𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵 Spotlight: Reflective Writing on Grief, Meaning, and Public Health

This story is part of our Prompt Spotlight series, featuring articles by U of A faculty about writing assignments from the special issue “Writing To | With the Real World in the Southwest” edited by WAC directors Aimee Mapes and Emily Jo Schwaller. 

In “To Be Human is To Be Limited: Student Perspectives on Self Through Meaningful Reflective Writing,” Dr. Laura Gronewold writes with two former HPS 307 students and undergraduate teaching assistants, Alyssa G. Norris and Sylvia Persin. Together, they share a reflective writing assignment from an upper-division public health course that asks students to consider well-being, grief, loss, and the kind of life they want to live.

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From left to right: Dr. Laura Gronewold, Alyssa G. Norris, and Sylvia Persin.

What the Article Explores

Public Health Narratives (HPS 307) introduces students to public health stories across genres, including books, articles, podcasts, films, and television. Students examine how writers use evidence, language, and storytelling to help people care about public health issues that may not affect them personally.

Gronewold, Norris, and Persin focus on reflective writing as part of that work. The article brings together the instructor’s account of the course and the perspectives of two students who completed the assignment and later served as teaching assistants. Their reflections show how writing can give students time to connect course ideas with their own identities, experiences, and relationships.

The Assignment

For “To Be Human is To Be Limited,” students listen to an interview with physician and writer Atul Gawande about mortality and meaning. They first respond on a discussion board, participate in class conversations about grief and loss, and complete guided prewriting activities.

Students then write a 700- to 800-word reflection for a specific audience of their choice. The prompt asks them to consider how their thinking has changed about well-being, a “good day,” grief, loss, or the limits of being human. They may connect those questions to the pandemic, a transition in their lives, caregiving, family experiences, or other moments that shaped how they understand health and care.

Why It Matters

The assignment comes late in the semester, after students have completed earlier reflections and practiced discussing difficult topics with one another. That preparation matters: students need time, trust, and clear choices before they can write honestly about subjects as personal as grief, death, and well-being. Norris and Persin describe reflection as both personal and practical. It helped them process their own experiences while building skills they use as writers: noticing detail, considering audience, making connections, and telling stories with care. In a public health course, those skills shape how future professionals communicate with people and communities.

The activity also reflects a writing-to-learn approach: students use low-stakes writing to work through course ideas, examine their learning, and make connections before writing for a more formal purpose. The course’s emphasis on audience choice, student voice, and a supportive classroom community also connects with WAC’s DEI Writing Instruction resources.

Try It in Your Course

• What course concepts might students understand differently if they had space to connect them with their own experiences, values, or communities?
• Could students write a short reflection after a reading, case study, documentary, or class discussion that raises difficult human questions?

• How might student choice of audience make a reflective assignment feel more honest and purposeful?

      Read "To Be Human" in Prompt

Explore the Full Special Issue

Want to see how other University of Arizona instructors are making writing meaningful across disciplines? Read our overview of the special issue, or explore the full issue of Prompt.