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Critical Reflection - 2020 Instructor GuideDecisions to make before you finalize your syllabusDecide on your timeline for the Critical Reflection assignment with the Writing Center. When will the first/rough draft be due?When will the final draft be due?This will impact the time frame in which students should meet with a writing tutor virtually. For example, if the first draft is due in week 4, students will need to meet with a tutor during week 5 and the final draft can be due in week 6 or later. Choose the prompt for your course. Only choose 1 for your entire class!Option 1: This fall semester is beginning in a world that is in the middle of a profound change. We are grappling with a global pandemic, the uncertainties of which are with us even as this assignment is being written (July 2020). This past spring, the Arctic recorded its highest temperature ever. And as a nation, we have begun an overdue reckoning with our history of racial injustice and inequality.So in this moment of change, what is college for? ?For this assignment, you need to reflect on the purpose of a university education right now and reflect on how your own ambitions align with your response to that question of purpose.Option 2: How gritty are you? Watch Angela Lee Duckworth’s TedTalk on Grit and think about and address some of these questions:What motivates you?Do you think you have grit? How much and why?Have you experienced a failure yet this semester? How has that impacted you and your future? Option 3: A prompt more tailored to your FYE/LC class. Other notes:For fall 2020, the Writing Center will only be able to accommodate 75 FYE sections (approx.. 1400 students)Please make sure your students attend the virtual tutoring sessions in groups of 3. We suggest having the rough draft due early in the semester (week 3 or 4) to give you students a couple weeks to make an appointment to meet (virtually) with the Writing Center. Pro Tip – The week the first draft is due, set aside 10 minutes during class for them to sign-in to the Writing Center system to find and make an appointment. Students are to make appointments in groups of 3 to visit the WC for a tutor session by October 15th Each student will receive a tutor note sent to the instructor (and student) via emailCritical Reflection - 2020 Version (out of class/virtual)Assignment Steps for SuccessRead and respond to the prompt below. Draft your paper, keeping in mind the guidelines for successful summaries and reflections (below). Make sure to give your paper a specific title (not something like “FYE Paper”). A full draft (2-3 pages or 500-750 words double spaced) is due on _____.?With two other people from your class, you will make a tutoring appointment to work with the Writing Center.More details on how to make the appointment will be provided at the beginning of the semester.Attend your virtual Writing Center appointment with your group. Bring your draft (of at least 400 words), your notes, and the guidelines for success. Also be prepared to discuss what you would like to improve in the essay. You will have a collaborative 45-minute session with your group and a tutor. MAKE SURE that a tutor note is sent to your instructor. This is how you will get credit for the Writing Center portion of the assignment.After the virtual Writing Center visit, revise your draft.? When you submit your final, revised draft also include the rough draft you brought to the Writing Center and a copy of the tutor note email. The final draft is due on ________________________.Prompt This fall semester is beginning in a world that is in the middle of a profound change. We are grappling with a global pandemic, the uncertainties of which are with us even as this assignment is being written (July 2020). This past spring, the Arctic recorded its highest temperature ever. And as a nation, we have begun an overdue reckoning with our history of racial injustice and inequality.So in this moment of change, what is college for? ?For this assignment, you need to reflect on the purpose of a university education right now and reflect on how your own ambitions align with your response to that question of purpose.TipsDon’t make your essay a list of points in paragraph form, and certainly don’t make it a “5-paragraph essay.” (In other words, you shouldn’t present something like: Here are three purposes, with a paragraph for each one, followed by a summary/conclusion paragraph!) Instead, make your essay both more personal and more analytical than that.?This essay can be relatively informal in tone, and you can certainly use “I.” At the same time, you need to show some serious intellectual inquiry.The best essays don’t shut conversations down by delivering a “right” answer or by “proving” something—instead they spark more and more informed conversation. Explore a tension or question. Anchor it in your own specific life experience.? Welcome complexity. Don’t be afraid to discuss counterarguments to your own. Think about how you can provoke your fellow classmates to think more.Here are some questions that can spark thinking:?How much should college be about personal growth? How much about grades? How much about asking big questions?? How much about everything that happens outside the classroom? How much about following your own interests? How much about trying new things? How much about learning time-honored traditions? How much about challenging tradition? How much about community? How much about individual freedom? How much about weighing your obligations to others? How much about seeking people like you? How much about negotiating difference? The questions go on and on. Some incoming college students have thought a lot about this. Some not much at all. For many students, the answers change as they move through college.?The answers aren’t always simple. UConn, for example, was founded as an agricultural college, one that valued technical education. At the same time, if you researched student life in those early UConn years, you might be surprised at how much the university focused on the moral and religious education of students, too. A lot has changed since then, and recent history may