creative writing reflection examples

“It was a great way to mentally assess the year. It not only helped me reflect on my own performance as a student but also helped me review the different topics that we studied throughout the year. When I was creating my map, I was unintentionally giving myself a brief refresher course that I will remember long after the individual lessons are forgotten. It was helpful to recap my ninth-grade learning before moving on to tenth grade. I know I will need these skills! This was a fresh way to remember the year and connect all of the dots in ways that I wouldn’t have noticed before.” – Elise, Freshman

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If you are loving this reflection technique but don’t have the time to to put the scaffolding together, this starter kit will help you make it happen.

Year mapping is a creative reflection activity that prompts students to make connections between everything they've learned in a course.

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Creative reflection activity for the end of the school year! Students map their learning by creating personalized, detailed concept maps that capitalize on brain-based connections #EndofYearActivities #MiddleSchool #HighSchool

Melissa Kruse

An avid reader and writer, I've had the privilege of teaching English for over a decade and am now an instructional coach. I have degrees in English, Curriculum & Instruction, and Reading as well as a reading specialist certification. In my free time, I enjoy loving on my kids, deconstructing sentences, analyzing literature, making learning fun, working out, and drinking a good cup of coffee.

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Last updated on Feb 14, 2023

10 Types of Creative Writing (with Examples You’ll Love)

A lot falls under the term ‘creative writing’: poetry, short fiction, plays, novels, personal essays, and songs, to name just a few. By virtue of the creativity that characterizes it, creative writing is an extremely versatile art. So instead of defining what creative writing is , it may be easier to understand what it does by looking at examples that demonstrate the sheer range of styles and genres under its vast umbrella.

To that end, we’ve collected a non-exhaustive list of works across multiple formats that have inspired the writers here at Reedsy. With 20 different works to explore, we hope they will inspire you, too.

People have been writing creatively for almost as long as we have been able to hold pens. Just think of long-form epic poems like The Odyssey or, later, the Cantar de Mio Cid — some of the earliest recorded writings of their kind.

Poetry is also a great place to start if you want to dip your own pen into the inkwell of creative writing. It can be as short or long as you want (you don’t have to write an epic of Homeric proportions), encourages you to build your observation skills, and often speaks from a single point of view .

Here are a few examples:

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The ruins of pillars and walls with the broken statue of a man in the center set against a bright blue sky.

This classic poem by Romantic poet Percy Shelley (also known as Mary Shelley’s husband) is all about legacy. What do we leave behind? How will we be remembered? The great king Ozymandias built himself a massive statue, proclaiming his might, but the irony is that his statue doesn’t survive the ravages of time. By framing this poem as told to him by a “traveller from an antique land,” Shelley effectively turns this into a story. Along with the careful use of juxtaposition to create irony, this poem accomplishes a lot in just a few lines.

“Trying to Raise the Dead” by Dorianne Laux

A direction. An object. My love, it needs a place to rest. Say anything. I’m listening. I’m ready to believe. Even lies, I don’t care.

Poetry is cherished for its ability to evoke strong emotions from the reader using very few words which is exactly what Dorianne Laux does in “ Trying to Raise the Dead .” With vivid imagery that underscores the painful yearning of the narrator, she transports us to a private nighttime scene as the narrator sneaks away from a party to pray to someone they’ve lost. We ache for their loss and how badly they want their lost loved one to acknowledge them in some way. It’s truly a masterclass on how writing can be used to portray emotions.

If you find yourself inspired to try out some poetry — and maybe even get it published — check out these poetry layouts that can elevate your verse!

Song Lyrics

Poetry’s closely related cousin, song lyrics are another great way to flex your creative writing muscles. You not only have to find the perfect rhyme scheme but also match it to the rhythm of the music. This can be a great challenge for an experienced poet or the musically inclined.

To see how music can add something extra to your poetry, check out these two examples:

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well, really, what's it to ya? There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Metaphors are commonplace in almost every kind of creative writing, but will often take center stage in shorter works like poetry and songs. At the slightest mention, they invite the listener to bring their emotional or cultural experience to the piece, allowing the writer to express more with fewer words while also giving it a deeper meaning. If a whole song is couched in metaphor, you might even be able to find multiple meanings to it, like in Leonard Cohen’s “ Hallelujah .” While Cohen’s Biblical references create a song that, on the surface, seems like it’s about a struggle with religion, the ambiguity of the lyrics has allowed it to be seen as a song about a complicated romantic relationship.

“I Will Follow You into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie

If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks Then I'll follow you into the dark

You can think of song lyrics as poetry set to music. They manage to do many of the same things their literary counterparts do — including tugging on your heartstrings. Death Cab for Cutie’s incredibly popular indie rock ballad is about the singer’s deep devotion to his lover. While some might find the song a bit too dark and macabre, its melancholy tune and poignant lyrics remind us that love can endure beyond death.

Plays and Screenplays

From the short form of poetry, we move into the world of drama — also known as the play. This form is as old as the poem, stretching back to the works of ancient Greek playwrights like Sophocles, who adapted the myths of their day into dramatic form. The stage play (and the more modern screenplay) gives the words on the page a literal human voice, bringing life to a story and its characters entirely through dialogue.

Interested to see what that looks like? Take a look at these examples:

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

“I know you're no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father.”

Arthur Miller acts as a bridge between the classic and the new, creating 20th century tragedies that take place in living rooms and backyard instead of royal courts, so we had to include his breakout hit on this list. Set in the backyard of an all-American family in the summer of 1946, this tragedy manages to communicate family tensions in an unimaginable scale, building up to an intense climax reminiscent of classical drama.

💡 Read more about Arthur Miller and classical influences in our breakdown of Freytag’s pyramid .

“Everything is Fine” by Michael Schur ( The Good Place )

“Well, then this system sucks. What...one in a million gets to live in paradise and everyone else is tortured for eternity? Come on! I mean, I wasn't freaking Gandhi, but I was okay. I was a medium person. I should get to spend eternity in a medium place! Like Cincinnati. Everyone who wasn't perfect but wasn't terrible should get to spend eternity in Cincinnati.”

A screenplay, especially a TV pilot, is like a mini-play, but with the extra job of convincing an audience that they want to watch a hundred more episodes of the show. Blending moral philosophy with comedy, The Good Place is a fun hang-out show set in the afterlife that asks some big questions about what it means to be good.

It follows Eleanor Shellstrop, an incredibly imperfect woman from Arizona who wakes up in ‘The Good Place’ and realizes that there’s been a cosmic mixup. Determined not to lose her place in paradise, she recruits her “soulmate,” a former ethics professor, to teach her philosophy with the hope that she can learn to be a good person and keep up her charade of being an upstanding citizen. The pilot does a superb job of setting up the stakes, the story, and the characters, while smuggling in deep philosophical ideas.

Personal essays

Our first foray into nonfiction on this list is the personal essay. As its name suggests, these stories are in some way autobiographical — concerned with the author’s life and experiences. But don’t be fooled by the realistic component. These essays can take any shape or form, from comics to diary entries to recipes and anything else you can imagine. Typically zeroing in on a single issue, they allow you to explore your life and prove that the personal can be universal.

Here are a couple of fantastic examples:

“On Selling Your First Novel After 11 Years” by Min Jin Lee (Literary Hub)

There was so much to learn and practice, but I began to see the prose in verse and the verse in prose. Patterns surfaced in poems, stories, and plays. There was music in sentences and paragraphs. I could hear the silences in a sentence. All this schooling was like getting x-ray vision and animal-like hearing.

This deeply honest personal essay by Pachinko author Min Jin Lee is an account of her eleven-year struggle to publish her first novel . Like all good writing, it is intensely focused on personal emotional details. While grounded in the specifics of the author's personal journey, it embodies an experience that is absolutely universal: that of difficulty and adversity met by eventual success.

“A Cyclist on the English Landscape” by Roff Smith (New York Times)

These images, though, aren’t meant to be about me. They’re meant to represent a cyclist on the landscape, anybody — you, perhaps.

Roff Smith’s gorgeous photo essay for the NYT is a testament to the power of creatively combining visuals with text. Here, photographs of Smith atop a bike are far from simply ornamental. They’re integral to the ruminative mood of the essay, as essential as the writing. Though Smith places his work at the crosscurrents of various aesthetic influences (such as the painter Edward Hopper), what stands out the most in this taciturn, thoughtful piece of writing is his use of the second person to address the reader directly. Suddenly, the writer steps out of the body of the essay and makes eye contact with the reader. The reader is now part of the story as a second character, finally entering the picture.

