At the end of every Honors Course or Honors Contract, you'll be asked to write a reflection on your intellectual and/or academic experiences.
Reflections are an integral part of Honors Courses and Contracts. They help us make sure you're getting the instruction we expect for Honors students, and they help you process a whole semester's worth of material to find what the most important information is for you.
You can use this process to help direct your future decisions, whether that be deciding what kinds of courses or contracts you'd like to pursue in the future or using the information as valuable input for future projects and even career paths.
3-2-1 Reflections Directions
These directions are intended to serve as guidelines for how to write a reflection that helps the Honors Program ensure you've been exposed to thought-provoking material and taken the time to work through it independently.
Step 1: Three Important Aspects
Choose the three most important aspects (concepts, issues, factual information, etc.) of the Honors Course or Contract and justify your choices.
Step 2: Two Confusing Elements
Identify two things you encountered in the course or contract that you didn't understand and briefly discuss why these confusing aspects interfered with your general understanding. You may be able to identify more than two confusing elements, but limit yourself to the two most important ones. Have you been able to work through these difficult concepts, or are you still confused?
Step 3: One Question
Pose one question to the faculty member who taught your Honors Course or supervised your Honors Contract. Formulate your question in a way that invites an answer that goes beyond the class material or material you encountered in your Contract project. Additionally, your question should not reflect your areas of confusion from step 2. The question should also reflect your curiosity about the topic and reveal your thoughts about the implications or applications of some of the material you were presented in class or through your contract.
While it is required that you submit reflections for Honors Courses and Contracts, your grade will not be affected by the specific content of your reflection. Please be honest! It is okay to remain confused about some of the material at the end of a course or a contract; let this confusion be a reminder that you still have more left to learn or guide your intellectual focus into uncharted territory in the future!