This is your final assignment, as required for every First Year Writing Course (FYWC)! SO, let’s do a quick breakdown of what this assignment is for, and what that means for you.
In the most technical terms, from the department: The student reflection assignment focuses on transferability and growth. As part of the course, students will review how they have grown as writers from the beginning of the semester through its conclusion.
For this assignment, I’m asking that you ask yourself questions about your own personal growth as rhetoricians and writers over the course of this class. To gauge this, look at your responses from Check-In Survey #1 and your diagnostic summary. Compare these things to your current body of work and your current academic outlook. Consider these questions when you reflect: What are at least two things you’ve learned in this course? How will you apply these lessons outside of this class, in other classes or in your everyday life? What are skills that you’re proud of, and which skills do you want to put more work into developing?
Remember to be specific in your answers, telling me you want to “get better at writing” is not the same as wanting to “work on integrating quotes into [your] analysis”. Give me specifics, tell me stories about where you saw those strengths/weaknesses and how you’ll attempt to improve or keep consistency.
Reflecting is harder in practice than it is on paper! Writing about ourselves in a personal essay format that addresses our concerns and our strengths effectively takes a lot of honest introspection.
Your friendly format reminders, apart from the prompt above:
This assignment can be 500-700 words, but not less. If you’ve got a lot to say, I’m not going to stifle you! Make sure your papers are formatted with a 12-pt serif-font (Times New Roman, Garamond) and your document is double spaced.
You are not required to have some haughty, academic tone in this piece. Keep it professional and smart (which you are all so very capable of!) but remember that this is a personal essay. You’re allowed to make jokes, be referential. As long as you complete your paper within the parameters of the topic and word count, you’re allowed to have fun with this assignment. Use it to explore your relation to writing and the academic scene!
Keep this paper about you. Remember, keep your total reviews of this class and myself to the ISQ’s (which I still strongly encourage you to do!) as this is a reflection of your experience and your growth. I’d be crazy to say that you can’t discuss this class or the goon spouting off lectures twice a week in that experience; just make sure your introspection doesn’t turn into a review!
