National 5 folio

1. We are learning to: write a personal reflective essay. Success Criteria: I can use emotional language and reflective phrases within my writing. National 5 folio Personal reflective writing

2. Folio continues…. • The final folio deadline is march 3rd • I need both your pieces typed, spell-checked with word counts and bibliographies by this date. • Therefore, we will be completing our second piece, a personal reflective essay.

3. What is Personal reflective writing? • A personal reflective piece is when you discuss something that happened to you or something about you • However, you must reflect, look back, on how this aspect of your life made you re-think, change or alter an aspect of your thinking / lifestyle

4. requirements • The word count limit is 1000. • Please ensure you write as close to 1000 as you possibly can • You must reflect – look back • You must explore your thoughts and feelings

5. What can I write about • Anything! This is one area where I cannot help you as I haven’t lived your life! • You can discuss: • A terrible event in your life • The happiest moment in your life • Your hero • An interesting trip • An element of your life • Your family • Loss / birth • Your hobbies / interests People stress about this topic! Remember – your essay doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom or about something earth-shattering!

6. Personal reflective writing should… • Use of first person narrative • Detailed description of the event • Writing about how the incident affected the writer • Exploration of feelings • Reactions to the event(s) • Use of senses to describe the experience / feelings • Reflection on how (if at all) the writer has changed through the experience • Use of evocative figures of speech • Use of dialogue • Interesting openings

7. Task: topic building • I want you to quickly bullet-point all the things you think you could discuss. • Here are mine: • Passing my driving test • Climbing ben Nevis • My trip to Wimbledon • My love for film • Being in hospital for the first time • My experience of flying • My uncle passing away

8. Choosing a topic • When it comes to picking a topic – you have to pick one that you feel comfortable with. However, remember that only you, me and the marker will ever read this so no need to worry. • Once you have picked a topic, you have to build a paragraph plan.

9. planning You should arrange your paragraph plan by going through you “experience” like this…. I will model this for you! bullet-point each aspect you wish to discuss Go back and include details such as locations / people etc Go back and include the thoughts and feelings you plan to explore Go back and include any elements of Reflection

10. Examples of Personal Essays • I will now show you real-life examples of Personal reflectives that did very well last year

11. Needles • The smell of sterile air and cleaning products greeted me as I entered the reception of the parlour. It made me think of a hospital ward: antibacterial hand gel decorated the counter, along with a box of disposable latex gloves. Laminated tattoo designs adorned the walls, the plastic gleaming from the bright lighting of the parlour.Anxiety made me fidget. My palms clenched and unclenched, creating beads of sweat. The door leading into the studio opened, and the owner stepped into the reception, smiling coolly.‘Hello. How can I help you?’His voice sounded frosty. It put me more on edge. I gulped quickly.‘I’d like to have my lip pierced, please.’His dark eyes were icy and almost questioning, causing me to wonder if I had made the right decision. I had already asked however, and pulling out now would result in complete humiliation. He strolled over to the desk, collecting a pen and a clipboard.‘If you could fill out this form, please. The piercing will cost twenty pounds, I assume that is that okay?’I nodded a little too enthusiastically, and I instantly regretted it. I filled out the blanks on the form in a reasonable amount of time, then handed the clipboard back to him.‘That’s great. If you could follow me through to the studio, please.’

12. I rose up from the seat provided in the reception, and followed him through to the studio. Low lights hung from the middle of the room, in which directly below was placed a piercing chair. There was a large worktop covering the northern wall, which was home to many forms of equipment. Needles, body jewellery, inks. ‘If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll be just a moment.’I mumbled a reply, and the owner strolled out of the room. I lay down just as he came back in with a set of latex gloves, the elastic snapping as he pulled them on over his hands. He took a stool from the corner of the room , bringing it over to the piercing chair and perched himself on the edge.‘Which side do you want it on, and would you like a ring or a bar?’‘Uh , the right side, and I‘d like a ring.’He reached for a pen , and marked out a spot on my lip. He asked me to check if it was alright in the mirror. Rising from the chair, I felt slightly self-conscious. I confirmed that the placing was fine, and walked back over to the chair.‘Could I have my lip numbed please?’He looked at me almost mockingly. I felt disconcerted, my cheeks gaining heat, as his eyes laughed at me.‘Are you sure? It’ll take longer to heal once numbed, but if that’s what you want…’

13. I felt the sudden urge to defend my ego.‘I’ll just leave it then.’He smiled crookedly, and slid back over to the worktop, gathering the equipment he needed. My lip was cleaned with an antibacterial wipe, before the owner lined up the piercing clamps with the pen mark he made earlier. I had already become concerned of the pain level it could have- I feared I would cry out and embarrass myself. The studio was ridiculously hot. My skin felt prickly. My hands were sweaty. The back of my neck was soaked. ‘Are you ready?’ • I took a deep breath. ‘Yes.’I clenched my fists, preparing myself for the piercing. ‘Okay. Take a deep breath in on three. One, two, three.’ • I filled my lungs with the warm air, just as a hot, sharp pain entered my bottom lip.