Short Fiction

The short story is the happy medium of fiction writing. These bite-sized narratives can be devoured in a single sitting and still leave you reeling. Sometimes viewed as a stepping stone to novel writing, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Short story writing is an art all its own. The limited length means every word counts and there’s no better way to see that than with these two examples:

“An MFA Story” by Paul Dalla Rosa (Electric Literature)

At Starbucks, I remembered a reading Zhen had given, a reading organized by the program’s faculty. I had not wanted to go but did. In the bar, he read, "I wrote this in a Starbucks in Shanghai. On the bank of the Huangpu." It wasn’t an aside or introduction. It was two lines of the poem. I was in a Starbucks and I wasn’t writing any poems. I wasn’t writing anything.

Creative Writing Examples | Photograph of New York City street.

This short story is a delightfully metafictional tale about the struggles of being a writer in New York. From paying the bills to facing criticism in a writing workshop and envying more productive writers, Paul Dalla Rosa’s story is a clever satire of the tribulations involved in the writing profession, and all the contradictions embodied by systemic creativity (as famously laid out in Mark McGurl’s The Program Era ). What’s more, this story is an excellent example of something that often happens in creative writing: a writer casting light on the private thoughts or moments of doubt we don’t admit to or openly talk about.

“Flowering Walrus” by Scott Skinner (Reedsy)

I tell him they’d been there a month at least, and he looks concerned. He has my tongue on a tissue paper and is gripping its sides with his pointer and thumb. My tongue has never spent much time outside of my mouth, and I imagine it as a walrus basking in the rays of the dental light. My walrus is not well.

A winner of Reedsy’s weekly Prompts writing contest, ‘ Flowering Walrus ’ is a story that balances the trivial and the serious well. In the pauses between its excellent, natural dialogue , the story manages to scatter the fear and sadness of bad medical news, as the protagonist hides his worries from his wife and daughter. Rich in subtext, these silences grow and resonate with the readers.

Want to give short story writing a go? Give our free course a go!

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Perhaps the thing that first comes to mind when talking about creative writing, novels are a form of fiction that many people know and love but writers sometimes find intimidating. The good news is that novels are nothing but one word put after another, like any other piece of writing, but expanded and put into a flowing narrative. Piece of cake, right?

To get an idea of the format’s breadth of scope, take a look at these two (very different) satirical novels:

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

I wished I was back in the convenience store where I was valued as a working member of staff and things weren’t as complicated as this. Once we donned our uniforms, we were all equals regardless of gender, age, or nationality — all simply store workers.

Creative Writing Examples | Book cover of Convenience Store Woman

Keiko, a thirty-six-year-old convenience store employee, finds comfort and happiness in the strict, uneventful routine of the shop’s daily operations. A funny, satirical, but simultaneously unnerving examination of the social structures we take for granted, Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is deeply original and lingers with the reader long after they’ve put it down.

Erasure by Percival Everett

The hard, gritty truth of the matter is that I hardly ever think about race. Those times when I did think about it a lot I did so because of my guilt for not thinking about it.

Erasure is a truly accomplished satire of the publishing industry’s tendency to essentialize African American authors and their writing. Everett’s protagonist is a writer whose work doesn’t fit with what publishers expect from him — work that describes the “African American experience” — so he writes a parody novel about life in the ghetto. The publishers go crazy for it and, to the protagonist’s horror, it becomes the next big thing. This sophisticated novel is both ironic and tender, leaving its readers with much food for thought.

Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is pretty broad: it applies to anything that does not claim to be fictional (although the rise of autofiction has definitely blurred the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction). It encompasses everything from personal essays and memoirs to humor writing, and they range in length from blog posts to full-length books. The defining characteristic of this massive genre is that it takes the world or the author’s experience and turns it into a narrative that a reader can follow along with.

Here, we want to focus on novel-length works that dig deep into their respective topics. While very different, these two examples truly show the breadth and depth of possibility of creative nonfiction:

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Men’s bodies litter my family history. The pain of the women they left behind pulls them from the beyond, makes them appear as ghosts. In death, they transcend the circumstances of this place that I love and hate all at once and become supernatural.

Writer Jesmyn Ward recounts the deaths of five men from her rural Mississippi community in as many years. In her award-winning memoir , she delves into the lives of the friends and family she lost and tries to find some sense among the tragedy. Working backwards across five years, she questions why this had to happen over and over again, and slowly unveils the long history of racism and poverty that rules rural Black communities. Moving and emotionally raw, Men We Reaped is an indictment of a cruel system and the story of a woman's grief and rage as she tries to navigate it.

Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

He believed that wine could reshape someone’s life. That’s why he preferred buying bottles to splurging on sweaters. Sweaters were things. Bottles of wine, said Morgan, “are ways that my humanity will be changed.”

In this work of immersive journalism , Bianca Bosker leaves behind her life as a tech journalist to explore the world of wine. Becoming a “cork dork” takes her everywhere from New York’s most refined restaurants to science labs while she learns what it takes to be a sommelier and a true wine obsessive. This funny and entertaining trip through the past and present of wine-making and tasting is sure to leave you better informed and wishing you, too, could leave your life behind for one devoted to wine.

Illustrated Narratives (Comics, graphic novels)

Once relegated to the “funny pages”, the past forty years of comics history have proven it to be a serious medium. Comics have transformed from the early days of Jack Kirby’s superheroes into a medium where almost every genre is represented. Humorous one-shots in the Sunday papers stand alongside illustrated memoirs, horror, fantasy, and just about anything else you can imagine. This type of visual storytelling lets the writer and artist get creative with perspective, tone, and so much more. For two very different, though equally entertaining, examples, check these out:

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

"Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine and valleys of frustration and failure."

A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. A little blond boy Calvin makes multiple silly faces in school photos. In the last panel, his father says, "That's our son. *Sigh*" His mother then says, "The pictures will remind of more than we want to remember."

This beloved comic strip follows Calvin, a rambunctious six-year-old boy, and his stuffed tiger/imaginary friend, Hobbes. They get into all kinds of hijinks at school and at home, and muse on the world in the way only a six-year-old and an anthropomorphic tiger can. As laugh-out-loud funny as it is, Calvin & Hobbes ’ popularity persists as much for its whimsy as its use of humor to comment on life, childhood, adulthood, and everything in between.

From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

"I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell."

Comics aren't just the realm of superheroes and one-joke strips, as Alan Moore proves in this serialized graphic novel released between 1989 and 1998. A meticulously researched alternative history of Victorian London’s Ripper killings, this macabre story pulls no punches. Fact and fiction blend into a world where the Royal Family is involved in a dark conspiracy and Freemasons lurk on the sidelines. It’s a surreal mad-cap adventure that’s unsettling in the best way possible.

Video Games and RPGs

Probably the least expected entry on this list, we thought that video games and RPGs also deserved a mention — and some well-earned recognition for the intricate storytelling that goes into creating them.

Essentially gamified adventure stories, without attention to plot, characters, and a narrative arc, these games would lose a lot of their charm, so let’s look at two examples where the creative writing really shines through:

80 Days by inkle studios

"It was a triumph of invention over nature, and will almost certainly disappear into the dust once more in the next fifty years."

Named Time Magazine ’s game of the year in 2014, this narrative adventure is based on Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. The player is cast as the novel’s narrator, Passpartout, and tasked with circumnavigating the globe in service of their employer, Phileas Fogg. Set in an alternate steampunk Victorian era, the game uses its globe-trotting to comment on the colonialist fantasies inherent in the original novel and its time period. On a storytelling level, the choose-your-own-adventure style means no two players’ journeys will be the same. This innovative approach to a classic novel shows the potential of video games as a storytelling medium, truly making the player part of the story.

What Remains of Edith Finch by Giant Sparrow

"If we lived forever, maybe we'd have time to understand things. But as it is, I think the best we can do is try to open our eyes, and appreciate how strange and brief all of this is."

This video game casts the player as 17-year-old Edith Finch. Returning to her family’s home on an island in the Pacific northwest, Edith explores the vast house and tries to figure out why she’s the only one of her family left alive. The story of each family member is revealed as you make your way through the house, slowly unpacking the tragic fate of the Finches. Eerie and immersive, this first-person exploration game uses the medium to tell a series of truly unique tales.

Fun and breezy on the surface, humor is often recognized as one of the trickiest forms of creative writing. After all, while you can see the artistic value in a piece of prose that you don’t necessarily enjoy, if a joke isn’t funny, you could say that it’s objectively failed.

