1. Reflective Writing
Higher Folio

2. Narrative and Reflection
Narrative Retelling something that happened. Including the reactions to the events at the time.
Reflection The process of giving careful thought to something. Learning lessons from an experience both specific to you and lessons that we could all learn

3. Reflective Writing
Narrative
Reflection

4. Example Death of Gran The dying process How the elderly are treated
Relationship with Gran
Dying with dignity

5. You – the pupil
Take five minutes to reflect on your performance in school so far
Think about your work ethic, your ability to work with others, your ability to ask for help, how well you are studying and feelings about the future.
Be brutally honest with yourself.

6. Think about language and sentence structure
Developing Language
“A curtained-off corner of disinfected discomfort, choking flowers, faded bed sheets and awkward tokens of sympathy from those who couldn’t deal with the guilt of being healthy.”
“But this was to be her eighth and final year of coping with her disease. A reprieve? No, an escape.”

7. Develop your own language
Look at the small piece of reflection that you have done
How can you improve the word choice, sound, sentence structure tone, imagery etc?

8. Some things to remember
This is not a personal essay- you do not have to discuss a particular incident.
You are allowed to be funny!
Be as honest as you possibly can be.
Language must be sophisticated.

9. R Look at your own essays
Using highlighters, highlight where you have included narrative (where you re-tell the experience and where you have included how you felt at the time)
Then, using a different colour, highlight where you have reflected
Have you got the correct balance? N R

10. Improving your essays
Look at the following passage – how could you improve it?
When I think back on my relationship with my Dad, I miss him terribly. He was a good man and I always took him for granted. I never thought that one day I would be without him. This is something that I really regret now looking back. I don’t think I would ever get over this.

11. Class example
Every time I thought about him, my gut grabbed at my soul and wrenched it to the point of agony – I miss him still. My Dad. A childhood hero of comic-book creation. Visits to the coup, football in the park, trips to the DIY dreamhouse (his words), helping with homework, listening to my troubles – understanding, loving me for me. He went. Our bond broke.

12. Redrafting Check for technical errors
Make sure that your essay has more reflection than narrative
Make sure that any time you have mentioned an event, you reflect on this for most of the paragraph
Develop your language – use sentence structure, word choice, imagery for effect.

13. Writing Folio
Two pieces: one discursive and one creative (reflective or imaginative)
Must be size 12 point, Arial or Times new Roman
Your word count must be stated at the bottom of your work: no more than 1300 words

14. Writing Slips
Under ‘provenance’ you must write the piece that you decided to do and how you came to choose it
E.g. after a group discussion on global warming in geography, I decided to write an argumentative piece
OR: when discussing topics for reflection in class, I felt that I could use the death of my aunt to reflect on how prescious life is
OR: I had a good idea for a short story after completing a starter activity on describing setting and decided to explore this in further detail