Journal about Newton's third law- Make a reflective Journal Writing Instructions for Reflective Journal Writing Reading carefully is a valuable skill which few students have developed by the time they...

Journal about Newton's third law- Make a reflective Journal Writing Instructions for Reflective Journal Writing Reading carefully is a valuable skill which few students have developed by the time they arrive at university. Whether what you are reading is a textbook, a web page, a novel or a memo from your employer the habits of careful reading (also called “deep reading”) are essentially the same. The reflective writing in this course is part of my effort to develop your deep reading skills. Careful reading starts before you open the book and continues after you have closed the book. It involves not simply reading the words and trying to understand each sentence, but carrying on an internal dialogue with yourself about what you are reading. One of the main purposes of reflective writing is that it encourages “metacognition”. metacognition, n. Thinking about thinking. When you read, and more generally whenever you learn via any process, it is useful to engage in metacognition. You need to be aware of what you are understanding, what you are not understanding and how your current understanding relates to your past understanding. This helps you recognize areas of difficulty and correct them. How to do Reflective Writing First of all, reflective writing entries are not essays. They are expected to be quite unstructured, and frequently are short form with not punctuation or capitalization. Frequently they have a “stream of consciousness” feel to them because they are an attempt to capture your own internal dialogue. Here is a suggested way to do your readings, including your reflective writing: 1. Before you open to the part of the text that you are going to read, look at the section titles in the table of contents and jot down some things that you think you already know about what you are going to read. 2. Do the readings one section at a time or if the sections are short perhaps two sections at a time, doing whatever you normally do to improve your understanding (underlining, highlighting, rereading, jotting quick notes in margins or on other paper). Ideally, if you get an early enough start on the reading, do it over several days, a few sections per day so that you are spending no more than 20-30 minutes per day. 3. After you complete a section, close the book and quickly, with as few pauses as possible, write about the meaning of the section you have just read. What are the new ideas? What are the most important concepts? Focus on what you are having trouble understanding, things that don't make sense, things you are finding difficult to believe, things that disagree with your previous understanding. You should spend no more than 5-10 minutes per section doing this. 4. After you have completed all the readings in the reading module, write the Reading Quiz associated with it. 5. After the reading quiz, look back over your reflective writings for the module. Spend a brief time summarizing focusing on any aspects of your understanding that you think have developed since the beginning of the reading. Did the quiz lead you to question your understanding? Are there questions you had in the early sections of the reading that were answered in the later parts? 6. Staple together your reflective writing and hand it in.