Higher
Personal Reflective Writing.
Why?
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It will be your first of two writing folio pieces
that together will make up 20% of your final
mark for Higher English.
This is an excellent opportunity to improve
your chances of gaining a good grade in
Higher English.!!!
Personal Reflective Writing also forms part of
the Writing NAB In Unit One, Language.
You will have to do one other piece of writing
in a different genre.
Criteria
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Your piece of writing must be over 650 words
long.
It must be produced in “controlled conditions”.
This means you must have a copy of the plan,
first draft and final version. This will show
your teacher that you have worked on the piece
by yourself.
Criteria continued…
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A reflective essay will aim to interest or give
pleasure to the reader, rather than simply
convey information. It will usually be about a
single idea, insight or experience. It must
include reflection as a developed aspect of the
essay. You should be contemplative, taking the
reader through your thought process as you
work out what the topic or issue has meant to
you.
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h:\Higher\personal reflective\Performance
Criteria - pupil friendly.doc
CONTENT
What do we mean by reflection?
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When we reflect on something, either positive or
negative that has happened to us, we are probably
trying to work out the answers to some of these
questions:
Why did that happen?
How did my behaviour affect what was happening at
the time or the people around me?
Am I pleased or disappointed by the way I behaved?
If this were to happen again, what would I change
about my behaviour? What would I be happy to do
again?
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What have I learnt about life?
What do I realise now that I didn’t realise
before?
What have I learnt about myself?
What have I learnt about other people and how
they behave sometimes?
How have my attitudes and ideas changed and
how will this affect me in the future?
Examples
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Perhaps the easiest way to understand the idea of
reflection is to look at some examples.
In your group, read the piece “Look What I learnt in
School.” (Candidate 28, Jan 2006)
Use the Performance Criteria worksheet to mark the
essay and decide whether it is a pass or fail.
Write any comments in your jotter.
I will be asking you for reason for your opinion.
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Now, repeat this process for the piece entitled
“The Academy.” (Candidate 29, Jan 2006)
Again, note down your comments in your
jotter.
Having read both examples, it should be clear
which is the more successful and what we
mean by reflection.
Possible Topics
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There are so many!
The important thing to remember is that is should be
about something that has happened to you, or is
important to you.
If you are going to do this well, you need to really
think about what you want to write about and what
the experience or subject has meant to you.
Have a look at the list of topics you have been given.
You may wish to use one of these, or they might help
you to think of another idea.
Structure
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There are several ways to structure a Personal
Reflective essay. The most important thing is
that you are confident that your essay has
enough reflection.
The following structure is a suggestion but if
you have any doubts at all about how well you
can do this, it has worked very successfully in
the past.
General
Reflection
Describe your
experience.
Personal Experience
Personal Experience
Personal Experience
Death of grandmother. I was 12.
Unaffected; weren’t close.
Description of realising she’d
died.Funeral. Went back to normal.
Mr and Mrs Rutherford. Met in
park. Visit. Listen Help out s’times.
Death of grandmother. I was 12.
Unaffected; weren’t close.
Description of realising she’d
died.Funeral. Went back to normal.
Made me think about how we
(I) behave toward older
people. Too busy; can’t be
bothered; forget. How do I
want to change my behaviour?
Mr and Mrs Rutherford. Met in
park. Visit. Listen Help out s’times.
Listening to stories about their
lives, especially the war, realised
how different life was; much
harder. Can understand why older
people seem so appalled by
modern life.
Elderly people don’t feel old.
They feel the same underneath
and don’t recognise themselves.
Dislike and feel frustrated by the
way they are treated.
Made me think about my
relationship with my own
grandparents. Wished I’d go to
know them better. What could I
have learnt about my family?
About their lives? Maybe we could
have got on well?
The purpose of education/ The
opportunities that my generation had, but
also the pressure to find out “what we really
want to do in life”/ The commercialisation
of music/ Late capitalism/ University fees /
Possible
opportunities
for personal
reflection
Made me reflect on my
relationship with my girlfriend
(now wife) about how she was
prepared to come with me to
London despite not wanting to
leave Glasgow. So decision didn’t
only affect me.
Made me think about the future,
marriage and children and where I
wanted to raise them
At University, chance to go to
London to work for Sony, decided
not to go and decided to go into
teaching instead. Meant 2 more
years hard work at Uni and knowing
that I wouldn’t earn so much money.
Realised that as a promoter and
working for a record label I was
becoming something I didn’t
like. I was fake and pretending to
be something that I wasn’t .
Telling lies to try to sell the
events that I was promoting.
Possible topics
for general
reflection
Description of
event or
experience
Made me think about what I
wanted to be and do in life.
Realised that I wanted to work
with people and try to make a
small difference. Job
satisfaction over money.
Thought about what kind of
person I was.
How we speak about older
people. Stereotypes? News
stories? Dictionary
definition. What we think
about when we thing about
the elderly.
Death of grandmother. I was 12.
Unaffected; weren’t close.
Description of realising she’d
died.Funeral. Went back to normal.
Made me think about how we
(I) behave toward older
people. Too busy; can’t be
bothered; forget. How do I
want to change my behaviour?
Mr and Mrs Rutherford. Met in
park. Visit. Listen Help out s’times.
Listening to stories about their
lives, especially the war, realised
how different life was; much
harder. Can understand why older
people seem so appalled by
modern life.
Elderly people don’t feel old.
They feel the same underneath
and don’t recognise themselves.
Dislike and feel frustrated by the
way they are treated.
Made me think about my
relationship with my own
grandparents. Wished I’d got to
know them better. What could I
have learnt about my family?
About their live? Maybe we could
have got on well?
Summary
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Start off by thinking about an
experience/incident or subject that is important
to you. Fill in the middle section of your
“rocket”
Think about why it is so important. Try to
complete the bottom boxes on personal
reflection. Use the questions to help you.
Then, think about your general reflection.
General Reflection
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Your teacher will ask you to work in a group.
You will be asked to write down as many
abstract nouns as you can think off.
Love
Hate
Anger…
You have three minutes.
General Reflection – Task 2
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You will be working in groups.
You will be given a flipchart with an abstract noun written in
the centre.
Each group will have a different word.
You will have 3minutes to write as many ideas about the word
as you can on the sheet. These ideas could be: words; song
titles or lyrics; news stories; book titles; adverts from
television; storylines from programmes or films; quotations…
After three minutes, pass your sheet on to the next groups and
they will add to your ideas.
We will continue to do this until every group has had a chance
to add to each flipchart.
Planning
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Before you start, read a final example of a
successful reflective essay, “Blyscan”
On a sheet of A4 paper, start thinking about
the plan for your essay.
Try to follow the model you have been shown.
Use the topic lists and the reflective questions
to help you develop your thoughts.
What Do We Mean by Reflection.doc
Expression
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Having completed your plan, you should now
be ready to start writing. Before you do, you
should consider the criteria for expression.
Hooks:\Int 2 Middle
school\reflective\Openings.doc
You will read two short pieces before you
start.
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“The Mount Florida Medical Centre”
“Anita and Me”