Reflective Essay Assignment:

Looking back on your experience in this class, write a reflective essay of 750 words that analyzes how your pieces work and what they demonstrate about your growth in the class. What have you changed your mind about when it comes to reading, writing, thinking, and being a student? Explain why this change or shift in thinking shows you have succeeded in EWRT1A. This essay will go in the front of your portfolio, as an introduction to your work for the teachers evaluating the portfolio.

Consider the following as you draft your reflective essay:

Your audience are De Anza English teachers (possibly your next English teacher for EWRT2!). Your overall purpose is to demonstrate how your writing, reading, thinking and studenthood have changed (how your thinking has shifted) as a result of what you have learned in this class. You must provide specific evidence for your claims, meaning quotes from your essays or detailed descriptions of specific events or processes.

Discuss each piece in your portfolio and the process you took to produce it (at least one paragraph per essay).

For your in-class essay, how did you prepare to write the first draft? What are some of the significant choices you made when writing? How do these choices help the piece be more effective to its purpose and audience? What aspects of it did you work on when you revised it?

For your out of class revised essay, how did you prepare to write the first draft? What feedback did you receive and how did Eli review activities help shape the piece? How did your audience and purpose for the piece come into focus? What are some of the significant choices you made when revising? How do these choices help the piece be more effective to its purpose and audience?

Reflect on the larger picture of what you learned this quarter. What have you changed your mind about this quarter when it comes to reading, writing, or being a student as a result of the reading and writing work you’ve done? About the topics you wrote about? How do the pieces in your portfolio reflect that? (At least one paragraph.)

What still needs improvement? Write about what you’d still like to work on with your writing. Remember that all of us are still trying to be better writers, so what are you going to focus on in EWRT 2, 1B and beyond? ( This is your conclusion.)

Audience: De Anza English teachers

What we’re looking for in the reflective essay:

Clear organization

Well-developed, focused paragraphs that show critical thinking about your own writing and learning process

Specific examples, details

Well-constructed sentences

Correct grammar and punctuation