14. I breathed out slowly, my lip throbbing, as the owner removed the piercing clamps from my lip and cut the length of the needle by almost half speedily.‘I just have to put in the ring now.’I gave a short, hard nod. I closed my eyes and waited until he had finished the procedure.‘That’s you all finished. Well done.’I opened my eyes, and paraded over to the mirror as quick as I could. Finally, it was done.Looking back now, I feel embarrassed that I was so afraid and nervous to get the piercing, and I now wish I didn’t worry so much beforehand. I now feel more confident on going to piercing parlours and I don’t worry as much. This candidate went on to get an overall A at Intermediate 2 level

15. Up but not away • Finally. The long enduring wait was over. No more visualizing what the unimaginable experience would be like, because in a few hours I was about to be undertaking something I knew I would never be able to forget. My uniform was neat as a pin and my shoes were as shiny as ever. At exactly 6am the car came and I was keyed up to go. The sun was beginning to rise and we were approximately 20 minutes from our destination. Along the M8 motorway commuters remained patient as traffic was halted due to a broken down car. My mood was somehow not affected by this. Radio 1 was blaring in the background and I could see the sun breaking through the clouds as I saw the sign for Glasgow Airport. At last traffic was moving smoothly again and we were minutes away from the cut off.

16. I’ve been a member of the Royal Air Force Air cadets for two years now. I have experienced great things whilst with them however this was what I had been waiting for. Flying a Grob tutor t1 plane with the flying university at Glasgow Airport. We drove around to the back of the airport looking for the entrance to where the Air Experience Flying was situated. Eventually we found it and headed off to the trailer to get a briefing. After half an hour we were geared up and learning about the controls in the cockpit and how to parachute out of the plane if there was an emergency. It all seemed like a dream. I began to imagine what it would feel like to be carrying a parachute and jumping out of a plane, pulling the string as hard as you could and feeling the parachute fold out of the bag and drift you away. Slowly it developed into something scary so I disregarded it and steadily climbed on the wing and into the two seated plane. I adjusted my flying suit, put on my helmet, buckled myself in and waited on the pilot. After the pilot was settled we were ready to fly. For the first time that day I began to feel nervous. My stomach was churning with both fear and adrenaline. The pilot said a few words and before I knew it we were soaring down the runway ready to launch into the air. Within seconds I was flying above Glasgow city centre heading towards Loch Lomond.

17. I gazed out the window and the scenery was almost picture like. The beauty didn’t seem real. The trees were inactive and the water was motionless. There was nothing but a few birds and some miniature people strolling beside the loch. I was amazed at how peaceful flying over a loch could be. Half an hour had passed and the first conversation had started. I couldn’t believe what was happening. The pilot spoke about the controls and then allowed me to take control. It all seemed too good to be true. I clutched the control stick, placed my feet on the pedals and waited for the words of command. “You have control” spoke the pilot and I replied “I have control sir.” He released his feet and hands and I was in full command of the plane. It was this moment that I became grateful for the air cadets because without them I would never have had the privilege to be able to fly over Loch Lomond and been in control of a plane itself. My hour was finished and it was time to fly back to Glasgow and I started to think over my irreplaceable experience. When we arrived back at Glasgow airport we safely landed and I unbuckled myself and climbed out and I was unable to explain to my friends who were with me of what it felt like. I was truly speechless. I took off my flying suit and proceeded back to the car and on my way back home.

18. However, although this seemed like a great day, I was awakened by my alarm clock only to find out I had dreamt the full day. I was however supposed to be going flying that morning but when we arrived at the airport we were approached by the security guard who told us that we were a day late and had already missed the flying for the month. I was extremely disappointed due to the fact I had waited months for this and I also had to go to school instead of going on a flying experience. This candidate went on to get an overall A at Intermediate 2 level