Classroom Environment Developing a Positive

Classroom Environment Developing a Positive Student Teacher Relationship Essay

THE INITIAL REFLECTION

Requirements: 1000 words (not exceeding +10%).

Status of Assignment: This is a formal and compulsory part of the assessment. It must be completed on time and within the word count or your entire module grade will be automatically penalised according to standard UCL grade penalty criteria – that is, if your Initial Reflection is late or outside of the word count your whole assignment will be deemed late or outside the word count so the overall grade is affected. This is even though the initial reflection is itself not graded and intended for you to get early formative feedback on your writing. To be absolutely clear; if, for example, you submit an Initial Reflection of 1101 words on time you will get formative feedback and suffer a grade penalty. So, if you achieve an A on your final essay your module grade will be reduced to B.

The Task: For the Initial Reflection our advice is to pick a theme covered in the initial sessions of the module and select one reading on that theme. Do not be over-ambitious: it is more valuable to you to consider a limited range of ideas in depth than to try to cover everything. The chosen reading should be from the session reading lists; but you may of course reference other texts.

OUTLINE OF SUGGESTED STRUCTURE

Your Initial Reflection might have the following structure:

1. Introduction: explain why this is a theme in education that is important to you (about 200 words). For example, in relation to your own experience or to more general concerns.

2. Analysis of an argument or two from the reading: summarise what you consider to be one or two ideas or arguments from the text you have selected (about 400 words). Note: at some point we suggest you use a quotation from the reading, properly formatted and referenced, as evidence of what the author said in the area you have selected. 

3. Conclusion: critically reflect on what you have learnt about different ways of understanding your theme, and discuss any interesting questions raised by the text (about 400 words)

4. Include a list of any references you have mentioned (this does not count towards the word-count). In Part 3, you can focus on different views of your theme. This could mean looking at strong and weak points in the arguments or saying what different people have said about your theme. If there are any questions raised by the text for you, you can describe these and explain the extent to which they are or are not important in relation to the theme.

FURTHER GUIDANCE FOR THE INITIAL REFLECTION

The word count is deliberately low in order to encourage you to write concisely. There is no set format for this task, but you may want to use sub-headings (these do count towards the word count). You should aim to reference correctly, but there is no requirement to include a particular number of references.

The following is a suggestion, you are free to arrange your 1000 words as you wish.

First 200 Words: Introduce some aspect of education, or some event in your own experience of education (as student, or as teacher) that is significant to you. You will need to introduce the context (e.g. country, kind of school, subject or activity or method of teaching/learning i.e. the context in which the event took place).

Explain why you think it is significant. Why is it significant to you? Of what potential significance is it to others? Is it a local, national, or international issue? Choose the example so that you can interpret it through one of the readings.

Next 400 Words: Introduce (and reference) your main chosen reading. Say why you have chosen this reading. Explain what its main argument is and any esoteric terms or ideas you need to use.

Include a quotation (indented and give page number) that highlights one of the key points you want to make.

Explain what the article brings to your significant aspect/event/theme. How does it cast light on this? How does it give a new perspective on how you originally interpreted the aspect/event/theme? 

Final 400 Words: Critically engage with the article you have chosen. How well do the ideas expressed in the article stand up? How productive is this article in casting new light on your aspect/event? What have other authors said in the literature? Use scholar.google.co.uk to search for this. Assess the relative strength of the positions you outline. Come to a brief conclusion and/or future ideas to think about.

NB Include a properly formatted list of References (not part of word count).