Reflecting on the Memorandum

Learning how to construct a proper memorandum was something I thought was going to be incredibly challenging and unuseful; However, after writing this paper I feel exactly the opposite. After Professor Kittle described exactly what was expected for this project I felt a ton of weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt the initial handout explanation was confusing, yet the Professor made it much clearer. When I sat down and began this project I found it to run very smoothly. Having read four of the articles used as discussion in this paper I felt like I had great background knowledge in this topic. Not to mention hearing about the other twelve articles from members of our inquiry groups. I think reading the articles in advance and critically analyzing them for salient points really helped when trying to write the discussion segments of this assignment. The three section introduction was the most difficult for me, but was manageable thanks to Professor Kittle's "tips" on the handout. Overall, I think this assignment was very useful for a couple of reasons. First, I feel it was great to have us read informative journal articles about effective teaching, since we are all future teachers. Secondly, incorporating this into an assignment that could be something that we actually might need to construct when we are teachers is useful. I had never previously seen a memorandum, nor know the structure or process of one. Learning how to write this academic paper will really help me if I am instructed to do so in my future career. All in all, this assignment outwardly appearing quite daunting, yet proved to be very useful and informative.