INSTRUCTIONS FOR: REFLECTIVE & CRITICAL THINKING JOURNAL POSTINGS
Students are required to submit three comprehensive journal postings. These journal writings
should demonstrate reflective and critical thinking skills, in regards to your analysis of your
service learning experience. Each posting should be approximately one page in length, and
submitted under the second discussion board found in blackboard.
The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to reflect upon your overall
experience, and critically evaluate your progress, in terms of your learning plan. You should not
summarize your experiences at your site (your weekly journal postings are for summaries),
rather you should reflect on your over-all experience at your site: what is going well; what are
you learning; what problems or conflicts have arisen and how are you responding to those; what
are you learning about your potential career; what are you learning about yourself and others;
etc.
The most common problem in journal writing is that students do not demonstrate reflective
thinking. Instead, they merely recite the day’s events, describing situations they encountered,
etc. To help you focus on this skill of reflection, refer to the handout given in orientation and
posted here on Blackboard. Also, review the site found under “External Links”.
Students should strive to answer 2-3 reflective questions (as stated in paragraph 2) with each
quarterly journal submission.
Remember John Dewey’s quote: “ No experience having a meaning is possible without some
element of thought…Mere activity does not constitute learning.”