With that said, it’s far from an impossible task, and many have succeeded in bringing smiles to their readers’ faces through their writing. Here are two examples:

‘How You Hope Your Extended Family Will React When You Explain Your Job to Them’ by Mike Lacher (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)

“Is it true you don’t have desks?” your grandmother will ask. You will nod again and crack open a can of Country Time Lemonade. “My stars,” she will say, “it must be so wonderful to not have a traditional office and instead share a bistro-esque coworking space.”

An open plan office seen from a bird's eye view. There are multiple strands of Edison lights hanging from the ceiling. At long light wooden tables multiple people sit working at computers, many of them wearing headphones.

Satire and parody make up a whole subgenre of creative writing, and websites like McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and The Onion consistently hit the mark with their parodies of magazine publishing and news media. This particular example finds humor in the divide between traditional family expectations and contemporary, ‘trendy’ work cultures. Playing on the inherent silliness of today’s tech-forward middle-class jobs, this witty piece imagines a scenario where the writer’s family fully understands what they do — and are enthralled to hear more. “‘Now is it true,’ your uncle will whisper, ‘that you’ve got a potential investment from one of the founders of I Can Haz Cheezburger?’”

‘Not a Foodie’ by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Electric Literature)

I’m not a foodie, I never have been, and I know, in my heart, I never will be.

Highlighting what she sees as an unbearable social obsession with food , in this comic Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell takes a hilarious stand against the importance of food. From the writer’s courageous thesis (“I think there are more exciting things to talk about, and focus on in life, than what’s for dinner”) to the amusing appearance of family members and the narrator’s partner, ‘Not a Foodie’ demonstrates that even a seemingly mundane pet peeve can be approached creatively — and even reveal something profound about life.

We hope this list inspires you with your own writing. If there’s one thing you take away from this post, let it be that there is no limit to what you can write about or how you can write about it.

In the next part of this guide, we'll drill down into the fascinating world of creative nonfiction.

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10 Unique and Creative Reflection Techniques & Lessons for the Secondary Student

As educators, we know how critical reflection is to the learning process. Getting students to reflect- deeply and meaningfully- is often one of the most challenging lessons we teach. I have found that both my middle school and high school students will often scoff at these reflection activities, providing the least amount of effort possible to complete the task they see as meaningless. I have been searching for and creating lessons and activities that will bring interest and engagement to this task. The following is a list of 10 lessons and activities I use regularly in my classroom to create a class of reflective learners.

1. Growth Mindset and Goal Setting

The first step in developing a truly reflective learner is to develop the growth mindset within each and every student. Students do not naturally believe that reading and writing are skills that can be improved upon. We have all heard our students comment that they “just are not good at writing.” With this mindset, students are willing to accept poor scores, give less effort, and fain any reflection activity given. As we know, this mindset takes time to alter. I focus on these skills at the beginning of the year, but this concept can be taught at any time!

I love asking my students to create goals. We do this at the beginning of the year, the start of a new semester, a new unit, a new skill, etc. This is a great place to naturally build in those reflection conversations. As we close out that unit or semester, we can look back on these to reflect on our learning and set new goals. What a great life skill and habit to develop with our students! I use these engaging goal setting one pager activities to help my students craft these goals. They are guided and specific, but my students get a chance to be creative and have a little fun in the process! Click here to learn more about these goal setting one pagers!

Click here to download your own copy for free!

2. Asking students to reflect on a deeper level.

The first few times I asked students to reflect on their thinking, I received reflections that were basic at best. I have created this poster to encourage my students to reflect at a deeper level. Similar to Blooms Taxonomy, the lower the question- the deeper the thought. I keep this posted in my room, and use this as a guide for open reflections on activities, daily work, or projects.

3. Model your own reflection.

I take the opportunity to model my learning and my reflecting whenever possible. After an activity or lesson, I will model my own reflection for students. I will also let students see when I make a mistake, so I can express what I have learned from this. I reflect on these in the same way I would wish my students to do after their own mistakes/learning opportunity!

4. Reflect ‘n’ Sketch.

Click here for more information!

One of my favorite reflection lessons is the Reflect ‘n’ Sketch activity. When I began teaching, I only saw my students as readers and writers. I could see their struggles and successes within my subject alone. Then, after teaching tone and mood to a group of eighth graders, I asked students to draw a picture of the mood of a poem. Through this activity, I saw my struggling readers excel with beautiful artwork. I realized that my subject, English, is not the only skill to be had. Many of my students excelled in other areas, especially those who struggled in my class. This experience inspired my Reflect ‘n’ Sketch activity. This gives students the option to draw their reflections on a project or activity. Guiding questions guide their artwork, and students can still deliver deep reflections with a medium that inspires them.

5. Reflection Vlog

I tried this for the first time this past fall, and my students absolutely rave about the Reflection Vlog. I gave students the guiding questions found within the Reflect ‘n’ Sketch activity, and asked them to create a personal Vlog. After each major project or assessment, I asked students to add to their Vlog. Some students chose to upload their videos to YouTube, and others preferred the privacy of simply creating an iMovie or Windows Moviemaker video. With this medium of reflection, students were free to speak about their work, display their work, or add videos and pictures of the process of creating their work. Not only did students find this engaging, but they found that they were able speak freely about their learning. They have commented that they did not feel bound by words, grammar, structure, and organization within the reflection, so they felt that they were better able to express their truest feelings. I can attest to this as I watched their Vlog videos. They opened up more through this ‘on camera’ experience, than in any other reflection technique!

6. Analyze your work from the teacher’s perspective.

When introducing a writing assignment, I would often provide exemplars, or mentor texts, and ask students to assess these using the rubric that would assess their own work. Not only did students better understand the rubric, they better understood the expectations for the writing. This inspired me to have students assess their own work in a similar manner. I ask students to assess their own work from my perspective. This can be via rubric or by simply providing feedback that they believe I would give. Once students get to know me, this feedback can be eerily correct! This helps students to see their work from a new perspective, and often will encourage students to make revisions before they submit their final work!

7. Scrapbook

I have asked my students to create a scrapbook reflection on larger projects; this is especially effective for group work. Students take pictures of the process of their work, students working in their group roles, and of their final project. Each group member can showcase their own pictures or drawings of the groups work. Then students can reflect on their roles within the group, the process of collaboration, their impact on the groups success/failures, and on the learning that was derived from the project’s completion. Some students get very creative with this process, and truly enjoy this as much (or more) than the project itself!

8. The Cube of Reflection

I have use this Cube of Reflection after a group project. Students have a tangible cube that they roll to help them reflect together. The cube really helps them to think about their collective learning; they will use the reflection taxonomy to build their reflection to the deepest levels. Guiding questions help students with each level of this taxonomy. The fun cube fosters a collective reflection experience! Students will: -Remember it. -Understand it. -Apply it. -Analyze it. -Evaluate it. -Create it.

9. Social Media

Copy of ow about you R&R in our B&B_.png

I have created a Google site to mimic Facebook. Students can upload a picture of their project and reflect on their process or learning experience. I can also pose reflection questions and have students respond to these through this “Fake Facebook”. This can be equally effective on a class blog as well. For more details about setting up a class blog, check out this article on the left!

Click on the image to grab this free resource!

10. Semester Reflection

I always try to do a deeper reflection at the semester break. For most of my classes, I will retain the same set of students into second semester. This transition practically begs for a deep reflection on the previous work before we have a fresh new start in the new semester. I break down my semester reflection into three categories: academic, out-of-school, and personal. This has helped my students to write a guided reflection that covers all parts of their life as a learner.

Reflection One Pager – A Reflection Activity Your Students Will Actually Enjoy!

Grade Faster: One teacher’s approach to grading written work. Save Your Sanity and Your Time!

About the Author

Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Teach (2).png

Liz is a collaborator on teachwriting.org and the founder of Teach BeTween the Lines . She has been teaching for over ten years; she has loved growing young minds through literature and the art of crafting the written word. She is currently working on her doctorate in Education from the University of Minnesota, and holds an M.A. in Education from St. Mary’s University, Minnesota. She loves to write short stories in her free time, especially in those cold Minnesota winters. She is supported by a wonderful family made better by the addition of her two beautiful children.

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Reflective Essay Examples

Woman Using Laptop Writing a Reflective Essay

Self-reflection might seem like a no-brainer when you start a reflective paper. But, delving into your thoughts and experiences is harder than you might think. Learn what a reflective essay is and how to write one through a few examples. Plus, explore several topics to get you started.

What Is Reflective Writing?

Reflective writing is a form of creative writing where you examine an experience or situation through self-reflection. Through the course of creating the reflective paper, you describe insights that you gained or express your views on some experience. Reflective essays are typically personal writings about an experience, but they can be made up as well.

