REFLECTION EXERCISE EXAMPLE
Note: the below paragraph is an example of reflective writing but is only an excerpt. Review the
Reflection Exercise Assignment Instructions for details on the expectations for this
assignment.
What initially stood out to me in Cecil’s (2014) A Comprehensive Literacy Program for
Grades 4-8 was the idea of the whole set of what constitutes Language Arts. I have always
regarded Language Arts as just reading and writing, but in chapter one, we see that it is much
more. The Language Arts are listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually
representing. Listening is referred to as “the neglected language art because it is seldom taught”
(Cecil, 2014, p. 7). In another Teacher Education course, we were given the task of actively
listening to a partner for two minutes without responding to anything they said. For me, this was
extremely difficult because I consider myself a chatty individual. This activity made me take a
step back and realize how much we expect our students to listen quietly without responding
during the school day, and it helped me understand how difficult that must be for them. Rarely
does a teacher teach listening, but we assume that our students can go for long periods of time
without tuning us out or focusing on something else. This small passage on listening impacted
my beliefs and helped me to reflect on and reevaluate what I expect from my students versus
what I expect of myself as a teacher.
