Fulfilling the Requirements of the Reflective Statement Shortly after the completion of the interactive orals, students must write a reflective statement about what was learned from the presentations.
The reflective statement must be between 300-400 words in length (approximately 2-3 paragraphs), typed, in proper MLA format, and handed into the teacher and kept on file until the written assignment is completed, at which point the appropriate reflective statement will be attached to the essay for submission to the examiner. If the 400-word limit is exceeded, one mark will be deducted. You must include the word count at the end of the statement. The IB curriculum has a specific rubric that is used for the reflective statement. You will also receive a SENN grade for each reflective statement. The scoring rubric can be found on the back of this handout. The basis for the assignment is to determine Criterion A below: Criterion A: Fulfilling the requirements of the reflective statement To what extent does the student show how his or her understanding of cultural and contextual elements was developed through the interactive oral? The reflective statement is intended to ensure that all students are encouraged to construct their own synthesis of reading and background or to clarify uncertainties and confusions about the culture of the work with which they may have struggled. In combination, the interactive oral and the reflective statement are the groundwork for sensible and sensitive appreciation of the “otherness” that students are likely to encounter in works in translation.
The Prompt: How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
Metacognition = thinking about thinking. Explaining your thought processes, decisions, and actions in order to make what was learned and how it was learned visible in writing. For this reflective statement, you will type thoughtful, reflective paragraphs. The paragraphs will be thorough. The paragraphs will contain apt, specific, and relevant support for their topic sentences. Within the paragraphs, you must use specific support methods: listing, paraphrasing, or quoting. Quote format will also be used—even when paraphrasing examples, you must put the example in context, and interpret/explain the relevance of the example. The paragraph must discuss learning that has occurred during the interactive orals and how that learning has impacted your understanding of cultural and contextual elements.
Reflective Statement Rubric: (10 points—minor grade)
Organization (3 pts): Strong, unified paragraphs Clear and meaningful topic sentences Clear conclusion sentences Effective internal transitions between paragraphs, examples and when introducing examples Quote Format elements used effectively for quoted examples Word count between 300-400 words—actual word count must be typed on the page.
Development (3 pts): Clearly addresses how the interactive orals have impacted your understanding of cultural and contextual elements Uses apt, specific, relevant supporting evidence—examples can be quoted, paraphrased, or listed Explanations are developed with specific phrasing and diction Interpretation is insightful, explaining learning clearly Does not summarize work, but analyzes and evaluates learning
Style/Voice (2 pts): Compelling, sincere voice; professional tone Appropriate, high-level diction and vocabulary Absolutely no abbreviations, contractions, or email type language Uses specific terminology learned from presentations
Grammar/Mechanics (2 pts): Spelling, punctuation, capitalization does matter! Exhibits evidence of basic editing Typed, double spaced—MLA format adhered to Grammatical errors are minimal and do not hinder the reader