Tone and Structure

Self-reflection is a personal experience. Therefore, the tone and voice of the writing are personal as well. Written typically from a first-person point of view , these types of essays take the reader through a journey of growth and discovery.

The structure and format follow a typical essay writing outline . Begin with a great hook and a strong introduction . Pull the reader in without giving too much away, then provide a quick overview of the reflective topic. Next, in the body of the essay, move into the meat of the paper by describing your experiences and growth. Round out your writing with a solid conclusion that concisely restates what you learned.

Examples of Reflective Essays

Now that you have an understanding of what it takes to write a reflective essay, check out a few examples for inspiration.

My Little Brother

This essay example is written at a middle or high school level, reflecting on the arrival of a younger sibling.

In my short life, there are many experiences that could qualify as life-changing. Every new experience was, at one time or another, the first experience. For good or bad, each instance changed the course that my life has taken. But, the most transformative experience was the birth of my youngest brother. Joel is someone my parents often call a happy accident. At the time that my mother became pregnant, I was 13, and my other brother, Jake, was 10. We were what you would call a well-rounded, perfect family of four. We neatly fit into the perfect classification in nearly every way. We didn't realize what we were missing until the moment that my youngest brother first opened his striking blue eyes. In truth, I resented the fact that I would be having another sibling. Nothing needed to be added to our family, and my mother, already 38 at the time, was considered high risk because of her age. The pregnancy itself was full of complications that sent the straight course of my life into rollercoaster-like loops that my 13-year-old mind had a hard time comprehending. But now, I can see how forging through those loops helped me to roll with the punches that life inevitably brings The day Joel was born, my mother took me with her to the hospital rather than my father. It wasn't a planned move, but Jake and my father were both feverish; I was the next best alternative. Sitting with her through every contraction, I gained a new respect for just how powerful and strong a woman could be in what might be considered their weakest moment. Holding her hand and feeding her ice chips, I gained a connection with my mother that I didn't realize we were lacking. The moment my new baby brother came into this world, I realized two things nearly simultaneously. First, you don't realize how much you need something until it's sitting in your lap. Second, my life after this moment would never be the same. The moment he curled his chubby little finger around mine, I understood the words "happy accident" completely. There are many different experiences in life that have changed a part of me as a person. But, nothing so profoundly changed my views and outlook on life like the birth of my youngest brother. Joel's arrival was a life-altering event that caused me to see the world through new eyes.

Reading My Favorite Book

This reflective essay example about a favorite book is something you might find at the middle or high school level.

When it comes to books, I didn’t understand the appeal. I’d read one after another for each assignment not understanding what all the fuss was about. However, the moment I read Pride and Prejudice , it was like my literary eyes opened for the first time. It stirred love within me for classics I didn’t realize could exist. When I was first given the assignment of reading Pride and Prejudice , like many of my friends, I scoffed. With an eye roll, I internally calculated how much time I would have to read the book and write a report. I sighed at the loss of time with my friends for a stupid classic. Cracking open the cover, I was determined to hate it before even reading the first words. By the time I reached page 3, I nearly called it quits. But there was something about Elizabeth Bennet that quietly piqued my interest. I can’t say where, but somewhere along the way, my eyes devoured the pages instead of trudging along. The moment I reached the end, I was ecstatic and disappointed at the same time. Their ending had been perfect, but I realized I would miss them. Not only them, but I would also miss being part of their world. It was the first time characters of a story had affected me this way, so I tried to shake it off. However, after several days, that sadness carried me to the classics section of the school library. The moment I cracked open my next classic, my soul instantly felt more at ease, and I’ve never looked back. I never thought I’d say a book changed me, but in this case, it’s true. The love I found in Pride and Prejudice introduced me to a beautiful world of classic literature I can’t imagine living without. Despite not reading Pride and Prejudice for a while, it will always be my favorite book.

Reflective Essay Book

Creative communication.

This reflective essay example about the topic of creative writing is what you might expect to see at the college level.

I’ve always felt I excel in written communication. The skill of effectively communicating my thoughts and feelings through words and expressions seemed to come easily to me. However, I didn't realize how much my writing was lacking until my thoughts and feelings on writing were pushed nearly to their breaking point through my creative writing course. Learning the best way to manage time was a huge hurdle for me. I've always been a procrastinator. However, after the first day of class, I realized I would need to modify my thinking and approach to homework. I wasn't able to completely kill the procrastination habit I developed in high school, but I did learn some much-needed time management skills. I also learned how writing without the looming cloud of a deadline could open a creative door. A natural thinker and writer at heart, I thought I understood creative expression and wordplay... until my professor handed me my first grade. Upon looking at that striking "D" on the paper, I realized I would have to push myself harder and explore the depths my writing could reach. Not only did I learn to sharpen my technical writing chops, but I have found out how to dig into my creative soul to view my emotions and experiences in a whole new way. Going beyond the five-paragraph essay and fully exploring my feelings about a situation or action was challenging. This creative writing class pushed me to realize there isn't a limit on words when it comes to expressing something. I can convey a simple action a million different ways, and I mastered how to explore each one to find perfection in my written words. I also picked up new flexibility in my writing by opening my mind to different scopes of expression. Expressing all the changes that this class wrought in my writing is truly difficult. But, over the course of the eight weeks we spent together, I became a more competent writer. Not only do my words contain more depth and soul, but my writing itself has entered a whole new arena I didn't realize was possible. By studying new techniques and researching other approaches, I now have a sturdy foundation and a robust writing arsenal for future endeavors.

Reflective Essay Example about communication

Reflective Essay Communication

Finding the perfect topic.

Half the battle in creating a great reflective paper is finding the perfect topic to write about. Your topic should be something that you experienced, learned, or grew from. It could also be a topic that requires you to think more deeply about a place or book.

Some fun, creative topics for self-reflection include:

The Art of Self-Reflection

Reflecting on a personal experience might seem like an easy essay to write. However, to ace your reflection paper, dive deeply into your feelings and choose a topic that triggers a strong emotional response.

If a reflective essay doesn't fit you, try exploring more about argumentative essays , including tips for making a compelling argument.

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Reflection Creative Writings Samples For Students

13 samples of this type

While studying in college, you will inevitably need to compose a lot of Creative Writings on Reflection. Lucky you if linking words together and transforming them into meaningful text comes naturally to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding a previously written Reflection Creative Writing example and using it as a template to follow.

This is when you will definitely find WowEssays' free samples catalog extremely useful as it embodies numerous skillfully written works on most various Reflection Creative Writings topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your requirements and use it as a template to build your own Creative Writing. Alternatively, our qualified essay writers can deliver you a unique Reflection Creative Writing model crafted from scratch according to your custom instructions.

Holly Bible Ecclesiastes Reading Response Creative Writings Example

Other creative writing example, visual analysis of "waiting for wind" creative writing examples.

The image “Waiting for Wind” is an acrylic painting done by Tony Alderman was chosen as the subject of one’s visual analysis due to the intricate details rendered by the artist and successfully made the image visually appealing and realistic. The painting was entered in the Bold Brush Painting Competition in December 2012 . It was striking and appealing due to the focal images strategically complementing the light blue skies, lush greeneries of trees, and the deep aquamarine color of the water – all perfectly still and waiting for the wind.

Source: Bold Brush Painting Competition: Waiting for Wind

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Creative Writing On Cracked Perfection

‘You have to close your eyes,’ Megan said. Smiling, Frankie closed her eyes and allowed Megan to lead her into the room.‘Okay,’ said Megan, ‘open!’

Frankie opened her eyes and stared. There, on her chest of drawers, propped against the wall, was a beautiful mirror. It was large in size – Frankie could see her and Megan’s full reflections from their thighs upwards – and it was framed in white marble, carved into the shapes of flowers and leaves, running down the side of the mirror.

Example Of Creative Writing On Selection Creteria

Selection criteria.

Before the author answer the question, it is prudent to define what a selection criterion is. The term selection criterion refers to the statement which describes the qualifications, skills, knowledge, abilities and he required experience for a particular job. This paper shall examine selection criteria.

Situation: nurse at organization ABC.

My task was promoting patient comfort and the body alignment including: Bed making Positioning of patient help with continence management, use safe and effective infection control measures and standard precautions including: Clean and clinical hand hygiene and the use of the personal protective equipment.

Good Creative Writing On Prosocial Messages In Television Programs

Good creative writing about grey day, an analysis of tennysons ulysses creative writing example, good creative writing on reflect, reflection essay, crime427 creative writing examples, reflection:, free creative writing on associate institution, executive summary of o’malley’s book, example of integrated interpretation of the yellow wallpaper creative writing, creative writing on the lion and the flamingo.

