Personal Reflection: End-of-Semester Letter
60 points
DUE: Submitted to turnitin on Cougar Courses on the due date (no paper version needed)
The purpose of this assignment is to help you apply communication concepts learned throughout the semester to your own experiences of communication. This assignment asks you to thoughtfully consider your experience in this course, and to reflect upon what you have learned. By exploring the readings, reflecting on team interactions, and discussing your perceptions of the course as a whole, you can gain insight into the complexities of group interaction and the relationships between human communication theory and practice.
This assignment therefore helps fill the following student learning outcomes for this class:
Communication Department Student Learning Objectives for COMM 100 (Mass Media and Communication):
➢ Analyze forms and contexts of communication from a variety of intellectual perspectives (philosophical, historical, theoretical, and practical). (ANALYSIS).
Dr. Rivera’s Student Learning Outcomes for COMM 100:
- Identify, name, and describe key communication concepts and vocabulary appropriately in context through quizzes, exams, and Personal Reflection writing assignments (KNOWLEDGE EXPANSION)
- Apply communication theories to solving “real world” problems through course exercises, assignments, and teamwork (APPLICATION).
FORMAT:
1-2 pages total (NO MORE THAN 3 Pages);
- APA formatting: 12 pt. font, double-spaced, 1 inch margins
- APA Reference page IF NEEDED (should have at least the text book on it). See Cougar
Courses for APA Tips or look online at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.
DIRECTIONS:
Write a letter! Consider this an opportunity to share what you’ve learned in this class
with someone outside of the class.
You may want to take this chance to tell someone about the impact they had on
your communication development (positive or negative or otherwise).
You might want to make this an opportunity to try to help someone else change
or improve their communication habits
You can draw on ANY topic covered this semester, including those covered in
Team Assignments!
• You can and should use informal, first person language.
Guidelines: This is a letter, but it’s also an assignment. You’ll balance your informal language with a discussion of at least two (2) concepts from the class somewhere in your
letter.
You will list and define the concept (be sure to cite the text book or other
reading!)
You will then discuss the concept and how it applies to the audience for your
letter
The purpose is to demonstrate your understanding of the course concept!
Rivera, COMM 100, Fall 2019
Audience: You might consider writing to one of the following people (these are IDEAS, but you don’t have to write to one of these people):
o Yourparent(s)
o Your siblings or cousins
o Your kids, hypothetical children, or nieces and nephews/cousins you help raise o Your boss or former boss
o Your teacher (including me!☺)
o Your co-worker
o Your significant other (partner)
o Yourteacher/professor(fromelementaryschoolonup!)
o Yourpastororspiritualleader
o Your team-mate(s) from this class
o Members of your fraternity/sorority or other student organization
o Someone who is different from you, that you learned more about this semester
Course Concepts: You will need to address at least two (2) course concepts in your letter. This could be from any chapter covered this semester, or be any concept discussed in the Team Building Block Assignments.
Here’s some EXAMPLES (you are not required to use one of these):
▪ Discuss organizational communication and emotional labor in a letter to
your boss
- ▪ Discuss interpersonal communication and uncertainty reduction theory in a
letter to your girlfriend
- ▪ Discuss new media technology and social network theory in a letter to your
friends
- ▪ Discuss intercultural communication and culture shock in a letter to your
host family
- ▪ Discuss rhetoric and the importance of ethos, pathos, and logos in a letter to
your local politician
- ▪ Discuss small group communication and servant leadership in a letter to the
chair of your student organization
- ▪ The options are limitless!!
You can consider these questions as a PROMPT for what concepts to write about, but you do not have to answer these questions if you don’t want to (and you certainly wouldn’t have space to answer them all anyway!)
▪ What are the most important things you learned?
- ▪ What was the most surprising thing you learned?
- ▪ Was there anything you disagreed with in what we discussed? If yes, why
did you disagree?
- ▪ Has your communication changed? If so, how?
- ▪ Has your media consumption changed? If so, how?
- ▪ Has your interaction with other cultures or identities changed? If so, how?
- ▪ What was the most difficult thing you encountered this semester? Why was
it so challenging?
- ▪ What would you recommend to someone else about their communication?
Have Fun with Your Final Assignment!
Rivera, COMM 100, Fall 2019
_____/5
_____/15 _____/15
_____/15
_____/10
COMM 100- End-of-Semester Reflection Letter
60 Points (TOTAL) Evaluative Rubric
Format: Follows a letter format (either formal OR informal). Uses APA guidelines for in-text citations as needed. Is free from grammatical and spelling errors. Meets length requirements.
Course Concepts Defined: Concepts from the course are clear and defined (use the language of the text book, quotations if needed). At least two concepts discussed. Course Concepts Discussed: Concepts from the course are discussed and demonstrate understanding of their meaning. Concepts are used appropriate for context and audience.
Personal Reflection: Includes reflection on how student (author of letter) has experienced this class and/or the concepts learned in this class. Explores overall learning with specific assignment/reading/topic addressed and/or tips presented for the future.
Creativity and Style: Overall presentation, audience, and concepts are both original and cohesive. Letter reflects creativity and personal style of the author.
TOTAL ____/60
