As you know, I'm interested in making the marking process as open and as participatory as I possibly can.  I have to make my own final judgment, of course, based on more than 40 years of experience -- but I do not want that judgment to be a mystery if I can help it. So I'm explaining here, as best I can, how I read the learning reflections people wrote in early November, and how I read such documents generally; and I'm inviting you to read your own, and those of others, in the same way, and to recreate your own to make it the best possible demonstration of your own learning.

Some advice before you start: it's worth rereading the course introduction, especially the short section on the aims of the course and the one on "Reflecting on your learning." It's also worth skimming through the prompts -- to remind yourself what we've done -- and your own written work (in case you find yourself having said something you can now correct or modify).

The first step in evaluating (and recreating) your own learning reflection is this: make a copy of it for yourself, open your editor, and do what I do:

The first thing I do is go through and cross out comments on the nature or conduct of the course, if they done -- and most don't -- detail or specify any learning on the part of the writer. I understand, of course, that in many cases such comments are a way to get started writing, but usually they can be edited out once you've got rolling. This includes comments on how good or bad the course was, or how much the writer liked, or didn't like, it, or how the structure afforded, or didn't afford, learning -- unless the comment is connected to a particular new understanding or ability or piece of knowledge.

Then I go through and look for references to specifics -- to particular events, readings, statements, activities.  I also look for any reference to a specific learning -- some particular thing the writer now can do, or knows, or understands, or sees patterns among, or connections with. I especially look for places where those two are connected: where a particular event, for instance, gives rise to a specific new understanding.  And then, in each case, I look for evidence that that new understanding actually exists, rather than merely being stated, and is new, rather than simply being something the writer brought to the course in the first place.  In the first installments of this process I usually don't find many.

Because this is specifically concerned with English 3336, Restoration and Eighteenth Century Poetry and Prose, focussing on nonfiction prose, I also look for connections with the stated goals of the course. This is why I recommend having another look at that document as a way of helping you think about what you've learned. You may, in fact, find occasion to quote from it, if you think of instances of learning that fits one of the categories.  There should probably be things you've learned that aren't anticipated there; people do, of course, learn important things I don't expect. That's one of the reasons I use learning reflections as an alternative to term papers and examinations.

Finally, I read through again, looking for places where learning is mentioned, but no example or specific evidence is offered. You might, for instance, find statements like "I know more about doing research in the library," or "I understand more about how to write for various audiences," or "I understand more about asking questions," or "I know what kind of question is worth asking," or "I think more about how writers come to be seen as important."

In almost every case a "for example" will make a reflection which was merely enthusiastic into one which was convincing. So, now, go through your reflection looking for those places, and add that "for example." In other words, where you can, exemplify the general learning you said had happened.  If you can't, take it out. If you can talk about the circumstances in which the learning happened, add that.

Now it's time to think about what has happened, and what you've learned, since writing that first draft of a learning reflection.

As you do this, bear in mind that no one can describe everything she learns in a given course. Examinations are usually constructed with the idea that if someone can deal with a range of different aspects of a course, you can infer she could probably deal with others. So it's important to specify different kinds of learning: not just things about literary history, not just things about the eighteenth century, not just things about research, or writing, or eighteenth century writers.

About connecting reflections to marks: one of the places where my judgment enters this process is in making the determination of what level of learning is connected to what I'm prepared certify to the rest of the world -- people who would look at a transcript, for example -- about a student's learning. It may help you to assess your own reflection to know that, of the fifteen midterm reflections people posted in November (you can look back at them here), If I had had to decide on marks on the basis of what was there, I'd have judged six of them as either in the A range or as having clear potential to be in that range if the writer had simply made the examples more concrete, and had connected statements about what was learned to experiences or sources in or from which it was learned. Five of them I'd have categorized as a B at least, and four as not offering enough evidence to give me reason to substitute them for a minimum mark. Simply reading quickly through them, you should find it fairly easy to identify the reflections that would fit into the various categories. You might want to have a further look at your own, in the light of these comparisons, and do some further revision.

Now you should have a reflection which comes rather closer than your first draft to making a strong case for your learning.  Run a spell checker on it. Save it for a few days, and then reread it when it's cooled off.

Then post it to the December Learning Reflections wiki (notice that it's a wiki rather than a forum, which means that although the editing is the same, you can come back to your own and edit it whenever you like. It's configured, however, so that only you can edit your own; you can read, but not edit, those of others). Check the formatting to make sure it's what you wanted. Make sure it's your final version before 5:00, December 14 (the time our exam would have been scheduled, had we had one).