One hot morning in Sua Pan, Mr Flamingo was standing in the wetland, preening his feathers. It was the wet season in Botswana, and the overnight fall had created the perfect level for Mr Flamingo to enjoy himself.

He looked at his reflection in the pool. ‘Oh my,’ he sang, ‘I am the most beautiful bird there ever was. My feathers are pinker and shinier than any other flamingo’s.’

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Reflection About Creative Writing

Taking a creative writing class was a good way for me to express my thoughts and feelings onto paper, as well as read my other classmates stories. Reading stories created by other people lead me into their mind brain to experience what type of writer they were, it was an overall exquisite class. I believe that every person has a way of expressing who they are through writing stories of their own, fiction is the best way to express your creative imagination. This class that I took for two years helped me become a better writer and helped me understand the types of writers we have. The first book series I read that got me interested in creative writing was the Immortal Series, by Alyson Noel. I was never one for non-fiction, …show more content…

In this essay, the author

I believe that writing stories gives you more of an appreciation and understanding for a good book. All of the ideas that make a book come alive is from one author with an amazing imagination, who can captivate someone’s mind and tuck them into their world for a few hours. Every day in class I was allowed one hour to dedicate my time into a story, it is almost like entering your main character’s mind and acting as if it was you. I never had any interest in writing before entering high school, I never enjoyed writing essays. I believe the reason was I did not find it necessary to write a 5-page essay on 'To Kill a Mockingbird '. In the real world we will write a page or two for job opportunities and some for the job itself, but hardly ever will you need to write an essay on some book or event in time; unless you went to college to become an English teacher, history teacher, lawyer, journalist, etc. Even though writing these essays were to help your "writing skills" why not write papers to help your future, such as; cover letters for future jobs, interview speeches, life goals, creative writing, or arguments for court cases if you wanted to be a lawyer? Books are only fun for me to read if I can do it on my own time with my own book, not

Journaling for Mindfulness: 44 Prompts, Examples & Exercises

Maybe you are at the beginning, getting ready to start a habit, or perhaps you are an experienced mindfulness practitioner looking for a new tool.

Regardless of where you are on your journey, we hope you will find something useful here, as we explain how to use the act of journaling as a way of practicing mindfulness.

Mindfulness has become a buzzword for good reason because it has so many benefits. First, it is so easy to implement. It is low cost, can be practiced anywhere, and only requires your time and consistency.

Despite the ease of implementing mindfulness, like any new habit, it can be overwhelming for beginners. Where should you start? Should you implement a daily meditation session, mindful eating, mindful exercise, or mindful walking? The answer is you should start small.

Probably one of the easiest ways to implement mindfulness is through journaling. And this post will help you start this new practice.

This post is suitable for beginners and current practitioners of mindfulness. If you’re ready, dust off your notebook, find a pen and a quiet, sunny spot, and let’s begin!

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free . These science-based, comprehensive exercises will help you cultivate a sense of inner peace throughout your daily life and will also give you tools to enhance the mindfulness of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains:

What is journaling in mindfulness.

38 Useful Prompts and Exercises

Our 5 Best Mindfulness Tools

A take-home message.

Journaling is a much easier way to start implementing mindfulness.

Brief definition of mindfulness

Mindfulness describes a practice of focused attention and awareness. Kabat-Zinn (2003, p. 145) defines mindfulness as:

the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment , and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.

There are many ways that we can practice mindfulness: meditation, mindful eating, mindful running , breathing exercises, and body scans. Another method is through journaling.

Why consider journaling?

Since journaling is an easier way to implement mindfulness than other techniques, such as meditation, you can start it at any time. Besides the ease of starting a journaling habit, it also has positive benefits, enhancing physical health (Pennebaker, 1997) and improved academic performance (Scherer, 2002).

As an activity, journaling shares some characteristics of mindfulness (Khramtsova & Glascock, 2010):

Journaling and mindfulness

Several studies that used a mindfulness intervention have incorporated some form of journaling as a part of the mindfulness repertoire. In some instances, the type of journaling has been described as:

Where mindfulness was used as an intervention method, the experimental group (i.e., the one who received the mindfulness training ) reliably showed higher levels of mindfulness, fewer depressive symptoms, and lower anxiety.

Does the journaling format make a difference?

Currently, there is very little empirical evidence that one type of journaling is better than another.

Some studies might include more than one type of journaling format in their mindfulness intervention, which makes it difficult to isolate the individual effects of each journaling format. For example, Khramtsova and Glascock (2010) included reappraisal and gratitude journaling in their mindfulness intervention.

The experimental group showed higher levels of mindfulness compared to the control group, but it is unclear how each type of journaling contributed uniquely to mindfulness.

Beck and Verticchio (2018) recruited participants and assigned them to one of two groups: gratitude journaling or counseling journaling. They aimed to determine which type of journaling had the most significant effect on the scores of the Self-Compassion Scale .

After a set number of weeks, they found both groups had improved upon the subscales of the Self-Compassion Scale, suggesting that both types of journaling are effective. Surprisingly, however, the counseling journaling group had the most significant improvement on the Self-Compassion Scale, whereas the gratitude journaling group had no improvement.

However, these results should be interpreted tentatively, because (1) the sample sizes are small, (2) the results have not been replicated yet, and (3) the two groups differed significantly from each other before the intervention took place (suggesting that the two groups are not actually comparable).

So what now?

A great deal of research with a two-group design has shown that participants who practice mindfulness report more mindfulness and fewer depressive symptoms compared to a control group, regardless of the type of journaling method used in the mindfulness intervention. The majority of mindfulness interventions included gratitude journaling .

However, journaling in general should be beneficial. Part of the reason for this might be because writing is a very focused action, is slower than thinking, and requires attention.

Example 1: Gratitude journaling

In published manuscripts where journaling was included in the mindfulness interventions, most have used a gratitude journal format.

Typically the instructions for a gratitude journal are as follows:

There are many things in our lives, both large and small, that we might be grateful about. Think back over the past week and write down on the lines below up to five things in your life that you are grateful or thankful for.

If this were my journal, for example, I would list the following five things I am grateful for:

The items that you are grateful for can be inanimate or animate, material or abstract, as general or specific as you want. The point is that you have to find things that you are grateful for.

Example 2: Exercises to check in

Another useful way to use journaling is to check in. By ‘check in,’ I mean that you take a moment to check your progress on a task/goal, your feelings, and reflect on what has happened. One way that I like to use a check-in is to specify my goals for the week in my journal, and then at the end of each day, I reflect on how much progress I have made toward that goal.

For example, if I am trying to remember to express gratitude, then I list that as my goal, and I will consciously reflect on finding opportunities to complete this task. I will then list these opportunities and describe them in my journal.

I also like to jot down hurdles I encountered and describe how I overcame them or whether there is a silver lining to the challenge.

As an example, I often feel anxious when I have lots of tasks to complete and don’t want to forget about them. Although this is a stressful feeling, I have learned that writing down the list and prioritizing the items is very useful. Now I know that the sense of racing thoughts might be a sign that I have too much work, and I have learned a new technique (list and prioritize) to manage the tasks better.

Example 3: Doodling and coloring

Although not typically considered a form of journaling, doodling and mindfulness coloring are useful techniques that can easily be done in a journal. You could consider two different methods.

1. Doodling

Take a fine black pen and start either in the middle of the page and work your way out, or start in one corner and move to the opposite diagonal corner. While doodling, you can reflect on the same gratitude instruction used above, or you can focus on the doodles and making the lines connect. There is no wrong option here.

2. Coloring

Print out an image, stick in your journal, and color it in, or color your doodle. Good images to color are those that are very detailed with many empty compartments.

Mandalas are an excellent example of intricate images to color. If you feel very adventurous, you could try to draw your own mandala to color.

39 Useful Prompts and Exercises

To help you with your journaling journey, we’ve provided a list of prompts and exercises that you could use. Pick one at random, or assign different exercises for different days. If you have any additional prompts or activities that you like to use, then share them with us in the comments section below.

12 Monthly Themes

Assign a theme for each month to focus on in your journal. For example, January could be a month of mindful financial expenditure (a necessary exercise for most of us after the holiday season). Then, when journaling on a day in January, you can reflect on any instances when you were tempted to purchase items unnecessarily, but didn’t.

Here are some other examples of monthly themes:

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11 Gratitude prompts

Any of the following prompts can be used when journaling (adapted from Davenport & Scott, 2018). The primary theme of these prompts is to focus on gratitude.

