Writing a reflection that scores
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| reflective learning journal | 反思学习日志 | fǎn sī xué xí rì zhì |
| reflection | 反思 | fǎn sī |
| describe | 描述 | miáo shù |
| evaluate | 评价 | píng jià |
| plan | 计划 | jì huà |
| learning style | 学习风格 | xué xí fēng gé |
The journal is worth more than the test
- In GAC003 the reflective learning journal 反思学习日志 usually carries the largest single weight of any component.
- It is a dozen entries in English, written across the semester about your own learning.
- It cannot be produced in the last week, and a teacher who has read a hundred of them can tell when it was.
What reflection actually is
- Reflection 反思 is looking back at what you did, judging how well it worked, and deciding what to change.
- A weak entry says what happened. A strong entry says what happened, what you noticed about your own learning, and what you will do differently.
- Three moves: describe 描述, evaluate 评价, plan 计划.
Put the three moves of a reflective entry in order.
Description alone is a diary. The evaluation and the plan are what make it reflection.
The same lesson, two entries.
Weak: "Today we learned about graphs. It was hard. I will study more."
Strong: "In the graphs class I could plot points but I could not explain the gradient in English. I understood the idea in Chinese, so the gap is vocabulary, not mathematics. I have added gradient, intercept and axis to my logbook, and I will re-explain the worked example aloud in English before the next class."
The second names the evidence, separates the real difficulty from the apparent one, and commits to something checkable.
Which journal entry would score higher?
It names the evidence, identifies the real difficulty, and commits to something checkable.
Write one journal sentence about a class this week that names a specific difficulty and one checkable action.
Example: "I could not explain the water cycle in English, so on Wednesday I will record myself explaining it in two minutes."
Learning styles, used properly
- A learning style 学习风格 is a preference, not a limit.
- "I follow diagrams more easily than paragraphs" is a useful observation — it tells you to draw the paragraph.
- ⚠ "I am a visual learner so I cannot read" is the same observation misused as an excuse, and it closes the door the first one opened.
Which use of a learning style is useful rather than an excuse?
A preference tells you how to get in to hard material. It does not tell you which material to skip.
A reflective entry must contain a decision. "I will study more" is not a decision. "I will re-explain unit 3 aloud in English on Thursday" is, because next week you can say whether you did it.
"I will study harder next week" counts as a decision in a reflective entry.
A decision must be checkable next week. Name the task, the language and the day.
Do not write the journal in Chinese and translate it at the end. The reflection and the English are marked together, and a translated entry reads as one — the sentences are too even, and the vocabulary belongs to the translator, not to the week.