PDP 150 Personal Reflective Essay

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PDP 150 Personal Reflective Essay

• Cut and paste from your individual reflective
  essays passages that were especially important to
  you.
• Integrate (relate or draw connections between)
  what you learned in PDP 150 with what you learned
  in other courses and co-curricular and
  extra-curricular activities.
• Cover each dimension of PDP
• For your synthesis make short (coming semesters)
  and long term (after BC) goals.
• Minimum length is 8 pages.

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PDP Portfolio Requirements

• Personal Reflective Essay
• Depth of Reflection ability to explain, explore,
  analyze and synthesize experiences in reflecting
  on personal development
• Breadth of Reflection ability to reflect on
  development in the four dimensions of
  PDP(intellect, wellness, character, citizenship).
• Integration of experiences (200/300/400)
• Discussion of Life Goals (300/ 400)
• Expression
• Personal Voice and Syntax that is candid,
  authentic, and sincere.
• Organization and Mechanics that are clear and
  effective.
• Service Learning and Reflection
• Supporting Items at least four items on which
  you specifically reflect in your personal
  reflective essay.
• Resume and Cover Letter (300/ 400)

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Reflection

• In the reflective essay, the student engages in
  genuine reflection, clearly reviewing his or her
  various thoughts, emotions, and experiences and
  drawing insightful and meaningful conclusions as
  to the significance of these experiences rather
  than merely cataloging or describing them. The
  student identifies, and then adequately
  illustrates, his or her changes in perception
  over time, placing these changes within the
  larger context of his or her life as a whole.

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Depth of Reflection

• Exploration Candid discussion of your
  preconceptions (beliefs, values, and goals) that
  have been challenged by your recent experiences.
• Explanation Discussion of specific curricular
  (class) , co-curricular (sports, clubs, etc.),
  and extra-curricular (your private life on and
  off-campus) experiences that have prompted
  personal development.
• Analysis Reexamine both your preconceptions and
  your experiences to draw conclusions about how
  your personal development has evolved. A good
  analysis will integrate a variety of experiences.
  
• Synthesis Discuss the implications of your
  conclusions for your actions and goals in both
  the near (next semester) and long term (graduate
  school, careers, life).

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Reflection vs. Description

• Students typically only describe their
  experiences in very general terms. This is the
  1 problem with personal reflective essays.
• Step 1 Explain Explain your experiences in as
  specific detail as possible. Use footnotes
  refer to supporting items. It is impossible to
  be too detailed.
• Step 2 Explore Reflect on how the experiences
  you describe challenged your prior beliefs,
  values, and/or goals.
• Step 3 Analyze Discuss your experiences in
  greater depth in order to get a handle on how
  your beliefs, values, and/or goals have/should
  change. Integrate!
• Step 4 Synthesize Draw some conclusions or
  implications from what you have learned. These
  implications are actions , such as changing a
  belief, making plans to get more information
  (another class, an internship), or setting life
  goals (going to a certain graduate school
  program, study abroad).

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Description Dont

• Dr. Hayes Sociology 101 class was very
  important to me. She was hard, but I sure
  learned a lot. I didnt think I would like
  sociology at first, but in the end I liked it a
  lot!
• This is only simple and vague description!

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Reflection Do

• Dr. Hayes Sociology 101 class was the most
  important course I took last semester. The
  discussion of social roles challenged my previous
  view that everything I do is a product of my own
  free will. I began to see how in everything I do
  I am actually performing a role set for me by
  social norms. For instance, I always took the
  way I dress as an expression of my true self.
  But now I began to see myself as just conforming
  unthoughtfully to stylistic conventions. The
  readings on dramatury by Geertz, especially
  made me see parallels between New Guinean dress
  and college student dress. Both express status
  and class roles. To explore this further I have
  decided to take cultural anthropology next fall.
  I think this work may help me to be a better
  diplomat, my current career goal.

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SynthesisDiscussion of Life Goals

• The student provides a clear and thorough
  summary of planning for life after graduation and
  identifies both short and long term life goals
  for achieving his/her objectives. In addition to
  simply cataloguing these goals, the student
  clearly articulates the relationship between
  his/her interests, values, skills, and future
  personal and vocational choices. If the student
  is uncertain about life goals, he/she offers some
  possibilities, thoroughly explores each one, and
  examines the pros and cons of each.

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Synthesis Now What?Discussion of Life Goals

• Discussion of life goals should be integral to
  the reflections that take place throughout your
  personal reflective essay. Thats what you do
  when you synthesize or answer the question now
  what? as you reflect upon your experiences.
• You may create a distinct Synthesis/Life Goals
  section in your essay in which you summarize,
  integrate, and discuss the implications of your
  various reflections for your short term (next
  semester), medium term (next year), or long term
  (5-10 years from now) goals.

