As teachers, we get stuck in an old mindset that we have to be “on” all of the time or we aren’t doing our job properly. For us it is exhausting. But it also tiring for students. Why not try reflection? Reflection is a process that benefits everyone, including the teacher.
In this post, I discussed some thoughts I had about reflection. Now I want to talk about how to get students to reflect more effectively. One important factor to teach students about reflection is that the process is personal. It is specific to each student. Reflection involves some planning and organization and requires students to understand their strengths based on their own experiences.
There are four steps of reflection to teach. I will give you the fast version, but if you want to learn more you can read this longer blog written by Mr. Thayer.
- Reflect: Students need time to reflect on what they have learned so they can internalize the material. Reflection generally starts with a dilemma (I don’t get this, how can I communicate this) that leads to students stepping back and gathering information before coming to some sort of a conclusion. This is typically done during or after an activity/lesson.
- Plan: Students need to think about how they can resolve a dilemma and create steps to help guide them towards success…a plan. A student plan should include practice that improves their performance, yet is individualized and ever-changing depending on the content. Plans should include strategies that will benefit them in the learning process.
- Act: Students need to make a conscious effort to put the plan into motion. Action should stimulate the students’ thought process. The plan supports development through reflection and ownership of their own learning. Reflection is only as good as the follow-through. That includes actions that meet the goal.
- Observe: Students will improve by observing others, including native speakers, authentic sources, the teacher and other students. Students can learn from their own mistakes but can also learn from others’ mistakes.
How can you support the reflecting process?
- Provide enough wait time for students to reflect when responding to questions.
- Provide emotionally supportive environments in the classroom encouraging a reevaluation of conclusions.
- Prompt reviews of the learning situation, what they know, what is not yet known, and what is learned. Teach and repeat.
- Provide authentic communication tasks that encourage reflective thinking during learning activities.
- Prompt students’ reflection by asking questions that seek reasons and evidence. Don’t spoon-feed the answers.
- Provide some explanations to guide students’ thought processes during explorations. Prompt them to think about context and structure.
- Provide a less structured learning environment that prompts students to explore what they think is important. Give time to work with peers.
- Provide social-learning environments such as those inherent in peer-group works and small group activities to allow students to see other points of view. Communication can’t happen in isolation.*
What can students do to reflect?
- Journal writing
- Group conversations
- Partner pair and share
- Draw out what they are learning without using words
- Exit slips
- Social media posts/tweets to summarize what was learned
- Make a video of what they learned
- Allow revision
- Goal setting
- Digital portfolios
The Bottom Line
Take a step back to give students time to think and
process and to make mistakes in order to figure out how to solve them. Then sit back and watch the a-ha moments happen.
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