What Do I Need to Do for this Assignment? (Details and Requirements)
Please complete both parts of the reflection below. Part 1 is a retrospective: it asks you to look back at your experience throughout the term to discern how you have been successful in the course. Part 2 is a forecast: it asks you to look toward your future and consider how the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind you’ve developed in this term will benefit your future personal, educational, community, and/or career goals.
Part 1
Write a letter to a future student of this course explaining how best to succeed. Keeping in mind that the student who reads your letter would most benefit from knowing how much they may have in common with you, be sure to describe your assumptions, expectations, schema, and any relevant aspects of your educational background that may have impacted your strategies for success. Draw upon specific activities, assignments, and work habits/study strategies from the semester and feel free to use any of the below questions as guidelines for the kinds of advice the future student might benefit from.
How were you able to successfully complete this course? Be specific about what strategies have helped you succeed and how these compare/contrast with strategies that you have allowed you to be successful in past courses.
Which assignment and/or text was most meaningful to you this semester and why? How did the exploration of the text in the class lead to a more complex understanding of or engagement with the work? In what ways has exploration of this particular text deepened your understanding of American literature?
What goals did you have for this course at the beginning of the semester? Which have you accomplished and what allowed you to accomplish them? Which goals are works in progress for you? What have you taken away from the semester that may allow you to achieve these goals in the future?
Reflect on your growth and confidence as a reader and interpreter of texts. Select any two assignments for the course (including readings) and explain how these assignments reflect your evolution as a reader, writer, and thinker.
Tell the story of 1-2 times that you “failed up” this semester. How did you overcome these mistakes or failures? What did you learn about yourself and your assumptions, learning methods, or approaches to feedback?
Part II
Improving personal and social responsibility are fundamental learning goals of this course. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (which sets learning outcomes for core curriculum courses such as this one) defines personal responsibility as the “ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making” and social responsibility as “intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.” For this part of the final reflective essay, consider how you have grown and developed in the realms of personal and social responsibility by comparing/contrasting your ethical decision-making, intercultural fluency, and ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities prior to this course versus now. Draw upon specific activities, assignments, and work habits/study strategies from the semester to answer the question(s) below most relevant to you and your journey this semester.
One of Professor C’s goals is to articulate the ways in which analysis, expansive cultural literacy, critical and creative thinking, and historical awareness build skills that can be leveraged across a wide swath of majors and career paths. Thinking forward to the next steps on your educational and career journey, explain what specific skills, knowledge, or habits of mind you have developed in this course that may transfer to future courses or career goals. How will you continue to hone these skills after this course? How do these skills, knowledge, and/or habits of mind demonstrate your attainment of personal and/or social responsibility?
Beyond career-oriented skills, you may have also established specific personal goals for yourself for this semester. What have you learned about yourself as a learner and about how you work with others? What habits of mind have you formed this semester that may help bring balance to your life and/or that may enrich your relationships? How will you continue to hone these practices and in what ways do you see them benefiting you, your relationships, and/or your communities in the future?
A key goal of this course is to enrich your practice of self-reflection, particularly about your relationship to diverse cultures and forms of expression. How has your practice of self-reflection influenced your thinking about the role of historically underrepresented communities in American literature or history? How has your understanding of yourself in relation to these groups or to mainstream or privileged groups been impacted by the readings, assignments, lectures, or discussions this semester?
Below I will attach two examples provided by the teacher of a previous year and the complete instructions.