Each prompt is written in the first-person so can express and own the thought. For each prompt, think of 3–5 items and describe why you feel grateful.

9 Daily prompts

Here we provide a list of daily prompts that you can use for your journal. These prompts are not necessarily focused on gratitude but include other positive experiences. These prompts were inspired by Patel (2015).

7 Daily outlines for journaling

Daily journaling can take other formats besides prompts and reflections of gratitude. For example, you could set aside some time at the beginning of the day before work as well as at the end of the day after work to journal.

Here are some prompts for the beginning of the day:

Here are some prompts that can be used for the end of the day:

These same prompts could also be used for monthly journal outlines. For example, at the start of the month, you could choose a theme and specify three prompts that you will use that month to guide you.

Tools to start with

You do not need an expensive journal to journal .

I have a simple journal that I bought on sale, and I bought a set of pens from the local discount store. Because I am left-handed, I chose a journal that was easy for me to write in (e.g., I don’t like ring spines because my hand always hits it), and I must admit that I have a soft spot for hardcover.

With these two constraints, I paid a small amount for my journaling items. You might ask whether using an electronic device counts as journaling. In my opinion, no, it does not. This is because writing by hand requires more attention than typing at the computer or on a device, where there are added distractions like email, music, and social media.

I like to journal at our breakfast nook, which is near a window. I cordoned off some time in the morning and the evening to journal, and I have scheduled this time in my calendar. The time isn’t long, between 5 and 10 minutes. But what is essential is that the time is booked and unmovable. My day doesn’t start or end until I have completed these two tasks.

Our best tools

Now that you’re ready to start journaling, where should you start?

At PositivePsychology.com, we have excellent resources for you to use. You can use our Gratitude Journal Worksheet to start your journaling practice. The exercises in this sheet can be easily adapted for monthly and daily journaling habits.

If you want to try your hand at some self-affirmation journaling, then try our I’m Great Because… Worksheet . This worksheet would be a good exercise to complete at the end of every week or month, or you can use one statement as your theme for the month.

Our Self-Esteem Journal For Adults is another useful source of inspiration. This worksheet provides you prompts that will help you jot down and reflect on meaningful daily events. The prompts serve as beneficial reflection exercises.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others enjoy the benefits of mindfulness, this collection contains 17 validated mindfulness tools for practitioners . Use them to help others reduce stress and create positive shifts in their mental, physical, and emotional health.

Journaling is a very powerful tool that is often used as part of mindfulness interventions.

Journaling is powerful because it is cheap, easy to implement, can be performed anywhere and by anyone.

There isn’t only one type of journaling; instead, there are multiple formats that you can follow. Regardless of the format that you follow, you must take the time to journal regularly and meaningfully. The journal is your personal expression of your feelings and thoughts.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free .

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What our readers think.

Thanks for this informative and resourceful page. Metta (Love and Kindness) from Nepal

Hey, when was this article written?

Hi Carolynn,

This article was written the 8th of July 2020.

– Nicole | Community Manager

I am wondering if you have any resources for a reflective journalling practice? I am doing my PhD research studying the effectiveness of a trauma sensitive yoga intervention and am hoping participants will engage in some journalling throughout the intervention.

Hi Bridget,

I’d take a look at this article by Cook and colleagues (2018) which employs a reflective journaling intervention with a sample of veterans with PTSD. Given that the focus is on a trauma intervention, there may be some evidence for the practice’s effectiveness that could be applied to your research.

You will also find a range of reviews (often in the pedagogical context) if you do a search for “reflective journaling” in Google Scholar.

Hope this helps!

Thank you. I do leadership coaching in corporate and faith-based organizations and encourage journaling and mindfulness practices. I appreciate the additional ideas and opportunities to refresh my practice and help others to refresh theirs.

I’m a Mindset Coach and Hypnotist… Thank you so much for this page… it’s full of rich and effective content – your whole website is 🙂 – and ways for remaining (or reclaiming) a positive outlook (or as best as possible one can find). THANK YOU

This article is insightful and relevant. It highlights the importance of “taking stock” which leads to being consciously aware of what’s important to me. Great for my journey of reawakening. Thank you so much ???

Thank you for helping open this door to live purposefully. That’s a beautiful doodle!

These are very useful this time of the pandemic.

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Nurse reflective writing.

Personal Reflective Writing

Academic Reflective Writing Example

What Is Reflective Writing?

As Wikipedia defines it, a reflective writing “is an analytical practice in which the writer describes a real or imaginary scene, event, interaction, passing thought, memory, form, adding a personal statement reflection on the meaning of the item or incident, thought, feeling, emotion, or situation in his or her life.”

How to Analyze Reflective Writing

Reflective essay writing outline.

Journal Reflective Writing

Importance of Reflective Writing

Tips for reflective writing.

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Writing a good reflective commentary

I recently a ran an online workshop on what a good RC might include, so for those of students who were unable to attend (and for those who did attend, but would like a refresher), here’s a summary of my suggestions.

First of all, I think it’s helpful to remember the differences between notebooks, your writing diary and a Reflective Commentary:

Notebooks are where you start writing creatively, whether in the form of ideas and notes or sketches and early drafts. Notebook writing can form the basis of the projects and creative writing assignments that you will send to your tutor. You may find yourself starting numerous notebooks for different areas of interest.

No one will read your notebooks except you. Privacy is important because the thought of anyone reading your writing may inhibit you. Notebooks can be paper or electronic (many people use their phones for jotting down ideas), or a combination of both – it’s totally up to you.

Writing Diary:

Your writing diary is where you record your thoughts on your writing and your developing writing skills. You can discuss and reflect on concepts related to the writing craft here and reflect on what you feel your own strengths and weaknesses are. What are you good at? What do you need to work on? How can you improve these skills? Which writers can you learn from? What have you been reading?

When you are generating new writing material, you’ll be partly learning on an intuitive level. A writing diary will help you to be more conscious of your learning process and more aware of the different skills you’re developing. If you add to your diary regularly, it will form a record of your writing journey.

Like your notebooks, your writing diary is for you alone and you can keep it in whatever format you prefer.

You can use your writing diary to help you write your Reflective Commentaries, but they aren’t the same thing.

Reflective Commentaries:

A Reflective Commentary is either a short piece of reflective writing (500 words for Levels 1, 2 and 3; or 350 words at Foundation Level) considering the particular assignment it accompanies, or it’s a longer piece of reflective writing which you submit at the end of the unit in which you reflect on your learning over the unit as a whole, with reference to particular assignments (especially the final assignment).

A few dos and don’ts:

Don’t discuss how you came up with your idea.

Don’t discuss pieces you started and discarded.

Don’t summarise the story, poem, script etc. – your tutor has just read it..

Do focus on the creative work you’ve just submitted to your tutor.

Do focus on a few writing techniques you’ve used in the work. You can’t cover everything, so choose those that are particularly pertinent.

Do say what writing techniques you used and why they were effective.

So, don’t say: “I wrote my story in first person” and leave it at that. Instead say: “I wrote my story in first person because I wanted the feeling of intimacy of the narrator talking directly to the reader about the events. This was important for my story because….”

Discussing Writing Techniques:

The term ‘writing techniques’ may seem rather abstract, but all it means is those techniques you used to write your creative piece. Here’s a selection of writing techniques you could consider:

Techniques in fiction:

Descriptive writing, metaphors and similes, setting, character, use of dialogue, structure, narrative pacing, point of view, tense (usually past or present), use of flashback (or, occasionally, flashforward), voice, word choice, register (formal or casual), information reveal (what do you tell the reader and when), psychic distance, use of free indirect discourse, sentence structure (e.g. a short sentence at the end of a paragraph for impact).

Techniques in poetry:

Use of stanzas, use of punctuation, imagery, word choice, tone, structure, point of view, use of sound (e.g. rhyme, or assonance, alliteration), rhythm.

These are just a few of the techniques you could discuss – there may be others that are more relevant to your particular piece of creative work.

The tone of the RC:

The reflective commentary is not an academic essay, so you don’t need to use academic jargon. Use first person, because it’s a personal reflection on your work.

However, don’t be too colloquial and chatty either – your tone needs to be moderate and considered. Don’t say “I tried to do X but it was rubbish”. Instead, say you thought it wasn’t successful as a technique and explain why.

Reflecting on your reading:

In the assessment criteria, a proportion of marks are allocated for Contextual Knowledge. Your final RC is your opportunity to demonstrate that you’ve read other writers and engaged with them seriously, not just as a reader, but as another writer.

