Meta-cognitive Analysis of Reading Reflections
The goal of this assignment (which is worth 5% of your grade) is for you to engage in meta-cognitive reflection about your own reading, writing, learning, and thought processes. In particular, you should think about the reflections you’ve written so far, what you’ve learned in the course, and how you’ve approached the task of reading and engaging with philosophy.
FIRST: Take the time to read back over all of your reading reflections from the first half of the semester. (Don’t skip this step! You might be surprised at what you learn.)
SECOND: Write a reflection of between 750 and 900 words that draws on or engages with at least five (5) specific examples from different reflections, readings, or class sessions and addresses ALL of the following questions. (You need to engage with at least five different readings, reflections, or lectures from five different class sessions. In other words, you may not double-count both the lecture and/or reading and/or reflection from the same day.) You must number your answers and include a word count. You will lose 1% of your course grade for every 10 words that you are outside of this range, up to 5% max.
In your view, what are the three most important ideas you learned from doing the readings and reflections during the first half of the semester, and why are they important?
You won’t be graded on which ideas you select, but on whether you accurately describe the ideas you’re engaging with, and how well you support your answers.
What challenge(s) did you encounter during the first half of the semester (for example, difficult readings, unfamiliar concepts, ideas that are challenging to think about)? How did you respond to these challenge(s)? Give examples, and be as specific as possible.
Reflect on your reading and/or writing process. Did these processes change at all during the first half of the semester? If so, how? If not, why do you think they didn’t change?
Did your opinion or views about any topics we’ve covered in class change at all during the first part of the semester? If so, how? If not, why do you think they didn’t change?
Think about one particular piece of course content—a topic, issue, theory, view, moral problem, etc.—that you are curious about and want to learn more about. Learn something about it, and tell me what you learned. (This should not be something you’ve already included in a previously submitted assignment.)
You must cite the source where you’ve learned it (this could be an academic source, but it could also be a news story, opinion piece, blog, or personal account from a friend or family member).
NOTE: You may address other topics as well, if you have space for it. However, you are not required to, and answering questions 1–5 will likely use up your word count.
Use my already written out reflections and the cooresponding readings.
