Expressing Yourself Through Reflective Writing

“We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience.” - John Dewey

Reflective writing contrasts from other types of writing. Reflective writing encourages us to reveal our personal thoughts about our life experiences in relation to the content we are learning about in the units rather than summarizing the opinions of others.

Many reflective writers keep in mind questions, such as:

"What did I notice?",

"How has this changed me?" or

"What might I have done differently?”

Reflective writing can help us to improve our analytical skills because it requires us to express what we think, and more significantly, how and why we think that way. In addition, reflective analysis asks us to acknowledge that our thoughts are shaped by our assumptions and preconceived ideas; in doing so, we can appreciate the ideas of others, notice how their assumptions and preconceived ideas may have shaped their thoughts, and perhaps recognize how our ideas support or oppose what we read.

Examples of reflective writing by BP, 9 y.o.

Content Study, Polish Immigration

“I decided to do choose to write about the Polish immigration.

There were two major waves of immigration. The first from late 1800's up to World War I (1914-1918).

The first major wave happened because of economical, political and religious reasons. People came "Za chlebem" means "For bread". Back then there was no such thing as Poland on the world map instead Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria and Russia.

Most of the people immigrating were called "Górale" means Mountain people mostly coming from the Southern religion of Poland. This was mostly Kraków and Rzeszów.

In the Second World War about 6 million out of 35 million Poles were killed. Poland was forced to turn into a communist country under the Soviet control. That was the second wave of immigration.

Between the 1945 and 1953 more than 150,000 Poles were admitted to the United States and most of them were refugees.

The soldiers, intellectual and political prisoners had no way back to Poland.

Did you know that during the 1920's more than 220,000 Poles immigrated to the United States?

Poles had many cultural food and these are some of them:

"Rosół" - chicken soup (my favorite soup)

"Żurek" - sour soup

"Gołąbki" - stuffed cabbage rolls

"Pierogi" - dumplings (favorite meal)

If I was to choose a certain type of pierogis they would be meat pierogis.

I chose this immigration group because it is my family roots since my parents are Polish.

I used: culture.polishsite.us and "Polska" travel magazine."

BP, 9 y.o.

Reflection on an Article.

“I found an article in Chicago Tribune which told me about the history of Poles who were forced by the Russian Soviet Union to go to Kazakhstan.

This was clearly a push immigration because life in Kazakhstan was extremely hard and people were forced to work in labor camps.

During World War II as many as 1.5 million Poles were deported mostly to Siberia and Kazakhstan and many of them died from the hard working conditions and sicknesses.

The article doesn't talk about the historical background because the author assumes that people know that the Soviet oppression killed more than 20 million people between October Revolution of 1917 and Stalin's death in March 1953. Most people died during their first winter.

Under the Soviet oppression maintaining cultural traditions, observing their faith and even speaking Polish was illegal. However Polish people sent to Kazakhstan kept their traditions, language and culture and now their children and grandchildren wish to come back to their home country.

The Polish government made an effort to provide many thousands of those refugees with houses, food, medical services, education and etc., which are evidently examples of immigration pulls.”

Reflection based on an article from Chicago Tribune, Kazakhstan's 'forgotten Poles' long to return. Thousands in Asia since Stalin’s era. January 02, 2003. By Cheryl Collins, specialist to the Tribune.

BP, 9 y.o.

Ellis Island School Trip - Reflection Writing

“I truly enjoyed the Ellis Island Museum and learned a lot throughout our school trip.

I've discovered that Ellis Island served as the busiest immigration station in the United States from 1892 until 1954.

My favorite part was the boat ride because I could experience a bit of immigrants' journey. My trip only lasted about 25 minutes but their journey lasted about 2 weeks. I found it heart breaking that after the long trip some people were denied and were sent back to their countries. Sometimes families even had to be separated and were never seen together again.

After seeing the exhibitions and hearing the immigrants' perspectives for the first time I actually realized how hard it must have been for the newcomers. I would be scared to be denied or separated from my mom and dad.

Did you know that the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was 15-year-old Irish girl named Daisy Moore? That's just a joke she was really Annie Moore.

It surprised me to hear that so many Americans came from around the world. I find it interesting that in mind in 1907 there were 1,004,756 immigrants processed through Ellis Island. This happened because there was a Russian Revolution and beginning of political system changes in that part of Europe.

If you ask me the only thing I would change in the museum is to replace the audio guide with the human tour guide like the one in the Lower East Side walking trip. They didn't work too well and we got mixed up.

I travel a lot and personally I enjoy face-to-face interaction and like to have a chance to ask questions.

In my opinion all people should visit Ellis Island at least once in their life. I think so because most of us or our ancestors were immigrants and me seeing these artifacts I can be more understanding to newcomers.”