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Breadth of Reflection Cover all 4 Dimensions of
PDP

• Intellectual Growth and Discovery. In addition to
  meeting the minimum academic standards specified
  in the catalog, Bridgewater students develop the
  skills and perspectives to be passionate lifelong
  learners who can integrate their varied academic
  experiences in a meaningful way.
• Emotional Maturation and Physical Health.
  Bridgewater students understand the importance of
  emotional and physical well-being, and possess
  the skills to pursue wellness during their
  college years and throughout the rest of their
  lives.
• Ethical and Spiritual Growth. The curricular and
  co-curricular experiences at Bridgewater require
  students to examine and act upon fundamental
  ethical choices, and to define, refine, and
  pursue their personal spiritual paths.
• Citizenship and Community Responsibility. At
  Bridgewater, students become more aware,
  involved, and effective citizens of the
  communities-campus, local, national, global-to
  which they belong. Responsible citizenship at
  Bridgewater implies the ability and willingness
  to provide leadership and other forms of service
  to the community.

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Integration

• The student is able to effectively demonstrate
  the ways in which he/she has achieved an
  integrated college experience. Utilizing a
  detailed discussion, the essay provides clear
  examples of the intellectual connections
  (relationships or associations which exist
  between ideas, concepts, etc.) the student has
  made between specific general education, major
  and elective courses. Connections should
  demonstrate insight and critical thought. The
  relevance and significance of these connections
  should be explored in detail.

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Integration draw connections between experiences

• As you analyze your experiences use a related
  experience as evidence to help you make sense of
  what you learned.
• Integrate
• Two or three different courses.
• A co-curricular experience with a curricular one.
• Service learning with curricular or
  co-curricular.
• Job or social experience with any of the above.
• Two different dimensions of PDP. (For instance,
  your intellectual development may have been
  important to your spiritual/ ethical
  development.)

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Integration Do

• When I took Introduction to Political Philosophy
  as a Freshman, I was intrigued with Aristotles
  notion of telos. He said that all beings
  naturally develop towards their highest
  expression. In the case of human beings,
  Aristotle thought this telos was self
  sufficiency. I was able to develop this concept
  further in my Christian Social Ethics class with
  Abshire this spring. I found that some notion
  such as Aristotles is necessary to give meaning
  to Christian notions of natural rights. These
  should be rights to human development towards
  self-sufficiency rather than just unconstrained
  freedom. This idea was confirmed for me during
  my service learning, for I acted ethically
  towards the students I tutored when I helped
  foster their development through discipline and
  high expectations rather than letting them do
  what they wanted which was be left alone. The
  experience really reinforced my sense of why I
  wanted to be a teacher to help my students be
  free by fostering their development.

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Personal Voice

• The students voicethat is, the students tone,
  speech patterns, linguistic rhythms, and so
  forth--clearly demonstrates a unique, individual
  student performance. The voice seems candid,
  authentic, and sincere. The student avoids
  clichés and generic expressions, and presents
  himself or herself with a creative and unique
  sense of rhetorical style.

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Personal Voice

• DO
• Make your writing personal. Think of it as
  creative writing. Be interesting.
• Its ok to use I.
• Do Not
• Use an overly formal academic style.
• Use clichés or write pabulum.
• Be cute, glib or unprofessional.

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Syntax

• Appropriate punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
• Suitable word choices and vocabulary.
• Writing with smooth and logical flow.

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Organization and Mechanics

• The student is able to narrate his or her
  personal development in a coherent and organized
  essay. The essay may or may not have an explicit
  thesis, but each paragraph and section within it
  addresses or relates to how the student has
  changed, grown, or developed as a result of his
  or her college experiences. The essay does not
  merely catalog selected experiences but discusses
  each example in concrete terms that explain how
  it has furthered the students growth. The essay
  also demonstrates that the student clearly
  understands the four dimensions and recognizes
  how they come together to form the whole person.

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Organization and Mechanics

• Separate sections for the 4 dimensions is the
  easiest and most obvious way to organize your
  essay.
• Dont be afraid to integrate your discussion
  across dimensions, but dont repeat yourself.
• You dont have to use the 4 dimensions to
  organize your essay, but you must include all of
  them somehow.

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Service Learning Hours and Reflection

• Forty hours for graduating seniors, ten hours
  each year for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.
  Reflection clearly addresses what happened at the
  agency served (the what), the meaning of the
  experience for the student (the so what), and the
  effects of the experience on the students life
  goals (the now what). For guidelines on
  appropriate types of service, and for suggestions
  on service learning reflection, see the PDP
  service learning linkhttp//www.bridgewater.edu/
  departments/pdp/pdp_service.html

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Service Learning Reflection DO NOT

• Most students only describe their service
  learning and then say how it made them feel.
• Example I worked very hard at the soup kitchen,
  but it made me feel good to help.
• The point of service learning is not for you to
  feel good. It is so you reflect on your
  responsibilities as a citizen and your
  responsibility to make ethical choices and
  develop ethical values.

