The final reflection is the last piece of writing in this course: one sustained look across your whole Drama Journal, written in the final week. Every other entry looked at a single day. This one reads the entire record and answers the only question a course can really be measured by: what do you leave with that you did not arrive with?
Before you write
Reread your journal front to back in one sitting — expect your earliest entries to feel written by someone else. As you read, flag three things:
- one entry that embarrasses you a little — that is usually where the growth is buried
- one “what I would try next” that you actually tried, and what happened
- one moment involving other people that you still think about
The shape
Three sections, roughly a page — claims and evidence in the spirit of Writing About Drama, built the way Showing Growth taught: date it, quote your own words, then show the now.
- Then and now. The single biggest difference between your earliest self and your most recent one, proven with two cited entries.
- What I made and what it taught me. One task — Tableau Story Sequence, Scene Study from a Story, the Culminating Performance — examined honestly: what the group needed from you, what you gave, what you would do differently.
- What leaves the room with me. The skills you will still use when drama class is a memory: reading a room, holding a silence, giving a note without wounding, getting a group unstuck. This is the bet named in strand B3 — that what you built here works everywhere. Say where you will use it, and for what.
Do not write it as a thank-you card
The temptation is to perform gratitude and round everything up. Resist it. The reflections worth reading include the day the group fell apart, the risk that failed, the skill still unfinished. You have a term of evidence that honesty is what makes this writing good. Trust it one last time.
Curriculum connection
B2.2
explain how dramatic exploration can contribute to personal growth and self-understanding (e.g., explain how attributes such as self-awareness, empathy, confidence, and a willingness to take risks are developed and strengthened through drama activities; discuss the importance of the spoken word and rap to give voice to some cultures)
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B3.1
identify specific collaborative skills and attitudes that are required in preparing and staging drama works and explain how they can be applied in other fields or activities (e.g., acting/directing: willingness to take risks, negotiating skills, flexibility, self-confidence; stage managing: listening skills, willingness to consult, organizing skills, people-management skills)
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B3.2
identify specific social skills and personal characteristics they have acquired or strengthened through drama work that can help them succeed in other areas of life (e.g., describe their personal development in areas such as risk taking, self-confidence, self-awareness, listening, questioning, negotiating, consensus building)
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