Note: write as if a college freshman is writing this, nothing too crazy.
For the reflective essay, select 5 works from the syllabus (files included) that have had the most profound impact on you. These pieces should represent a variety of authors and historical contexts, including different modes of literature (short fiction, poetry, plays, and creative non-fiction) and a diverse array of writers. You can include the work you wrote Unit 1 reflection paragraph on.
Your selections should not overlap with the works you wrote about in your papers. While you can mention (briefly) the things you wrote about previously if you wish, you want to demonstrate your breadth of reading by making other selections for this assignment. You should use the response and analysis skills from those assignments, though.
First, please comment on how each of those works appealed to you, repelled you, challenged your thinking, and/ or exposed you to different ideas. What did you learn from them and why have they stuck with you? What did these works teach you about the nature of American identity? You should consider each work for a paragraph, and include at least three direct quotes total in your essay.
Second, compare these works to a text you read, watched, or listened to outside of a class (e.g., a song, movie, TV show, YouTube video, book, etc.). How is the material you read in class different from what you read, listen to, or watch outside of class? Are there any similarities, formal or thematic? This discussion should occupy one or two paragraphs.
Third and finally, how much effort did you put into this course? How do you plan to read, watch, and listen moving forward? How will you take the lessons from our class and apply them to your future life as a consumer of media? You should spend one or two paragraphs on this.
In total, your essay should have eight to ten well-constructed paragraphs that thoughtfully reveal your engagement with the course material.
Do not talk about your instructor. Not only will this read as insincere, it will detract from the purpose of the assignment: for you to reflect on your own growth and identity as a consumer of texts. If you have feedback about how I have approached the material, I’m happy to discuss it with you and I’m open to both criticism and praise, but the reflective essay is not the place for those.
This essay needs to be at minimum 1000 words in length, but it can be a little longer. This final portfolio will account for 10% of your course grade. A quarter of that grade will be whether you uploaded the essay to Google Drive, a quarter of the grade will be whether all the required materials are in the portfolio; the rest will be the reflective essay itself.
