Amy Gerald
Department of English
In "The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University," Mike Rose tells us that in contrast to multiple choice, short answer or other types of objective tests, writing "demands fuller participation. It requires a complete, active, struggling engagement with the facts and principles of a discipline." Many more composition theorists, university professors, and teachers over the past thirty years also advocate this position that writing is, indeed, an effective mode of learning. In light of the synthesis of our goals as educators to have our students fully engaged in their disciplines, it makes perfect sense to incorporate writing as an integral component of any university pedagogy to help ensure the most proficiency.
Reflective writing is one way for students to review, evaluate, and reinforce ideas from any discipline. This writing may best take the form of informal journal entries of perhaps one page in length. The subjects of this writing could be responses to assigned readings asking for specific textual examples to support statements of fact and/or opinion. Another way to use this exercise is to have students relate what happened in class, during lab, or on video to real life or on-the-job applications. Students may use this type of writing to analyze their own performances during oral presentations or musical/dance performances or to compare and contrast two conflicting contentions within their discipline.
You may choose to have reflective writing as a more formally evaluated portion of your classroom practices by seeing that students address certain key issues in the course of their reflections, or you may use it as a tool to evaluate your own effectiveness as a teacher (are they understanding you?). It can be used to gauge the students’ comprehension of concepts or simply to see if they are really doing the readings you’ve assigned.
Reflective writing can be graded strictly with attention to key concept understanding and grammar, or it can simply be taken up, read, and given a check in the grade book. You will probably find that if students are not afraid of your evaluation, they will feel freer to explore their ideas. Regardless of how you choose to use it, be very clear from the start what you expect from these writings.
Possible uses of reflective writing
in informal journal entries or more formal reflective papers: