Reflection on Content

• Describe a few of the connections you see between your different entries?

• As you reflect on your entries, do you notice any patterns? Do you find any tensions between your thoughts in one entry and your ideas in another? Are their contradictions in how you’re thinking in one entry and how you’re thinking in another entry? Or are there entries where your method of reasoning and contemplating switches within that one entry?! Note: Tensions; shifts; and contradictions in our thinking and method of reasoning can sometimes aren’t inherently bad. These points can be productive for further exploration.

• Compare and contrast your first entry, your 6th entry, and your last entry.. Are their similarities to the types of questions and topics you’re focusing on? Do you notice any differences or changes in what and/or how you’re observing and thinking through your observations?

• If you could go back choose another prompt or approach the same prompt differently, which week would it be? What would you differently? And why?

• If you could add an additional journal entry, what questions, texts, mediums, and / or content would you choose to explore in that entry?

Reflection on Form

• What if any changes did you make regarding the physical form of your journal and / or the format and/or medium of your entries in the second half of the semester and why? If you haven’t made any changes, you should observe and describe (with fresh eyes) the form of your physical journal and the format and/or medium of your entries even if that description ends up being similar to your midterm description.

• At this point of the semester: What does your journal look like? What does your journal feel like? What does your journal smell like? What does it sound like when you open your journal? (And yeah, if you want to describe how your journal tastes, go for it!) What type of material are you using for your journal? Are you using a marble notebook or a three ring binder or a collage book or a handcrafted notebook made out of paper you pressed yourself with natural fibers from your favorite t-shirts? How else can you describe the specifics of your journal (as opposed to a journal similar style journal made from similar materials)?

• How does the current form of your physical journal and / or the format and/or medium of your journaling bring together your various entries in ways that another form wouldn’t?

• Imagine that five years after you graduate, you run across this journal in storage somewhere and start to look through it. What might you think of the physical form; the handwriting; the visuals; the prompts; and the content of your ideas? What do you hope you would think, feel, and/or experience looking back through your journal?

Reflection on Process and Experience

• When do you journal? Do you journal at a consistent time? Do you do your entries all in one sitting or over several smaller bits of time? Do you listen to music or eat or sip tea when you journal? Do you have any pre, during, or post writing rituals?

• Where do you journal? Describe the physical space(s) you journal in (think: lighting; size; privacy; comfort; noise; aesthetic; temperature; etc.).

• How long do you spend on your journal entries? Do you edit and/or revise your entries?

• How would you describe the ways in which your experience of, and/or feelings about, the journal assignment have developed over the course of the semester? Has your physical, mental, emotional experience with the journal assignment changed in any way since the first half of the semester?

• Which two journal entries did you most enjoy doing the most? Why?

• What about your journaling process, content, form, reflection, and/or experience are you most proud of this semester? And why?

Reflection on Present Growth

• As you reflect on the content of your entries and your experience of journaling and reflecting this semester, what have you learned (or what might you be learning) about yourself AS A THINKER?

• As you reflect on the content of your entries and your experience of journaling and reflecting this semester, what have you learned (or what might you be learning) about yourself AS AN ARTIST?

• As you reflect on the content of your entries and your experience of journaling and reflecting this semester, what have you learned (or what might you be learning) about yourself AS A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER?

• As you reflect on the content of your entries and your experience of journaling and reflecting this semester, what have you learned (or what might you be learning) about yourself AS AN ETHICALLY ENGAGED MEMBER OF SOCIETY (whether that be as an activist, a volunteer, a concerned neighbor, an educator, a programmer, etc.)?

• As you reflect on the content of your entries and your experience of journaling and reflecting this semester, what have you learned (or what might you be learning) about yourself AS A STUDENT?

Reflection on Future Goals

• What formal aspects of this assignment would you like to carry with you in your future academic, professional, and/or practices? Why?

• What are two small (focused!) and concrete things that you can do between now and the end of January 2022 that would help you carry the above formal aspects into your future academic, professional, and/or personal practices?

• Thinking about the content of your entries, what texts, topics, themes, or questions would you like to to continue exploring in your future academic, professional, and/or personal endeavors? Why?

• What are two small (focused!) and concrete things that you can do between now and the end of January 2022 that would help you continue exploring the above texts, topics, themes, and/or questions in your future academic, professional, and/or personal practices?

Featured Journal Entry

• Please identify one entry* that you would like for me to read for this midterm assessment:

• Make sure you have clearly marked the entry in your journal and/or provided me with enough information to find the entry easily.

• *If you’ve made arrangements with me to submit two entries, please identify two entries you wish me to review.