Original Post (Post 1): Critical Reflection & Discussion Questions

Part I. Critical Reflection

What is a critical reflection?

A critical reflection (also called a reflective essay) is a process of identifying, questioning, and assessing our deeply-held assumptions - about our knowledge, the way we perceive events and issues, our beliefs, feelings, and actions. When you reflect critically, you use course material (lectures, readings, discussions, etc.) to examine our biases, compare theories with current actions, search for causes and triggers, and identify problems at their core. Critical reflection is nota reading assignment, a summary of an activity, or an emotional outlet.Rather,the goal isto change your thinking about a subject, and thus change your behavior.

How to Critically Reflect:Writing a critical reflection happens in two phases:In the first phase, analyze the issue and your role by asking critical questions. Use free writing as a way to develop good ideas. Don't worry about organized paragraphs or good grammar at this stage.In the second phase, use your analysis to develop a clear argument about what you learned. Organize your ideas so they are clear for your reader.

Below are three perspectives you can consider:

Academic perspective: How did the experience enhance your understanding of a concept/theory/skill? Did the experience confirm your understanding or challenge it? Did you identify strengths or gaps in your knowledge?

Personal perspective:Why does the experience matter? What are the consequences? Were your previous expectations/assumptions confirmed or refuted? What surprised you and why?

Systems perspective:What were the sources of power and who benefited/who was harmed? What changes would you suggest? How does this experience help you understand the organization or system?

For the full reading about writing a critical reflection, please click here:https://uwaterloo.ca/writing-and-communication-centre/critical-reflection(Links to an external site.)

The questions below are to help you reflect on course material. You donotneed to answer all of them. You may want to pick one or two to help you get started.

Questions to get you started:

1. 1. What did the readings/videos mean to you? What stood out to you the most and why?
   2. What was most surprising, intriguing or challenging about this material?
   3. What are the next steps now that you've learned this information. For example, what would like to do, read, or learn more about?
   4. What are some of the similarities or differences between the material you learned in this module and other courses (could be graduate or undergraduate courses)?
   5. What did you learn from this module? What will you take away from this module moving forward?
   6. How do the themes and ideas from this module relate to things you have learned about in and/or out of the classroom?
   7. What three facts from this module stood out to you the most and why?
   8. What does this module have to do with you? How does it connect with other things you have learned?
   9. Did anything from this module challenge your own beliefs? How did you cope with learning this new information?
   10. If you were going to teach this module to other students, what would be the most important things you would want to point out? Why?