Assignment 4: Midterm Reflection Essay

Transcription

1 Assignment 4: Midterm Reflection Essay Assignment For this assignment, you will construct an essay reflecting on the artifacts we have created thus far this semester in relation to the course goals and outcomes. Artifacts we have created thus far: 1) The First Week Garbology video 2) The Defining Literacy Poster and Presentation 3) Analyzing the DALN Group Presentation You have only received feedback from me and your peers on two of these pieces as we just finished our DALN presentations. However, your reflections should not be based solely on my feedback. You reflections should document how your efforts have met the stated course goals and require you to reflect on you learning thus far this semester. Due Date: Friday 10/16 at the beginning of class Purpose In lieu of a final exam, you will be asked to submit a reflective portfolio summarizing and analyzing the work you have done in this course. This midterm reflection essay is an opportunity for you to construct an essay similar to the one you will be required to submit as part of your final portfolio. However, this midterm essay will only cover half of the course material, while your final reflective essay will ask you to reflect on the course as a whole. Think of this as a head start on that portion of the portfolio. Many of the aspects of this midterm reflection essay will be similar to those required for the reflective essay included in your final portfolio. A reflection essay serves multiple purposes for your learning: It enables you to document how your efforts have met the stated course goals. It requires you to reflect about your learning this semester, which research indicates will improve your ability to transfer this strategic knowledge to other situations. In this reflection, the quality of evidence (what you did) is as important as the reflection (why you did it). Reflection always begins with evidence, but it never ends there. You should identify not only what you did, but why you did it in relationship to the goals of the course. Audience Your audience for this essay is not your instructor or, at least, it is not primarily your instructor. Instead, other professors from the Writing and Communication Program will read and evaluate your complete portfolio (which includes this essay) for programmatic assessment (that is, assessment that helps determine how well ENGL 1101 and 1102 are meeting the educational goals set for these courses). For this reason, you should assume your audience did not participate in your specific English class but is familiar with Georgia Tech s Writing and Communication Program. You may want to think of your essay as persuading someone who doesn t know you that you have met the stated goals of the course.

2 Composing the Reflective Introduction to the Artifacts Write a 2-3 page reflective essay that makes an argument about your work this semester, focusing on the artifacts we have created thus far (You may want to think of this essay as a memo that that will help your readers understand and make sense of the work you did this semester and allow them to understand how you developed as a communicator.) This reflective essay should do the following intellectual work: Analyze evidence from your artifacts in order to make an argument about your own intellectual growth as a communicator in this course Articulate the intellectual and communicative priorities of the course as you understand them (see the list of course goals above and also consider also your instructor s goals concerning the content of your course) Reflect upon your strengths and weaknesses in relationship to the course goals Describe the methods and modes that were the focus of your communicative work in the course thus far Articulate areas and strategies you would like to focus on for continued improvement You should not simply write a sentence or two on each of these topics in this order. Rather, just as you would with any assignment in this course, you should determine what would be the most effective approach given your audience, purpose, argument, and context. In other words, this essay should prove what you have learned not only by analyzing it in other assignments but also by enacting that knowledge in this new context. (For example, if you say you have learned to better organize your arguments to persuade your audience, your reflective essay should be a well-organized argument that persuades your readers of your competency.) The essay should reflect the most important learning concepts, skills, practices, approaches that you acquired, in relationship both to the course goals and to your own priorities as a student. Composing the Artifact Reflections For each artifact, write a one-paragraph introduction to the artifact that articulates your intellectual process for this project. Put another way, explain where your ideas came from and how they evolved during the course of the project. You should also discuss how composing processes (examples: prewriting, outlining, drafting, peer review, revising, editing) affected your intellectual process, and vice versa. After the introductory paragraph, compose two or three bullet points answering each of the following questions. Each bullet point should consist of one to three complete sentences that directly address the question. We recommend you review the assignment sheet you received for the assignment before composing your answers. a. What were the main intellectual goals of the assignment? Please situate these goals in terms of the course theme and in terms of the communication skills you were to learn or practice.

