Weekly Reflections

Twelve short weekly reflections on the habits you are running on yourself, with the two lowest dropped before the running total is calculated

How the totals work#

The semester runs twelve weekly prompts, covering weeks 1–12, each due at 12:00 the following Tuesday — Week 1’s prompt due in week 2, Week 12’s in week 13. Week 6 is the one exception to that one-week rule: the teaching break sits between weeks 6 and 7, so that prompt is due in week 7 instead of the following Tuesday — a longer window, not a missed one. The two lowest-scoring reflections are dropped before the running total is calculated; the remaining ten are counted at 1.5% each — 10 × 1.5% = 15% of the course total. The drop absorbs two bad weeks without a separate extension process.

What each criterion checks#

• Completion (60%) — submitted on time, under 200 words, and actually addressing that week’s prompt.
• Specificity (40%) — names a real, concrete instance, not a general trait.

The prompts#

Each prompt names the week whose topic it reflects on:

• Week 1 — what is already running, unmonitored, before any instruction is given
• Week 2 — a hygiene routine’s actual failure, not the one you intended
• Week 3 — a wardrobe decision made under time pressure
• Week 4 — a night the sleep schedule held, or didn’t, and why
• Week 5 — the day’s real radius, measured rather than estimated
• Week 6 — an hour the laptop stayed closed, and what filled it instead
• Week 7 — a conversation that stalled, examined rather than excused
• Week 8 — a group chat’s actual load-bearing member
• Week 9 — an opening message sent, and what it cost to send
• Week 10 — a delivery, a routine, or a receipt, read for what it actually shows
• Week 11 — a piece of workplace conduct observed rather than performed
• Week 12 — one habit from Week 1 that held all semester, and one that reverted the moment nobody was checking

A worked example#

Each entry stays under 200 words — long enough to name the instance, not long enough to build a case for it. Two entries responding to the same prompt (“a conversation that stalled”):

Specific (scores well):

Made eye contact with the barista for approximately 1.5 seconds before looking at the card reader, the menu board, and then my own hands, in that order. Attempted small talk (‘busy today?’) about four seconds after she’d already answered a different question from the person behind me, so it landed as a non-sequitur. She said ‘yeah’ anyway. I said ‘yeah’ back. Neither of us elaborated.

This scores well because it names one exchange, in order, with what was actually said.

Vague (scores poorly):

I tried to talk to someone new this week, which was a bit awkward, but I think it went okay overall.

This scores poorly because “someone,” “a bit awkward,” and “okay overall” describe no instance a marker could point to.

Submission#

Each week’s reflection is submitted on paper, sealed in an envelope, and handed to the Convenor’s office or to your tutor — see Policies for the full submission rule and the extenuating-circumstances exception.

FAQ#

Can I write the reflection about something that happened to a friend, not me?#

No. The prompt asks what you actually ran that week, and a marker can’t check a claim about someone else’s week against anything. Write about your own instance.

I missed two weeks already. Can I submit a third low one and still be fine?#

That’s exactly what the two-drop exists for — it absorbs two bad weeks with no form and no explanation needed. A third missed or weak week starts counting against the other ten.