In your final RC you should refer to both primary materials (e.g. novels, poems, stories, plays, films, memoirs, poetry performances, etc – depending on what form you’re writing in) and secondary materials (e.g. books, articles, blogs, videos, etc. about the craft of writing).

Get into good habits early on by referring to some primary and some secondary materials in your short RCs submitted with each assignment.

Think about what you’ve learnt from your reading in terms of craft – this is much more impressive than just saying you were inspired to write about the same subject.

So don’t say, “I enjoyed Vicki Feaver’s poem ‘Ironing’ and decided to write a poem about ironing of my own.” This might be true and you can put this in your writing diary, but in your RC try to think about what you learnt about the craft of writing poetry from your reading.

Include short quotations from your reading to demonstrate your points, but a short phrase or single sentence usually suffices (remember you’ve only 500 words for the short RCs).

The Final RC:

The Final RC is longer and in it you should consider what you’ve learnt from the unit as whole, as well as referring to particular assignments. You will now be close to preparing your work for assessment, so you should discuss your redrafting process – what you’ve changed and why – and also demonstrate your engagement with your tutor’s feedback.

Reflecting on redrafting:

Be precise. Don’t just say “I cut extraneous words” or “I rewrote Assignment 4 a lot”. Give examples of what you changed and why .

Use quotations from your own work when discussing what you’ve changed, but be brief: just a pertinent sentence or phrase.

Don’t just give a quotation from your assignment that shows it before redrafting, and then one after. Discuss the changes made and say why you think it is an improvement.

Reflecting on tutor feedback:

You don’t need to agree with every suggestion or comment from your tutor, but you do need to show you’ve thought about your tutor’s feedback.

A quirk of the system is that at Level 1 you are likely to write this final reflective commentary before receiving feedback on Assignment Five. You’ll need to redraft your final RC and add comments about your tutor feedback’s on Assignment Five and your redrafting process, before you submit this final RC for assessment.

Submit both your tutor-annotated final RC and a redrafted version at assessment.

Referencing:

Include a bibliography/reference list at end of all sources referred to in your RC (but don’t include anything you’ve not directly referred to), and use the Harvard Referencing Style.

The Bibliography does not form part of your word count.

Why write RCs:

Writing the reflective commentaries is an important part of the creative writing degree and the RCs serve several purposes. They are useful for tutors as they help us to understand students’ aims in a particular piece of writing. They should demonstrate students’ critical engagement with other writers as well as with books, articles, blogs etc. about the craft of writing, which helps us make better reading suggestions and to understand where our students are on their learning journey.

But, and arguably much more importantly, they’re a crucial part of your learning process, as they require a conscious engagement with the writing craft and a reflection on your writing skills, all of which will help you to think ‘like a writer’.

5 thoughts on “ Writing a good reflective commentary ”

Thank you Vicky. The workshop helped me have a better understanding of reflective commentaries.

This is an interesting article. I am studying photography and part of the work involves writing critiques of other people’s work. The guidelines set out above are relevant to any critique, whatever the subject matter. Thank you. I will be putting these suggestions into practice in my future work.

Thanks Vicky. I like the way you start with the Don’ts before the Dos!

Great advice Vicky! It would be lovely to see another workshop covering Reflective Commentaries. For some reason I struggle to get these right when doing my own R.Cs for the Art of Poetry.

This book called called: “Creative Writing and Critical Reflective Commentary.” was the only recent book I could find. It was really helpful to me It has an example in it and what else to include like references and how to write reflecively with underpinning critical theories.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B098MXYY54

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105 Writing Prompts for Self-Reflection and Self-Discovery

Writing can be the perfect tool for self-discovery.

However, when you throw writer’s block into the mix – something that hits me often – it can hamper any efforts to get things out of your head, process and reflect on them, and take the next steps (whatever they may be).

This is why I’ve brainstormed a list of 105 writing prompts for self-reflection and self-discovery for you !

With a list this extensive, I hope it provides you with ideas and inspiration to help you explore and reflect on your thoughts via writing, blogging, journaling, or some other written form.

Self-development

Relationships

Self-reflection

Career, Goals & Dreams

Writing Tips – Getting Started

Writing is more than having an idea. It’s also about the process. Here are a few things that help me with the writing process:

Just write.

The best way to start writing is to do just that. There’s no need to write war and peace (unless you feel inclined to). Choose an idea from the list of writing prompts, let your thoughts flow, and your hand move over the paper or laptop, writing whatever comes to mind!

Embrace the connection between hand, pen and paper.

Buy some lovely pens in different colours that sit well in your hand and move over the paper nicely. Nice pens will make the writing process so much more enjoyable.

Invest in a beautiful notebook or journal.

Invest in an inspiring journal or notebook filled with quality paper to write on. Personally, I’m in love with these journals by Soothi . Leather-bound, handmade. Just beautiful.

Ditch perfection.

Write what you want, how you want, without a care in the world for spelling or grammar. That can come later through the editing process.

Remove distractions.

Put your phone away and lap up the peace, quiet, and lack of distractions that will allow you to focus.

I hope you enjoy the writing prompts and that they help you in your journey of self-discovery. Happy writing and reflecting!

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Journal Buddies Jill | January 5, 2023 November 12, 2019 | Journal Prompts & Writing Ideas

Reflective Journaling Prompts

Reflective Journaling Ideas— To help you get going, we’ve put together a list of reflective journal prompts that will help you get the ideas flowing.

Reflective Journaling offers a wonderful way to catalog your thoughts and better understand yourself.

Use of Reflective Journals

Processing your experiences, emotions, and thoughts often can help you cleanse your mind and soul, so you’re better able to have a clear view of your circumstances, emotions, and desires.

Even science backs up the advantages of writing and has discovered that writing has the potential to benefit both physical and emotional wellbeing.

Further…

Writing in a journal may help improve mood, boost the immune system, and reduce stress.

Of course, it’s not always easy to start putting your heart and soul on paper, particularly if you’re not sure where to begin. The last thing you want to do is waste time staring at a blank page or screen.

That’s where writing prompts come in handy, and we’ve got a nice list of them outlined below just for you.

Enjoy our list of reflective journal ideas. We hope they get your writing off to a thoughtful start.

53 Reflective Journaling Prompts

Journaling offers a wonderful way to catalog your thoughts and better understand yourself. Check out this list of reflective journal prompts to get the ideas flowing.

Reflection Journal Keeping Resources

If you enjoyed these Reflective Journaling Prompts , please share them on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest. and/or Pinterest. I appreciate it!

Sincerely, Jill journalbuddies.com creator and curator

Teaching Strategy & Journal Assignment

“Journaling is used in academia as a means of aiding reflection, deepening a student’s understanding and stimulating critical thinking.

The value of journaling in improving student learning outcomes cannot be overemphasized… Reflective journal writing is one such technique that has been promoted by educators as a means of encouraging reflective learning.

Journaling as a Learning Tool for Deeper Insights

The strength of reflective journaling is that it highlights students’ thoughts and perceptions about course content. It is a heuristic teaching tool that fosters critical thinking skills and develops reflective practices among students.

This increases student interest and encourages further investigation. Reflective journaling is not simply a recounting of the day’s events but a learning exercise in which students express in writing their understanding of, reflections on, response to or analysis of an event, experience or concept.

This form of writing encompasses all aspects of the students’ thoughts and emotions around specific aspects of their experiences in class and increases attention and concentration levels during class time.

Transformative Learning Process

Furthermore, reflective journaling plays a major role in the transformative learning process.

Transformative learning is thoughtful learning employed deliberately by the student under the guidance of the teacher.

It allows students to change their orientation by critically reflecting on their beliefs and consciously making and implementing plans that bring about improved ways of redefining their beliefs. Reflective journaling is a useful tool in facilitating the critical reflection underpinning transformative learning.

Deeper Understanding of a Reflective Journal

Reflective journaling provides a channel of inner communication that connects beliefs, feelings, and actions which allows students to develop their knowledge and understanding of course content.

This creates effective learning conditions that result in self discovery. A reflective journal – often called a learning journal – is a steadily growing document that the learner writes to record the progress of their learning. Learners keep a learning journal for any course they undertake, or even for daily work.

