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In this reflective journal, you will need to write 4 paragraphs on each category.
Each paragraph should be around 100 words in length.

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What was my background knowledge before coming to Australia?

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What was my background knowledge before coming to Australia?

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What was my prior knowledge? Academically? Socially?

What kind of person was I in my home country? Questioning? Conservative?

What had I learnt from my education in my home country?

Think about your personality in the past. Think about different subjects/experience/teachers and extra-curriculum activities in which you were involved.

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What were my biggest motivations?

What did I want to achieve when I decided to study abroad?

Think about your life goals, learning aims and what career/professions you would like to pursue in the future. Think about your passions and ambitions.

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In what ways have I acquired knowledge/?

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In what ways have I acquired knowledge/?

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What is my learning style?

What kind of things am I good/not good at?

What learning strategies have I benefited much from?

Think about the different learning methods you have experienced, in your home country and in Australia. Do you prefer rote learning or independent learning? Why?

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I have been a student at Trinity for about 2 months now. What have I learnt so far?

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I have been a student at Trinity for about 2 months now. What have I learnt so far?

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What are the Trinity core values that I deem important? (sustainability, learner autonomy, collaboration, etc.)

What have I learnt from the subjects, teachers, classmates that I have found helpful/inspiring/motivating?

Think about how you performed in your assessment tasks at Trinity. What did you do well? Where could you improve?

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What would I like to achieve In the next 6 months? 

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What would I like to achieve In the next 6 months? 

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Open a google doc and put it in your writing folio with the title KWHL Reflection Extended Writing.

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Open a google doc and put it in your writing folio with the title KWHL Reflection Extended Writing.

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A great deal of your time at university will be spent thinking; thinking about what people have said, what you have read, what you yourself are thinking and how your thinking has changed. It is generally believed that the thinking process involves two aspects: reflective thinking and critical thinking. They are not separate processes; rather, they are closely connected (Brookfield 1987).
Figure 1: The Thinking Process (adapted from Mezirow 1990, Schon 1987, Brookfield 1987)

Reflective thinking
Reflection is:

a form of personal response to experiences, situations, events or new information.

a 'processing' phase where thinking and learning take place.

There is neither a right nor a wrong way of reflective thinking, there are just questions to explore.

Figure 1 shows that the reflective thinking process starts with you. Before you can begin to assess the words and ideas of others, you need to pause and identify and examine your own thoughts.

Doing this involves revisiting your prior experience and knowledge of the topic you are exploring. It also involves considering how and why you think the way you do. The examination of your beliefs, values, attitudes and assumptions forms the foundation of your understanding.

Reflective thinking demands that you recognise that you bring valuable knowledge to every experience. It helps you therefore to recognise and clarify the important connections between what you already know and what you are learning. It is a way of helping you to become an active, aware and critical learner.

What is reflective writing?

Reflective writing is:

documenting your response to experiences, opinions, events or new information

communicating your response to thoughts and feelings

a way of exploring your learning

an opportunity to gain self-knowledge

a way to achieve clarity and better understanding of what you are learning

a chance to develop and reinforce writing skills

a way of making meaning out of what you study

Reflective writing is not:

just conveying information, instruction or argument

pure description, though there may be descriptive elements

straightforward decision or judgement, e.g. about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad

simple problem-solving

a summary of course notes

a standard university essay.

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A great deal of your time at university will be spent thinking; thinking about what people have said, what you have read, what you yourself are thinking and how your thinking has changed. It is generally believed that the thinking process involves two aspects: reflective thinking and critical thinking.

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My motivation to come to Australia was to improve my English and eventually be able to study in English at Melbourne University. In the future, I would like to study Commerce because I am interested in Business and would like to work in this field. Firstly, I will need to pass the AE Program and the Main Program before being ready and able to study at Melbourne University

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I am a interpersonal and intrapersonal learner. This means that I learn best when working with others. It also means that I am good at understanding my preferred methods of study to achieve the best outcomes for myself. I am good at group work and speaking in English but I am not good at the new subject -History of Ideas that I am studying at Trinity.

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I like that at Trinity I am being encouraged to think deeply, critically and  independently. It is fun to work with others to achieve our goals. I am adapting well to this new way of learning, as it suits my learning style.

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In the next 6 months, I would like to improve my listening skills to be able to understand the fast pace of native Australian English speakers, as well as complex information. I also want to continue to improve my grammatical accuracy and ability to express my ideas clearly though my writing. Developing these skills will give me a better chance of success when I am studying at Melbourne University.

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Before I came to study at Trinity College, I lived in the countryside in a small town. My prior knowledge of education was from attending a small high school where some of the teachers were not that dedicated or knowledgable and the educational environment wasn’t very competitive. In my home country, I was a shy and thoughtful person. At my high school, female students in particular, were not encouraged to speak up or be ambitious in regards to their education. However, my mother had always encouraged me to think deeply and instilled in me that education was one of the most important and interesting aspects of life. Therefore, I always worked hard and felt that I didn’t fit in, in this educational community.

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Before I came to study at Trinity College, I lived in the countryside in a small town. My prior knowledge of education was from attending a small high school where some of the teachers were not that dedicated or knowledgable and the educational environment wasn’t very competitive. In my home country, I was a shy and thoughtful person. At my high school, female students in particular, were not encouraged to speak up or be ambitious in regards to their education. However, my mother had always encouraged me to think deeply and instilled in me that education was one of the most important and interesting aspects of life. Therefore, I always worked hard and felt that I didn’t fit in, in this educational community.