likewise cause us to reflect anew on purpose.? The intensity of the pandemic and the protests of the last 6 months—and your arrival on a campus during a singularly strange semester—may even have changed the way you think about the purpose of college since you wrote your college application essay about a year ago.If stuck, find the application essay you wrote for UConn. What does that essay reveal about how you thought then? How has your perspective changed (if at all) since then, especially in light of what we’ve been experiencing over the last six months? Use that comparison to launch your essay, but still keep it focused what, in your eyes, should be the purpose/s of a university education.The focus of this reflection paper should be on your analysis and interpretation of the prompt and answers the question, “so what?” Because revision and peer review are vital elements to this process, you will visit the University Writing Center virtually with two other students from your class before revising and submitting your final draft. Have fun with this reflection!Guidelines for Successful ReflectionsSuccess in Summary: A successful summary will run no more than one page. The best summaries will be both thorough and concise. Given the one-page constraint, your summary cannot cover every detail, so you’ll need to select the most significant information (purpose, themes, key people and happenings) and the most telling details (key ideas, quotes, or moments).Success in Reflection: Critical reflection is a thought process to make meaning of an experience. A successful critical reflection will run longer than one page but not more than three. It should do more than register your gut reaction to the prompt; it should perform analysis, make relevant connections, and/or help readers interpret your prompt response in a way that goes beyond the obvious. The reflection may include initial reactions (“I loved it”/“I was frustrated”/“It disturbed me”) but then include independent and original analysis.Analysis can explore the why and how behind your emotional and intellectual responses. It can perform interpretation (“what really seems to be going on here is…”); it can involve making connections between your perspective and that of others, or between this prompt and related issues. It can hinge on asking thoughtful questions, and it can mean articulating the not-so-obvious assumptions or implications of a perspective. It might even involve reconsidering the prompt or a theme in a wider or different context. It need not do all these things, but these prompts offer several possible starting points for insightful analysis.University of ConnecticutFirst Year Programs and Learning CommunitiesWriting Standards RubricDescription of Competency ExpectationsOutstanding(A Range)Good(B Range)Needs Improvement(C Range)Unsatisfactory(D or F)Writing Center Revision (30%):?The student’s final assignment should include all necessary revision elements: 1) a rough draft, 2) a tutor note, and 3) a final draft that shows meaningful content revisions based on tutor feedback, not just copy editing.The student’s paper meets or exceeds the expectations for the competency.The final assignment includes all necessary revision elements; however, it shows limited revision based on tutor feedback.The final includes all necessary revision elements; however, it shows minimal revision or merely copy editing.The student’s final assignment does not include all necessary revision elements.Coherent Summary (20%):?The paper’s summary should be thorough and concise, taking up no more than one page. It should include only meaningful details. And it explains not only significant information related to the prompt, but also the purpose.The student’s paper meets or exceeds the expectations for the competency.The summary is no more than one page, but it does not explain both the content and purpose of the prompt.The summary is vague, too long, or filled with unnecessary details.The paper does not summarize what the prompt asks..Critical Reflection (25%):?The paper’s critical reflection should take up more than one page but not more than three pages. It consists of original analysis that makes relevant connections, and/or help readers interpret the prompt in a way that goes beyond the obvious. It answers the question “so what?” by interpreting implications, reactions, or connections that they otherwise might not have recognized.The student’s paper meets or exceeds the expectations for the competency.The critical reflection is 1.5-3 pages of original analysis; however, it does not fully answer the question “so what?”The paper’s critical reflection is either too short or doesn’t go much beyond registering a gut reaction to the prompt.The paper does not include sustained critical reflection.Logical Organization (15%):?The paper should illustrate a clear progression of thought. It should include basic elements of academic writing such as a body, an introduction, transitions, and a conclusion. And the organization of the paper should successfully reflects the writer’s goals.The student’s paper meets or exceeds the expectations for the competency.The paper has the elements of an academic paper; however, it lacks some transitions or contains gaps in illogical sequence.The paper lacks some of the basic structural elements of writing.The paper is sloppy and disconnected, lacking any clear order.Style, Grammar Fluency, and Mechanics (10%):?The writing should be clear, engaging, and contain no major spelling or grammatical errors. It should include a creative title. And it should meet typical academic formatting standards (double-spaced, 1” margins, 12pt Times New Roman font, page numbers).Note to Instructors: Students for whom English is not their first language may be graded on growth.The student’s paper meets or exceeds the expectations for the competency.The paper generally fulfills the competency, with only a couple of minor errors.The writing has some strong sections, but there are numerous errors in the writing or formatting.The paper has numerous errors, and it lacks proper formatting.Note: Plagiarized papers will receive zero. ................
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