Full transcript
0:00in this video I'll walk you through how
0:01to write a reflective essay and provide
0:04you the guide on what to write in every
0:05single paragraph of your reflective
0:07essay we're following the reflective
0:09essay template you can see on the screen
0:11right now you can download that for
0:12yourself in the description here are
0:14three things that you probably will need
0:16to do in order to write a high quality
0:18reflective essay and get as higher grade
0:20as possible first thing is you need to
0:22make sure that you're reflecting on the
0:24experience event or concept obviously
0:26that's built in next up we need to
0:28demonstrate how that experience will
0:30lead to further learning in the future
0:32so our reflection is all about
0:35self-improvement and you need to talk
0:37about that process of self-improvement
0:39during the essay and then thirdly
0:41especially in a university level we
0:43would want to provide connections to
0:45theories or literature to demonstrate
0:46how we're applying the theories we've
0:48learned in the classroom to practices
0:51during the actual events that we're
0:52reflecting on I'll show you how to do
0:54that don't stress too much it's not too
0:56hard next thing I need to answer really
0:58quickly cuz I get asked this by every
1:00single student can you use first person
1:02language in a reflective essay usually
1:04yes you can even in an academic context
1:07but ask your teacher different teachers
1:08have different opinions on that i' would
1:10say about 80% of teachers would say yes
1:12do use firstperson language in a
1:14reflection okay let's go through each
1:16section the introduction so in the
1:18introduction you're going to want to
1:19introduce the event to the reader so
1:21what are you reflecting on what was the
1:23event make sure you name the event and
1:25demonstrate why the event is important
1:28let's use the example of if you were
1:30reflecting on an internship you went on
1:32at University your reflective essay will
1:35say this is why internships are
1:37important for University students then
1:39you're going to introduce your key
1:41learning so one of the key things that
1:42you learned that you're going to discuss
1:44in the essay and then sign post CSA
1:47structure saying first second third
1:48fourth this is what's going to be
1:50discussed here's an example of an
1:52introduction you can pause the screen
1:53and read that if you want but I'm going
1:55to move on really quickly the next
1:57section so after your one paragraph
1:59introduction you'll want to also write a
2:00one paragraph orientation which goes a
2:02little bit deeper into making sure the
2:04reader understands the context of the
2:08experience so if you're going on an
2:09internship here's where you'll explain
2:11what the internship was where it was how
2:14long it took and so on so the reader has
2:16a good understanding of what they're
2:17reading about then we move on to
2:19discussing key learning moments that you
2:21had during the experience in this essay
2:24plan I'm presenting three learning
2:25moments you can have more or less
2:27depending upon how long your essay is
2:29supposed to be now how do you come up
2:31with learning moments well you should
2:33probably have a good idea of key things
2:35that were really important to you during
2:37the event that when you're reflecting
2:39you can name a couple of key things if
2:41you're having trouble you could go to
2:43chat GPT or an AI tool and say hey I
2:46just completed a teaching internship or
2:48whatever it is that you're reflecting on
2:49and I need to think of some common
2:51struggles that people might have can you
2:53suggest some and then it'll suggest some
2:56like we see here and then you can select
2:58ones that you think resonate with you
2:59and your experiences and then you can
3:01zoom in on them and write about them in
3:03your own words remember using AI to help
3:06you brainstorm but not to write for you
3:09once You' selected the learning moments
3:11this is a common way to talk about them
3:12in a reflective essay firstly you Orient
3:14the reader to the learning moment so
3:16what are you focusing on what is the
3:18learning moment literally Define it then
3:20we're going to talk about some positives
3:22or what went well during the learning
3:23moment and then we're going to talk
3:24about some negatives or what went poorly
3:27that's what we're going to be focusing
3:28on to think about how can we improve
3:30upon these points next time next up
3:31we're going to want to create a
3:32literature link this is something that's
3:34often very often missed by students what
3:37does the research say about this so at
3:39University we're always using academic
3:41literature to reflect upon the real
3:44world so this is an opportunity to say
3:46well what are literature or the topics
3:48we've been talking about in class and
3:50how can I tie this into my experiences
3:53in the field when I was doing my the
3:56thing that I'm reflecting on I know the
3:58literature link is the most stressful
3:59part of a reflective essay for students
4:01so I provided some examples of language
4:03you can use for a literature Link in the
4:06study pack that's in the link in the
4:07description and then once you've talked
4:09about the negatives and linked it to
4:11literature you can feed forward by
4:13saying well what have I learned by
4:14linking Theory to practice so linking my
4:17experiences to what I've read about the
4:19topic what can I use how can I use all
4:22of this information to change what I'm
4:24doing next time or Implement something
4:26new next time to develop improvements
4:29over time
4:30that's the whole point of a reflective
4:31essay to get to that point where you can
4:33say based on experience and what I've
4:36read how can I feed forward to improve
4:39upon my practice in the future here's a
4:41quick example you can pause the screen
4:42if you want so this would be a learning
4:43experience for a student who went and
4:45did work experience at a school as a
4:47teacher if you want to watch that you
4:49can pause the screen I'll move on really
4:50quickly then you're going to do the same
4:52thing for your second and your third
4:53learning moment Define the learning
4:54moment talk about positives and
4:56negatives link it to literature and then
4:58talk about how you your experience will
5:00change your practice in the future do it
5:02again for the third one and then we get
5:04to our conclusion in our conclusion
5:05we're going to reflect upon everything
5:07we've discussed so we'll start by saying
5:09this was a really important event this
5:11event changed my perspectives I used
5:14literature so things I've read to
5:16further inform my experiences and then
5:19I'm going to bring all of this stuff
5:21that I've learned to Future situations
5:23to improve upon what I do whether it's
5:26public speaking teaching in a classroom
5:29working as a nurse whatever it is that
5:31you're reflecting on how can you use
5:33this past experience you've just had to
5:35improve upon yourself in the future
5:37here's a sample conclusion again you can
5:39pause the screen if you want to read it
5:40but we'll quickly move on now this
5:42reflective essay is one way in which you
5:44can do a reflective essay so I recommend
5:46once you've written your Draft take it
5:48to your teacher check it against the
5:50expectations that your teacher has set
5:52for you to make sure that you're
5:53covering everything they require and of
5:55course you can download the reflective
5:57essay stup pack that I provided for you
5:59in the description it'll help you write
6:01the essay plan it's got a template so
6:03you can checklist of everything you've
6:04done for each of the paragraphs and a
6:06language guide for sorts of language you
6:08might want to use in a reflective essay