Transcendent Practices/W04                          Midterm Self Evaluation

Your Name:					Seminar Group:

Background Documents 

Get copies of the following documents:

•	The W04 Syllabus, 
•	Your work logs and seminar papers
•	Anything else that records your process (journals, sketchbooks, notebooks, etc.) 

Work through the following working outline for your midterm self-evaluation.  Don’t bog down writing prose, just make lists in the spaces provided.

Working Outline

Material for your opening paragraph:
1.	Describe your experience, hopes and learning goals at the start of this program this term. 

2.	Describe your performance in the program to date. (How was your attendance?  Did you attend fully?  Were you fully engaged? Did you complete the work assigned?  Did you work hard?  Did your effort reflect your abilities?

Material to draw from for your central paragraphs:
Here is a list of the major program activities.  Try numbering them in the order of their significance to you, and then address them in that order.   Characterize your learning in each and what you feel were especially significant experiences and insights for you.  

•	All Program Activities (Monday AM Yoga, Monday PM workshops, Tai Ji Workshop, peer group meetings, Chapter Project, InDesign skills, Trail Guide to the Body work, work logs…)

•	Yoga Nidra and Beyond (Tuesday workshop-your attendance and participation; on-going preparation for writing self-interview, including weekly Log Sheets and  work reflections, yoga nidra in class or home practice, sculpture and poetry connections, required and recommended readings in Beyond Power Yoga, Can Yoga & Meditation Really Change Your Life, reserve articles, etc. 

•	Sculpture (making body part casts with plaster/gauze strips; cutting, bending and welding light steel rod;  your working process; grounding and gravity; scale; sculptural “skin;” lessons from materials and processes; drawing work; poster project…)

•	Poetry (concept of revision, role of imagery and narrative in poems, impact of regular writing on poetry quality, readings, writing assignments, language and concepts for talking about poetry, personal ideas of what poetry is…)

•	Your Integrative Project (Poetry, Yoga, Sculpture, a personal practice.  How’d it all come together?

•	Seminar (How’s your ability to explore ideas in dialogue?  Did you make progress?  What insights came out of the discussions for you?

•	Writing (Journal entries, note-taking, research papers, position papers, poetry… What kind of writing can you do now? Improvements? Changes in your thinking?)

•	Thinking and Judgement (Critical thinking-insight into your own and other’s work, integrative thinking-making connections between ideas, investigations, methods, etc.)

Material for your final paragraph(s):

•	How would you characterize your grasp of the skills and ideas presented?  Passing?  Fair? Very Good?  Excellent?  Detailed or general? 

•	What “light bulb” have you had? (Discoveries, realizations, career ideas…)

•	Has your perception of yoga, sculpture and poetry changed?  How?

•	How has your understanding of the terms transcendence, practice  and flow  changed?

•	What progress did you make toward the goals you listed above?  What have you learned about yourself?

•	What will your next steps be? (Next term? Long term? New hopes? New goals?…} 

Your Final Self Evaluation-Instructions

1.	Write your first draft. Try using the simple Introduction/Body/Conclusion format suggested in the Working Outline.  Edit this for gross errors, and spell check. Maximum length is one page, one inch margins.  Use 11 Point Arial or Times New Roman type font.  Print three copies.  The question to keep in mind is this: How would you summarize your learning for someone unfamiliar with your efforts in the program?

2.	At the Self Evaluation Workshop, get together with two other students and have them critique your draft. Be fearless in offering constructive criticism. This is a very important step. You, in turn, should review the drafts of two other students.  Sign each draft that you review.

3.	Revise your own draft  final self evaluation.

4.	Save the Word document on a disc and/or e-mail it to yourself. Make three copies on the official form. (One for your seminar leader, one for yourself and one for your transcript.)

5.	Turn in your final draft and two edited copies by the end of the final self evaluation workshop.