always makes the story more interesting.
ReplyDeleteRobert Gonzalez
To me, there definitely is a difference between descriptive and reflective writing. Both have a unique purpose and style. I think descriptive writing is more imaginative and can be more story-like. Reflective writing has to do with looking back on one's own experience and going into introspection. I think reflective writing is more personal and may also be more subjective. I like reflective writing because it provides an opportunity to look back on an event or experience and talk about what could have been done differently, or what I learned.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Hagen
Hu-Ann,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your preference of reflective writing. I would also choose that style over descriptive. I am more straight forward and practical when it comes to composition. So it is difficult for me to be imaginative, creative, and descriptive in a paper or assignment.
Amanda Hagen
I think reflective writing will play a significant role in the e-portfolio. It gives us a chance to express ourselves in an interesting way. I would like to use reflective writing to share my experiences with others who would have access to it. Additionally, I think it is important (and sometimes difficult as others have mentioned) to share personal learning experiences.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Hagen
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI believe that you have touched on something that I have not thought of when it comes to the ePortfolio. I am certain that even if we did not use reflective writing at the beginning of studies in the IDS program, by the time you reach the Capstone class, the reflective writing will, and should, be different. If it is not, I would almost think that not much was learned!
Robert Gonzalez
I think the most interesting part of descriptive writing is describing the story without having it become a parody of itself, to over-embellish events is common. The realities of story telling is the story often runs away from reality. Our goal should in reflective writing should be to successfully tell our experiences while understanding that the description should show the depth of the story.
ReplyDelete-- Jonathan Kress
In my ePortfolio, I feel I will be most successful at painting the picture of who I am and how I got to this place in my development. I think the decisions and opportunities are helpful in molding our adult selves. Our story will always be unique in the experiences we have chosen from activities to volunteerism. These shape our future selves and will surely become a big part of our delivery process in storytelling.
ReplyDelete--Jonathan Kress
Robert,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you mentioned researching a subject matter for your writing. I think a firm grasp on concepts will help you to better deliver a clear cut position and prerogative. The research only strengthens your point of view. I find in most courses that allow for free thinking, you are generally ahead of the game if you have a conceptual knowledge base as a tool for development of our discussions or arguments. In the case of personal experiences it can only help to understand the concepts associated with your field or experiences.
-- Jonathan Kress
I'm always intimitdated by reflective writing. In general, I get very nervous when I have a wrtting assignment to complete but reflective writing almost gives me hives. There is just something so exposing about having to write about my personal thoughts as opposed to discussing a subject that I've researched and learned about.
ReplyDeleteAlicia Malebranche
Eventhough I dislike reflective writing I do see its value.Socrates said “The unexamined life is not worth living”. How can we set goals and then evaluate our progress towards reaching those goals if we do not reflect on what we have done so far?
ReplyDeleteAlicia Malebranche
I found the link on reflective writing very helpful. The analogy to the Pensieve in the Harry Potter books was really surprising. After reading everyones post I have a lot of ideas on what I can do on my next reflective writing assignment. Judging by the tone of the course there should be another coming up very soon.:)
ReplyDeleteAlicia Malebranche
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI really liked that quote, how true! I can see how writing something so personal and exposing can be stressful but remember how well it communicates your points and really offers the reader a look into what your are writing about and what you are really trying to say. It gives the readers a personality to put with the imagined view of the author they already have!
Jeff Owens
Kress,
ReplyDeleteHow is your eportfolio coming along and have you been successful at painting the picture of who you are? I think that is a great goal when putting your portfolio together. Using your volunteering experiences is a great focus, one that can take you further than you may think when it comes to potential employers.
Jeff Owens
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of keeping a journal! That is a great way to build your reflective writing skill as well as help you evaluate the things you have done and what you could possibly do better. This is something that I think I will definitely do when I begin volunteering in the medical field. Not only will it help me evaluate myself, I will have a record of what I have done and how I felt about it if I need that for future reference. Great idea, thanks!
-- Kristina Young
Hi Brittney,
ReplyDeleteYou hit it right on the head about reflective writing. It’s not only important to put your emotions on the problems you helped solve, but how it made you feel to solve them and keep it in a positive light.
Donna
Hi Kristina,
ReplyDeleteI agree is can sometimes be hard to analyze your feelings about a situation. I find keeping a journal really important in helping me remember exactly how I felt about a certain situation. Let’s face it we all have many experiences and sometimes when you try to write about something from the past you tend to forget little things. So keeping a journal helps because you’re writing at the time it happens.
Donna
Hi Danielle,
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to a writer by nature, some of us (me included) are tormented by writing. Especially writing about your feelings and even more so when you are writing to an audience. I tend to always worry what people’s opinions will be, so sometimes it stifles my writing. If you can freely write it reaches out to more people, because we can’t always be face to face. I am very envious!
Donna
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about the journal. There is nothing more satisfying than being able to look back at your own words to bring back experiences. It is better than looking through an album of pictures, because you are remembering little things you might not even seen in a photo.
Donna
Hu-Ann,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you are going to use reflective writing to highlight the good and bad. A future employer would be interested in how you handled bad situations. Just make sure you use things that can highlight what a problem solvers you are. This is one of the most important things an employer is looking for.
Donna
Robert,
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing with researching a subject before I write about it. I think it’s important to get other’s views on something, because sometimes it sparks a thought you never even considered. It makes it easier to relate to the subject when you know others opinions on it as well.
Donna
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteYou are right reflective writing is so important to your e-Portfolio and by the time you are about to graduate you should have lots to look back on and write about.
Donna
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteWriting about past experiences is very important in your e-Portfolio. This will show future employers (or others) how you handled certain experiences and solved problems. Everyone is unique in their experiences and it is important that the reader is able to step into your shoes for a moment in order to figure out what type of person you are.
Donna
Hi Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI’m with you about the nervousness about reflective writing! It is definitely not easy to share feelings with others. What I try to do is write something about a subject thinking that only I will see it and then read through it trying to see it from another’s perspective. Sometimes I don’t have the time to do that and let something just go in as I’ve written it. Journals are key to reflective writing. Because you are writing in them what you feel knowing only you will see the comments. You can usually use this information and manipulate it into something others can read.
Donna
Amanda - I like your take on reflective writing. For me, that personal touch makes my writing more interesting for me to produce, which creates better reading material for the reader.
ReplyDeleteKimberly Buffkin
Alicia - Way to go on conquering fears. Those areas that are not comfortable for us sometimes bring out the best in us because we have to work for it. Socrates quote was appropriate. We use reflection in our lives more than we realize. Something about putting it down on paper for everyone to see can understandably make us feel vulnerable. It's worth it though.
ReplyDeleteKimberly Buffkin
Descriptive writing compared to reflective writing can be considered but very different at the same time. I feel reflective writing is more of ones feelings towards the event. I believe it is more personal the story or reflections is the persons thoughts and emotions towards the event. As for descriptive writing can be the time line of events. How the event happen actually. Not a personal account of it. Descriptive writing describes the event while reflective writing reflects of ones feelings.
ReplyDeleteKevin Vasquez
Brittney
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say about descriptive and reflective writing. Where reflective is more personal having that moral value and descriptive is telling events. Very good point.
Kevin Vasquez
Alicia
ReplyDeleteI agree with the disliking reflective writing. I am not the best of writers and it is sometimes difficult for me to write the way i see or take things. I like the quote from Socrates as well. Reflection is a very good way of learning from past mistakes. I love to reflect just not write it.
Kevin Vasquez