REFLECTIONS How do I show what I've learnt?

Type a paragraph for each of the following categorical questions:

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1. Summarize what you did to initiate the activity, and how you interacted with others. – This question is always important to answer because it will help your advisor get a clear picture of what occurred and how you made this activity your own.
2. Basically, provide narrative details answering the following: who, what, when, where, why. How did you “initiate yourself” in a way that allowed the activity or project to be a new experience rather than “more of the same” of what you have previously done?
3. Explain what you accomplished through this activity/project. – Explain what your original goal was and whether or not you achieved it. Which organization did you help? Why help this organization? What were you looking at improving, learning, or developing? How did your work benefit the community/school/organization you worked with? Who helped you and in what ways (feedback, training/mentoring, help in numbers)? Was this an issue of global importance—how do you know?
4. What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them? – If you experienced no difficulties, speculate as to why things went so smoothly. What piece of your preparation contributed the most to the activity’s “smooth sailing”? Was this, perhaps, not a challenging activity to begin with? If so, will this experience inform future choices you make for CAS activities? If difficulties did occur, what were they? Why did they occur? Were they self inflicted (organization, planning, execution), situational (weather-related, technical difficulties), or arose from working with others (other students, a supervisor, another person)? Explain.
5. What did you learn about yourself and what did you learn about others through this activity? What abilities, attitudes, and values have you developed? – This is an important opportunity to reflect and give insight into any learning that you earned from this activity. If you did not learn anything, what stood in your way? What would you need to do next time to gain more from this experience? What abilities, attitudes and values have you developed about yourself or about others around you through this activity? You must be thoughtful of this while you do the activity so that you can appreciate others or yourself for what you have accomplished.
6. What ethical implications arose as a result of this activity? If a problem arose between individuals, explain how you resolved it. How did you know that provided proper closure to the service that you were providing? If necessary, did you strive to pass on your project/activity to someone else, and if so, how did you achieve this? What issues of confidentiality arose during this process? Did you have to lie or withhold the truth at any time for any reason, and was this justified? Did you unknowingly cause harm at any time to someone associated with your activity/project, and if so, what did you learn, or how did you resolve it? Did you disagree with anyone during this process, and if so, how did you know you were in the right? What would you have done differently the second time around if you had the chance, and why?

MORE HELP WITH REFLECTIONS!!!!!

A great deal of your time at university will be spent thinking; thinking about what people have said, what you have read, what you yourself are thinking and how your thinking has changed. It is generally believed that the thinking process involves two aspects: reflective thinking and critical thinking. They are not separate processes; rather, they are closely connected (Brookfield 1987).

Reflection is:

• a form of personal response to experiences, situations, events or new information.
• a ‘processing’ phase where thinking and learning take place.

There is neither a right nor a wrong way of reflective thinking, there are just questions to explore.

What is reflective writing?

Reflective writing is:

• your response to experiences, opinions, events or new information
• your response to thoughts and feelings
• a way of thinking to explore your learning
• an opportunity to gain self-knowledge
• a way to achieve clarity and better understanding of what you are learning
• a chance to develop and reinforce writing skills
• a way of making meaning out of what you study

Reflective writing is not:

• just conveying information, instruction or argument
• pure description, though there may be descriptive elements
• straightforward decision or judgement (e.g. about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad)
• simple problem-solving
• a summary of course notes
• a standard school essay

How Do I Write Reflectively?What can I discuss?

• Your perceptions of the course and the content.
• Experiences, ideas and observations you have had, and how they relate to the course or topic.
• What you found confusing, inspiring, difficult, interesting and why.
• Questions you have
• How you:
  • solved a problem;
  • reached a conclusion;
  • found an answer;
  • reached a point of understanding.
• Possibilities, speculations, hypotheses or solutions.
• Alternative interpretations or different perspectives on what you have read or done in your course.
• Comparisons and connections between what your are learning and:
  • your prior knowledge and experience;
  • your prior assumptions and preconceptions;
  • what you know from other courses or disciplines.
• How new ideas challenge what you already know.
• What you need to explore next in terms of thoughts and actions.