You have done a lot of "reflective writing" in this class already--every time you write a commentary or a writer's memo, you are reflecting on your own text and your writing process. Before you begin writing your reflective letter, review these reflective writings.  See what patterns and issues you notice in your reflections.  Notice any ways in which your sense of yourself as a writer may have changed since you began the semester.  Notice any ways in which your approaches to your writing or how you think about your writing may have changed.

Remember how we have stressed AUDIENCE and PURPOSE all semester?  Think about the reflective letter in those terms--you are writing a letter to me, and the subject of your letter is your portfolio.  Your purpose in writing to me is to guide me in reading your portfolio, to answer the questions I might have about your writing.

Here are some of my questions: 

• Think back to the start of the semester.  What did you expect or want from this course?  What does your portfolio of writing reveal about what you got out of this course?  Is this what you had in mind, or does it surprise you?
• How did you choose these writing projects?  What is important about each one?   How has each one evolved since you first started working on it?
• In what ways does this portfolio represent your accomplishments?  In what ways did you stretch yourself in these writing projects?  What is new for you in these writing projects?  What should I notice in the portfolio that you will take away with you from this course?
• What does your portfolio reveal about the challenges that you face as a writer?   Where are you still stuck or struggling?  What do you wish we could do over or spend more time learning about?

$  Your reflective letter should be at least two pages long--substantive and thoughtful, typed and elegantly formatted.  I look forward to reading it.