A reflective journal is not:

Entries in a reflective journal can include:

Possible Types of Reflection Questions for Your Student’s Reflective Journal

Source: Reflective Journaling as a Teaching Strategy

Tap to See Prompts 53 of the Best Writing Prompts for Adults Journal Printables & Prompts for Self-Care 162 Creative Writing Topics and Ideas (Updated!) ------------Start of Om Added --------- @media (min-width: 320px) and (max-width: 767px) { .inside-right-sidebar { display: none !important; } } Featured Posts

Tap to See Prompts 53 of the Best Writing Prompts for Adults Journal Printables & Prompts for Self-Care 162 Creative Writing Topics and Ideas (Updated!) Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7-8 Grade 9-12 All Ages ------------End of Om Added --------- Tags All Ages , ideas , journal , journal prompts , journaling , journaling ideas , prompts , Reflection Journaling , reflective journaling , reflective prompts , writing , writing in a journal div#postbottom { margin-top: 12px; } Featured Posts

Guide on How to Write a Reflection Paper with Free Tips and Example

A reflection paper is a very common type of paper among college students. Almost any subject you enroll in requires you to express your opinion on certain matters. In this article, we will explain how to write a reflection paper and provide examples and useful tips to make the essay writing process easier.

Reflection papers should have an academic tone yet be personal and subjective. In this paper, you should analyze and reflect upon how an experience, academic task, article, or lecture shaped your perception and thoughts on a subject.

Here is what you need to know about writing an effective critical reflection paper. Stick around until the end of our guide to get some useful writing tips from the writing team at EssayPro — a research paper writing service

What Is a Reflection Paper

A reflection paper is a type of paper that requires you to write your opinion on a topic, supporting it with your observations and personal experiences. As opposed to presenting your reader with the views of other academics and writers, in this essay, you get an opportunity to write your point of view—and the best part is that there is no wrong answer. It is YOUR opinion, and it is your job to express your thoughts in a manner that will be understandable and clear for all readers that will read your paper. The topic range is endless. Here are some examples: whether or not you think aliens exist, your favorite TV show, or your opinion on the outcome of WWII. You can write about pretty much anything.

There are three types of reflection paper; depending on which one you end up with, the tone you write with can be slightly different. The first type is the educational reflective paper. Here your job is to write feedback about a book, movie, or seminar you attended—in a manner that teaches the reader about it. The second is the professional paper. Usually, it is written by people who study or work in education or psychology. For example, it can be a reflection of someone’s behavior. And the last is the personal type, which explores your thoughts and feelings about an individual subject.

However, reflection paper writing will stop eventually with one very important final paper to write - your resume. This is where you will need to reflect on your entire life leading up to that moment. To learn how to list education on resume perfectly, follow the link on our dissertation writing services .

Reflection Paper Format

Reflection papers typically do not follow any specific format. Since it is your opinion, professors usually let you handle them in any comfortable way. It is best to write your thoughts freely, without guideline constraints. If a personal reflection paper was assigned to you, the format of your paper might depend on the criteria set by your professor. College reflection papers (also known as reflection essays) can typically range from about 400-800 words in length.

Here’s how we can suggest you format your reflection paper:

How to Start a Reflection Paper

The first thing to do when beginning to work on a reflection essay is to read your article thoroughly while taking notes. Whether you are reflecting on, for example, an activity, book/newspaper, or academic essay, you want to highlight key ideas and concepts.

You can start writing your reflection paper by summarizing the main concept of your notes to see if your essay includes all the information needed for your readers. It is helpful to add charts, diagrams, and lists to deliver your ideas to the audience in a better fashion.

After you have finished reading your article, it’s time to brainstorm. We’ve got a simple brainstorming technique for writing reflection papers. Just answer some of the basic questions below:

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Here are some reflection paper topic examples for you to keep in mind before preparing to write your own:

The result of your brainstorming should be a written outline of the contents of your future paper. Do not skip this step, as it will ensure that your essay will have a proper flow and appropriate organization.

Another good way to organize your ideas is to write them down in a 3-column chart or table.

Do you want your task look awesome?

If you would like your reflection paper to look professional, feel free to check out one of our articles on how to format MLA, APA or Chicago style

Writing a Reflection Paper Outline

Reflection paper should contain few key elements:

Introduction

Your introduction should specify what you’re reflecting upon. Make sure that your thesis informs your reader about your general position, or opinion, toward your subject.

One way you can start your thesis is to write:

Example: “After reading/experiencing (your chosen topic), I gained the knowledge of…”

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs should examine your ideas and experiences in context to your topic. Make sure each new body paragraph starts with a topic sentence.

Your reflection may include quotes and passages if you are writing about a book or an academic paper. They give your reader a point of reference to fully understand your feedback. Feel free to describe what you saw, what you heard, and how you felt.

Example: “I saw many people participating in our weight experiment. The atmosphere felt nervous yet inspiring. I was amazed by the excitement of the event.”

As with any conclusion, you should summarize what you’ve learned from the experience. Next, tell the reader how your newfound knowledge has affected your understanding of the subject in general. Finally, describe the feeling and overall lesson you had from the reading or experience.

There are a few good ways to conclude a reflection paper:

We have a separate blog post dedicated to writing a great conclusion. Be sure to check it out for an in-depth look at how to make a good final impression on your reader.

Need a hand? Get custom writing help from our writers. Edit, proofread or buy essay .

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How to Write a Reflection Paper: Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Create a Main Theme

After you choose your topic, write a short summary about what you have learned about your experience with that topic. Then, let readers know how you feel about your case — and be honest. Chances are that your readers will likely be able to relate to your opinion or at least the way you form your perspective, which will help them better understand your reflection.

For example: After watching a TEDx episode on Wim Hof, I was able to reevaluate my preconceived notions about the negative effects of cold exposure.

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas and Experiences You’ve Had Related to Your Topic

You can write down specific quotes, predispositions you have, things that influenced you, or anything memorable. Be personal and explain, in simple words, how you felt.

For example: • A lot of people think that even a small amount of carbohydrates will make people gain weight • A specific moment when I struggled with an excess weight where I avoided carbohydrates entirely • The consequences of my actions that gave rise to my research • The evidence and studies of nutritional science that claim carbohydrates alone are to blame for making people obese • My new experience with having a healthy diet with a well-balanced intake of nutrients • The influence of other people’s perceptions on the harm of carbohydrates, and the role their influence has had on me • New ideas I’ve created as a result of my shift in perspective

Step 3: Analyze How and Why These Ideas and Experiences Have Affected Your Interpretation of Your Theme

Pick an idea or experience you had from the last step, and analyze it further. Then, write your reasoning for agreeing or disagreeing with it.

For example, Idea: I was raised to think that carbohydrates make people gain weight.

Analysis: Most people think that if they eat any carbohydrates, such as bread, cereal, and sugar, they will gain weight. I believe in this misconception to such a great extent that I avoided carbohydrates entirely. As a result, my blood glucose levels were very low. I needed to do a lot of research to overcome my beliefs finally. Afterward, I adopted the philosophy of “everything in moderation” as a key to a healthy lifestyle.

For example: Idea: I was brought up to think that carbohydrates make people gain weight. Analysis: Most people think that if they eat any carbohydrates, such as bread, cereal, and sugar, they will gain weight. I believe in this misconception to such a great extent that I avoided carbohydrates entirely. As a result, my blood glucose levels were very low. I needed to do a lot of my own research to finally overcome my beliefs. After, I adopted the philosophy of “everything in moderation” as a key for having a healthy lifestyle.

Step 4: Make Connections Between Your Observations, Experiences, and Opinions

Try to connect your ideas and insights to form a cohesive picture for your theme. You can also try to recognize and break down your assumptions, which you may challenge in the future.

There are some subjects for reflection papers that are most commonly written about. They include:

Writing Tips

Everyone has their style of writing a reflective essay – and that's the beauty of it; you have plenty of leeway with this type of paper – but there are still a few tips everyone should incorporate.

Before you start your piece, read some examples of other papers; they will likely help you better understand what they are and how to approach yours. When picking your subject, try to write about something unusual and memorable — it is more likely to capture your readers' attention. Never write the whole essay at once. Space out the time slots when you work on your reflection paper to at least a day apart. This will allow your brain to generate new thoughts and reflections.

'If only someone could write my essay !' you may think. Ask for help our professional writers in case you need it.

Free Reflection Paper Example

Now that we went over all of the essentials about a reflection paper and how to approach it, we would like to show you some examples that will definitely help you with getting started on your paper.

The lecture started off with a quote: “If we can conquer space, we can conquer world hunger” — Buzz Aldrin. This quote had already got me thinking about how incredible of a feat it is that we’ve sent humans and animals into space. If it’s possible to survive in the infinite vacuum we know as Space, how are there billions of people who have a hard time surviving on Earth? This relatively simple idea reached out to get my attention and make me feel sympathy for all of the starving children and families in the world. On a morning like any other, our guest professor gave a lecture that truly impacted me to my core.