Inspiring Personal Reflective Writing Ideas and Examples

Personal/ Reflective Writing Week 2: Activities to inspire ideas for your personal reflective writing. Sample paragraphs of openers Sample planning ideas for making spider diagrams and starting to plan your writing

Activity One: Write a short paragraph about which person... has most influenced you has most helped you has most hurt you do you miss most have you been in most conflict with have you had the most complicated relationship with have you had a very changeable relationship with are you most glad to be rid of? You might not be able to write about all of these

PURPOSE AUDIENCE PAL LAYOUT LANGUAGE

Activity 2: Read through slides 5-10. Each is an example of personal reflective writing - the opening paragraphs... you should start to notice some of the following: Think about: The purpose of the piece... Anyone can read it but who do you think the target audience are? Layout - Paragraphs? Varied sentence structure? Language interesting and varied word choice, use of techniques to engage the reader such as metaphors, similes, description of senses... see if you can spot any.

1. Photography Essay Opener A few days before I left home to move to Glasgow, I went for one last walk in the woods. Home for me was not just my parents house or the small village it was in, but also the surrounding countryside: in particular the long stretch of beach just across a field from my house, and the overgrown gardens of a now demolished castle. As a child I had explored these woods and hills with my friends and siblings and knew them better than any town or city. As I grew older and became interested in photography, I spent more and more time alone in the woods. I would disappear for hours, taking my camera with me, never failing to find fresh beauty to capture.

Sample Planning Photography Essay What does the photography essay opener do? Purpose? Introduces idea of photography, beauty of home, leaving... What was captured examples, one picture put up at home . The writer has created a picture of her home with the words s/he has chosen. Time alone to explore idea that you can t capture time... It moves on like s/he is moving we can watch the world stay the same and we change/ the world changes but we feel the same. Photographs are for capturing beauty and memories The future... what will it look like?

The Darkest Part of Me Essay I turn out the lights. That way I can t see myself in the mirror anymore. I can like me. I can pretend that my thighs are thin and my skin is smooth. I can pretend that I am beautiful. There, in the darkness, my body feels light. The weight of the day - the way they looked at me in the canteen queue, the way I felt my width as I squeezed between the desks in History disappears. Darkness becomes me.

The Darkest Part of Me - What does this essay opener do? Your turn... Purpose? Audience? Layout? Language? Reflection? Did you get some of these or something similar? Introduces the idea of self hatred, of body consciousness, the idea that school is a place which the writer finds uncomfortable and possibly unsafe It's a topic that many teenagers and adult recognise - their inner critical voice The idea of darkness hiding things, hiding things from herself, of darkness over- taking her...

You don't Live Here Anymore... Essay Was it the one you wanted? Um. Yes. You know they were almost sold out but I got it. To make you happy. No... Let s not pretend, Mum. You got it to ease your guilt. And, as much as I m grateful for your gift and grateful that you re here on my birthday I also really, really wish you d go away so I wouldn t have to see your face and be reminded that you don t live here anymore. But I don t say that, I say thanks and my voice comes out croaky and weird.

You Don't Live Here Anymore - - What does this essay opener do? Your turn... Purpose? Audience? Layout? Language? Reflection? Did you find some of these things or anything similar? Introduces the idea of relationship difficulties with direct speech. Like previous essay openers the idea of a different inner voice. Outwardly being one way but thinking something very different. The idea that the writer feels abandoned and that her mum is not often around, introducing the idea of guilt and blame...

Your Personal Reflective Writing 1. What hobbies do you have or have had? Have they changed you like the photography one. Make a list of things you like to do in your free time. Write beside them why you like them and if it's an area you'd like to develop in yourself. 2. Do you have an annoying/dark/destructive... inner voice or secret life? Some aspect of your personality which not everyone knows about? Note down what it is and how it impacts your life 3. What relationships in your life are particularly difficult or amazing?

Sample planning Getting older less toys, maths found it very pleasing at primary, not weighing... Organised on a page Toy when I was younger money, order, balance... Other people s money! Something else... I like saving, my sister spending but I had a piggy bank... Then an account Higher Maths... Uni... Link back to the post office toy People might think it s boring... I think it s a puzzle, like tetris, making it all stack up

Money, Math and Me Essay My favourite toy when I was six or seven was actually not mine; it was my cousin s. It was magnificent in my memory it probably reigns more glorious than it was it was a mini Post Office. What I loved about it was its order. Its systems. It functioned. I always liked structure and the feeling of control. In the mini-Post Office I was in charge: I called the customers, I issued the stamps, I counted the money and that was the part I enjoyed the most. I remember the thrill of watching my cousin s chubby hand push over the plastic money entrusting it to my care, my control

Final Activities for the week: 1. Watch this video to see how to take effective notes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZgMpjjgCRA 2. Think about all the different topics that you have written about since starting this. 3. Choose one that stands out as being the most important to you. One you think you could write about. (You can choose more than one if you need to and find a way to connect them.) 4. Create a spider diagram of notes about your idea and send it to your teacher for comment. **Well done for completing the work for this week.