Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2010

Keywords

Reflective writing, College writing, Content literacy courses

Abstract

Research Question: What happens in a Secondary Education undergraduate and graduate course(s) when we use a reflective writing rubric that addresses both cognitive and affective capacities/skills in order to demonstrate the proficiency necessary to meet standards for certification?

Method: After examining relevant literature, we defined reflection to be “a careful examination and evaluation of experience, beliefs, and knowledge.” We found that a careful examination and evaluation of an experience, when compared to one’s beliefs and prior knowledge, was considered by most to be the deepest form of reflection. Using a model based on Bain et al. (1999), we found that the most moving reflections were written in an integrated fashion – that is, these reflections combined the cognitive (thinking) and affective (feeling) domains. At this point, we developed our rubric to measure the ability of our teacher candidates to express their integration of theoretical concepts from our class textbook with feelings as they related to a teaching experience in the field. The highest form of reflection, according to our rubric, will measure a teacher candidate’s written reflection as it addresses significant contexts, multiple perspectives, and new questions, all in an integrated fashion.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Critical thinking; Academic writing--Study and teaching; Technical writing

rubric spring.pdf (83 kB)
Rubric for analyzing reflective writing

Genre/Form

reports

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

COinS