3 b. What is your argument or purpose? How did you make the argument or purpose visible and persuasive in your artifact? c. Who is the intended audience for your artifact; why is this an appropriate audience? How is your choice of audience reflected in your artifact? d. What are the defining features of the genre or media that you are using in this project? How do you make use of these features? e. If you had more time for revision, what would you change and why? Requirements Times New Roman 12 pt font A header left justified single-spaced that includes: Your name The due date The Class (Engl 1101-B3 or Engl 1101-J1) Assignment 4: Midterm Reflection An original title centered Double spaced with 1-inch margins No extra spacing between paragraphs A 2-3 page reflective introduction to your artifacts Three 1-page reflections on each of the individual artifacts

4 Georgia Tech General Education Outcomes for English 1101 and English 1102 Learning Goal A1: Communication Student will demonstrate proficiency in the process of articulating and organizing rhetorical arguments in written, oral, visual, and nonverbal modes, using concrete support and conventional language. Learning Goal III: Critical Thinking Student will be able to judge factual claims and theories on the basis of evidence. Learning Goal C: Humanities, Fine Arts, and Ethics Student will be able to describe relationships among languages, philosophies, cultures, literature, ethics, or the arts. Learning Outcomes for English 1101 and English 1102 Category Critical Thinking Critical thinking involves understanding social and cultural texts and contexts in ways that support productive communication and interaction. Outcomes by the USG Board of Regents Analyze arguments. Accommodate opposing points of view. Interpret inferences and develop subtleties of symbolic and indirect discourse. Outcomes by the Council of Writing Program Administrators Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating. Integrate ideas with those of others. Understand relationships among language, knowledge, and power. Additional Expectations of the GTWCP Recognize the constructedness of language and social forms. Analyze and critique constructs such as race, gender, and sexuality as they appear in cultural texts. Rhetoric Adapt communication to Use a variety of technologies to Create artifacts that demonstrate

5 Rhetoric focuses on available means of persuasion, considering the synergy of factors such as context, audience, purpose, role, argument, organization, design, visuals, and conventions of language. circumstances and audience. Produce communication that is stylistically appropriate and mature. Communicate in standard English for academic and professional contexts. Sustain a consistent purpose and point of view. address a range of audiences. Learn common formats for different kinds of texts. Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics. Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. the synergy of rhetorical elements. Demonstrate adaptation of register, language, and conventions for specific contexts and audiences. Apply strategies for communication in and across both academic disciplines and cultural contexts in the community and the workplace. Process Processes for communication for example, creating, planning, drafting, designing, rehearsing, revising, presenting, publishing are recursive, not linear. Learning productive processes is as important as creating products. [No USG BOR outcomes are specifically related to process.] Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources. Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading. Understand collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. Critique their own and others works. Balance the Construct and select information based on interpretation and critique of the accuracy, bias, credibility, authority, and appropriateness of sources. Compose reflections that demonstrate understanding of the elements of iterative processes, both specific to and transferable across rhetorical situations.

6 advantages of relying on others with [personal] responsibility. Modes and MediaActivities and assignments should use a variety of modes and media written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal (WOVEN) singly and in combination. The context and culture of multimodality and multimedia are critical. Interpret content of written materials on related topics from various disciplines. Compose effective written materials for various academic and professional contexts. Assimilate, analyze, and present a body of information in oral and written forms. Communicate in various modes and media, using appropriate technology. Use digital environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts. Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources, including scholarly library databases; other official (e.g., federal) databases; and informal electronic networks and internet sources. Exploit differences in rhetorical strategies and affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts. Create WOVEN (written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal) artifacts that demonstrate interpretation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and judgment. Demonstrate strategies for effective translation, transformation, and transference of communication across modes and media.