This guide is for COUC 747 Week 8 Reflective Essay, start to submission. An 800 to 1,000-word essay on what you learned about teaching and learning in the course, drawing on your blogs.
COUC 747 is Instruction in Counselor Education, 3 credit hours, in Liberty University's PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision. Canvas and the course guide file print the code as COUC747; it is the same course.
| Course | COUC 747 Instruction in Counselor Education |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 8 |
| Points | 100 points |
| Length | 800 to 1,000 words |
| Sources | Your blogs and the course readings; additional research cited in APA |
| Faith integration | Not required by the guide |
| Format | Current APA |
What COUC 747 Week 8 Reflective Essay asks for
You compose an 800 to 1,000-word essay on "What I Learned About Teaching and Learning in this Course." Your blogs contain much original thought and can serve as a primary resource; any additional research is cited in current APA. It is due in Module/Week 8 with McKeachie and Svinicki part 7 and Vella part 3. Worth 100 points.
Where it fits in COUC 747
In the published schedule, Reflective Essay is one of 13 graded written assignments in COUC 747. It follows Week 8 Discussion Board Blog 8: My Final Blog, and it is the last written assignment in the course. The same week also has Discussion Board Blog 8: My Final Blog, so plan the week's writing together.
How COUC 747 Week 8 Reflective Essay is graded
Liberty grades Reflective Essay with the rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas, worth 100 points in the published guide. That is about 10% of the course's 1,010 points. Read the rubric first. Each row is a criterion, and the wording of the highest column is the closest thing you have to a model answer.
Course grades in COUC 747 use Liberty's point scale: an A is 940 to 1010 points of the course total. Missing the length or source minimum usually costs points on several rows at once, which is why the checklist below starts with them.
Timing in the published guide: Each course module/week begins on Monday morning at 12:00 a.m. (ET) and ends on Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The final module/week ends at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday. Check the due dates in your Canvas section, which govern.
The COUC 747 Week 8 method, step by step
Answer the prompt in one sentence first
Decide your answer to the prompt before you write. A clear thesis is the backbone of a short essay.
Plan three supporting points
Sketch the supporting points and the course concept each one uses.
Develop each point with evidence
One paragraph per point: claim, support (Your blogs and the course readings; additional research cited in APA), explanation.
Engage the course material directly
Name the theory, model or reading you are using and apply it; essays that stay general lose the course-knowledge points.
Conclude with the so-what
Close with the implication of your answer, briefly.
Check length and format
Confirm the length (800 to 1,000 words) and current APA format before submitting.
For each insight, state it, show where it came from (a reading or blog), and say how it will change your teaching. Keep within 800 to 1,000 words.
A structure for COUC 747 Week 8 Reflective Essay
Word targets are planning numbers for about 1,200 words of body text, set by the length in the guide; the rubric decides where to spend more.
| Section | What it must do | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Learning | Key insights about teaching and learning. | ~530 words |
| Use of blogs and readings | Evidence of growth. | ~360 words |
| Application | How you will teach. | ~190 words |
| Format | Length and APA. | ~120 words |
A topic angle that works
Organize around three or four insights rather than a week-by-week summary, using quotations from your own blogs to show how your thinking changed.
Model paragraph with notes
An original paragraph written by our desk to show the register that earns full rubric credit. It is study material: learn the moves, then write your own.
My clearest lesson is that learning requires the learner's action. In my fourth blog I wrote that students should practice a skill before hearing a lecture on it; by the end of the course I saw this as a principle, not a technique. Vella calls it praxis, and it now shapes how I plan every class session.
- An insight.
- Evidence from a blog.
- Application.
Mistakes that cost points on COUC 747 Week 8
- A week-by-week summary.
- Outside 800 to 1,000 words.
- No application.
Checklist before you submit
- Length: 800 to 1,000 words
- Sources: Your blogs and the course readings; additional research cited in APA
- Thesis stated in the introduction
- Each paragraph carries one point
- Each rubric row read against the section that answers it
Questions students ask
How long is the COUC 747 reflective essay?
800 to 1,000 words.
How many points is COUC 747 Week 8 Reflective Essay worth?
100 points in Liberty's published course guide for COUC 747, out of a course total of 1,010 points (about 10% of the grade). The rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas shows how those points are divided.
Is COUC 747 Week 8 the same in every section of COUC 747?
This guide follows Liberty's published course guide for COUC 747. Liberty notes that course content can change from term to term, so if your Canvas section shows different instructions, a different week or different points, follow Canvas and your instructor.
Want a tutor to look at your draft?
Send the instructions and what you have so far. A Liberty tutor replies with what to fix first, usually within the hour.