Personal Reflection Essay: Resilience

Personal Reflection Essays (100 points)

Directions: choose 3 of the 5 questions.  Each question is worth 33pts.   Essays will be graded on (1) accuracy and depth of concept understanding, (2) ample use of class resources and readings, and (3) concrete examples provided from personal experience or observations you have made.    Undergraduates should write between 1-1/2 pages per question. Graduate students should write about 2 pages per question. Double-spaced, 12 point font, 1-inch margins.

Notes: 

It is perfectly acceptable, even expected, that you will draw directly from your earlier synthesis and application assignments. Cull out the best material from those submissions and use it here.  The idea is to distill key “takeaways” as you leave the course.    

Minimize redundancies in your answer.  Don’t just recycle the same concepts.  Also, be a realistic and critical thinker.   I don’t expect you to accept everything we read this semester and you should apply these concepts with a dose of realism and honest self-assessment.    

1. My personal theory of resilience. Drawing from all of our resources and discussions, construct your own theory of resilience. In your view, which concepts best explain why people are resilient and why they are not?
2. Relational resilience compares and contrast. Focus on relationships you have had or know about (romantic or family).  Compare and contrast two of these relationships on resilience factors. Remember, this question is about relationships, not individuals.
3. Community resilience. Think about a community or neighborhood you have belonged to or know well. Using class concepts, explain why it is (or has been) resilient or not. 
4. Why I am hopeful. Using what you have learned about hope, choose an aspect of life (yours or others). Use class concepts to analyze why you are hopeful. 
5. My resilient career.  Explain how you have or will be resilient in your work.  Your answer should acknowledge that the workplace is a unique context.