The Reflective Essay has three essential components. HERE is a link to the slides from class. These are conceptual aspects of an essay. They are not guided by length, or necessarily by placement (although the logical movement from one to the next is usual). These three conceptual aspects are:

Occasion (descriptive writing about an event)
Personal Meaning and Experience (observation of self and transformed understanding of self)
Global Meaning and Reflection (transformed understanding of world)

In very general terms, a reflective essay is a piece of writing in which you describe, in vivid detail, an occasion or moment in which you experienced something that caused you to transform or change in some way. That moment of transformation is then reflected upon as a catalyst for a new understanding of the world in which you live.

It is essential to begin with a descriptive piece of writing about an event--the purpose of which is to lead or seduce your reader into experiencing that moment with you. You need to make your reader "feel" that moment with you if your writing is to be convincing and effective. This section of the essay may be anywhere from a couple of paragraphs to a couple of pages long--depending on the event and your writing technique.

After that, the form opens up somewhat. Generally, people move from personal to global meaning--however, for some writers more back and forth between the two can work.