Cooperative Education Journal Questions
CO-OP JOURNAL #1
Reflect upon on your first two weeks at your placement. Now that you have had some
time to become more acquainted with the people and the procedures of your placement,
express your thoughts on the first two weeks:
PART A:
Give the names and job titles of the people that you have worked with. What was the
first task that you were asked to do? Why? How did you feel about doing this task?
(Nervous?, Excited?, Anxious?, etc.) Did the people you worked with make you feel
uncomfortable or welcome? Explain how they did this.
PART B:
Offer your final opinion of your first two weeks of work. Did you like it? Why or why
not? Is there anything that you can do which would make your placement more
enjoyable? Why? Do you have any concerns that I should know about?
CO-OP JOURNAL #2
Setting goals at work is just as important and beneficial as setting goals in our personal
lives. Goal setting helps us to stay focused and provides a sense of accomplishment
when we have reached our goals.
PART A:
List and describe some goals (minimum 3) that you would like to achieve at your co-op
placement. These can be short-term goals such as something you would like to
accomplish by the end of the week (I.e. Introducing yourself to a coworker) or long-term
goals such as something you would like to accomplish by the end of the semester (I.e.
Completing an oil change by yourself). Why do you want to achieve these goals? Why
are they important to you?
PART B:
Now that you have established some goals to work towards, what steps are you going to
take to accomplish them? For example, if you want to complete an oil change by the end
of the semester, you will: 1) understand what is required for an oil change, 2)you’re your
coworkers questions about oil changes, 3) observe others doing an oil change and 4)
practice doing an oil change with someone supervising. Be as specific as possible when
listing and describing the steps that you are going to take to achieve your goals.
CO-OP JOURNAL #3
Encountering challenges and conflict is a natural part of life. Reflect upon some of the
challenges or any conflict that you have encountered at your co-op placement.
PART A:
In detail, describe a problem, challenging task or conflict that you encountered while at
your co-op placement.
PART B:
How did you deal with this situation? Do you think that the way that you dealt with
this situation was successful? If the situation occurred again, would you do anything
differently? Why or why not? What did you learn from this experience?
CO-OP JOURNAL #4
Employers look for employees that are enthusiastic, have a positive attitude and take
initiative. You will reflect upon these traits below.
PART A:
In your own words, define “positive attitude.” List and describe 3 examples of how you
show a positive attitude at your workplace. Is there someone that you work with that
demonstrates a positive attitude? Who are they and how do they do that?
PART B:
List and describe at least three of your major tasks/duties at your placement. When you
have finished these tasks/duties, what else can you do? In other words, what can you do
to show initiative at your co-op placement?
CO-OP JOURNAL #5
PART A:
Discuss a particular achievement or accomplishment you are proud of from your
placement. This could be a “new” achievement (within the last couple of weeks) or one
that you have been practicing for some time.
PART B:
Does your supervisor(s) give praise to you easily and often (I.e. “good job!”) or is he/she
the kind of person who does not really give compliments easily? Explain how you deal
with compliments or a lack of compliments. Do you like being told that you are doing a
good job? Why or why not?
PART C:
Describe a positive comment made by an employee or your employer at your placement.
How did it make you feel?
CO-OP JOURNAL #6
Within Journal #2, you set some goals for yourself and described what steps you would take
to achieve those goals.
PART A:
Which goals did you meet and how did you achieve them? Which goals have you not met?
Why do you think that you have not met these goals? What can you do before the end of the
semester to make sure that you achieve these goals? If you have met all of your goals from
Journal #2, set 3 new goals. Describe these new goals and how you plan on achieving them.
When working towards your goals, you might have received some constructive criticism from
your supervisor(s) or fellow employees. Constructive criticism is advice or “criticism” that is
communicated with the goal of improving another’s work. It is meant to be helpful but can
often be interpreted the wrong way.
PART B:
Describe a situation when you were given constructive criticism. How did you feel? Explain.
CO-OP JOURNAL #7
As the semester is coming to an end, reflect upon the semester as a whole.
PART A:
Describe your feelings regarding your personal growth since you’ve been at your placement.
Do you feel that you have “matured” in any way? How? Describe the difference between
being in a school environment and being in the world of work. Which environment do you
prefer to be in? Why?
PART B:
What do you like most about your placement? Why? What you like least about your
placement? Why?
PART C:
What did you learn about yourself? Did you like the career field that you were in? Why or
why not? Has your choice of career changed? Why or why not? Describe your future career
goals once you graduate from high school.
Categories & Criteria
Knowledge
Information of Ideas
Thinking
Analyzing and
Explaining
Communication
Language and Style
Application
Language Conventions
Level 1 (5- 5.9)
Presents Incomplete
and/or inaccurate
Information and ideas.
Expresses few
ideas, with limited support
by relevant evidence or
rationales.
Meaning and intent are
unclear.
Makes few personal (or
other) connections
with topic or theme.
Level 2 (6 – 6.9)
Presents some accurate
information and some
ideas.
Expresses some ideas,
supported by relevant
evidence or rationales.
Level 3 (7- 7.9)
Presents accurate
information and
complete ideas.
Expresses ideas,
supported by relevant evidence
or rationales.
Level 4 (8-10)
Presents accurate
information and
insightful ideas.
Expresses many ideas,
supported effectively by relevant
evidence or rationales.
Meaning and intent are
sometimes unclear.
Makes some personal (or
other) connections
with topic or theme.
Meaning and intent are clear.
Meaning and intent are clear
and engaging.
Makes many personal (or other)
connections
with topic or theme.
Makes considerate
personal (or other) connections
with topic or theme.