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Service Learning ReflectionDO

• Include your service learning reflection in one
  of the sections of your personal reflective
  essay.
• Think about the dimensions for which service
  learning is especially relevant (citizenship and
  character).
• Engage in the reflective process
• Explain what you did (the What?)
• Explore (the So What? Compare to your old views.
  How does your experience relate to your views
  about citizenship and ethical values?)
• Analyze (more So what? Come up with new views,
  especially about community responsibility and
  ethical/ spiritual values.)
• Synthesize (Now what? Make plans or goals
  related to your service learning experience).

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Supporting Items

• The portfolio includes meaningful supporting
  materials that support, illustrate, or otherwise
  illuminate or document selected examples
  discussed in the students essay. In general, a
  supporting item is a representative artifact of
  something the student has done. This might
  include a paper the student has written, the
  citation of something the student has read, or a
  photograph or other image documenting something
  the student has done or witnessed. The definition
  and the examples are purposely general and not
  intended to be limiting, for what is important is
  not the item itself but its relation to and
  importance for the students development. The key
  principle is that an item of supporting material
  is made meaningful by the students discussion of
  its importance in the context of his or her
  personal growth and development.

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Supporting Items

• In the past The supporting materials requirement
  encouraged students to make scrapbooks of all
  kinds of materials, from term papers to t-shirts.
• Now Do not include items unless they are
  discussed in your personal reflective essay.
  Think of items as evidence to be analyzed as part
  of the reflective process. Reflection about the
  items is way more important than the items
  themselves.
• Quality reflection is way more important than
  making a pretty scrapbook!

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Supporting ItemsWhat and How Much?

• At least 4 items.
• Each must be specifically reflected upon or
  discussed in the personal reflective essay. If
  you dont discuss it it doesnt count.
• Include items that are evidence of your personal
  development and that would give a reader added
  insight. A paper, for example, does this. A
  picture of you with your friends, a baseball, or
  a ticket stub doesnt.
• Your supporting items dont necessarily have to
  be something placed in the portfolio, especially
  if the item is not easily stored on the P drive.
  Just make sure you clearly identify items in
  your essay, perhaps with a footnote.
• You should include some of your academic work
  papers, projects, exams, lab reports etc.
• Include co-curricular and extra-curricular items
  as well.

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Resume and Cover Letter

• The resume is an effective and concise summary
  of the students academic, employment, and
  extracurricular qualifications. The student uses
  action words to highlight specific skills,
  competencies and achievements. Likewise, the
  cover letter is a well-crafted summary of the
  students background and is customized for a
  specific and appropriate audience (e.g.
  internships, summer jobs, volunteer work,
  graduate school, or post-graduate opportunities).
  The cover letter demonstrates use of the skills
  and experiences discussed in the students
  reflective essay. Attention is given to visual
  presentation, layout, and omission of mechanical
  errors in both documents. Both the resume and the
  cover letter could be sent to potential employers
  and graduate schools as is.

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Resume and Cover Letter

• Check out resume formats at the BC Career
  Services website http//www.bridgewater.edu/depar
  tments/career/jsi.html
• Microsoft Word provides resume formats, including
  an automated Resume Wizard. Pull down File
  from top menu, select New, and then select the
  other Documents tab.
• Tailor your cover letter to a real or possible
  audience, someone you actually might send your
  resume to to be considered for a position.

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Evaluation of your Portfolio PDP 100

• Evaluation of Reflective Essay
• Depth of Reflection60,
• Breadth of Reflection (4 dimensions)20
• Expression Personal Voice/ Organization and
  Mechanics 10
• Service hours 10 (1 per hour)
• Minimum Satisfactory grade is 75
• Save your portfolio by your username on the P
  drive.

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Evaluation of your Portfolio PDP 200

• Evaluation of Reflective Essay
• Depth of Reflection50,
• Breadth of Reflection (4 dimensions)10
• Integration of Experience 20
• Expression Personal Voice/ Organization and
  Mechanics 10
• Service hours 10 (1 per hour)
• Minimum Satisfactory grade is 75
• Save your portfolio by your username on the P
  drive.

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Evaluation of your Portfolio PDP 300

• Evaluation of Reflective Essay
• Depth of Reflection30,
• Breadth of Reflection (4 dimensions)10
• Integration of Experience 10
• Discussion of Life Goals 20
• Expression Personal Voice/ Organization and
  Mechanics 10
• Service hours 10 (1 per hour)
• Resume and Cover Letter 10
• Minimum Satisfactory grade is 75
• Save your portfolio by your username on the P
  drive.