Teaching Students to Reflect on Their Learning

Student reflection is without a doubt a practice that many teachers, new or experienced, struggle with starting, sustaining, and making the practice relevant and valuable for student learning. I recommend you start with the type of reflection in which you are interested. I divide the times to reflect into two categories: without a formal assessment and with a formal assessment.  Then, I consider where students will record their reflections. Finally, I decide actions, for both the learners and myself, that will follow the reflection.

Reflection without formal assessment is a style of reflection that may seem more journal worthy.  This type of reflection is a great place to start with students new to reflecting on their learning because the questions are less intimidating.

• What is something new I learned today?
• What do I still have questions on from today’s lesson?
• What do I feel most confident about from today’s lesson?
• What do I feel the least confident about from today’s lesson?

These reflection prompts are easily done at the end of class as an “exit slip” or in a learning journal. They can be private or shared with peers or the teacher. They can even be submitted anonymously. Remember, if the focus is on learning and you have created a culture with trust, learners are likely to want you to read their reflection.

Reflection with a formal assessment is a step that follows written individual feedback. Students are assessed, teacher feedback is shared, then students make meaning of that feedback and “process” it in a meaningful, purposeful way in hopes of clarifying the feedback, foster a culture of learning, and internalizing miscues to prevent them on future assessments.

While the following examples of sentence starters that facilitate this type of reflection below are geared for STEM classes, they can certainly be modified easily for Flower classes:

If you got the WHOLE problem right…

• I learned…
• I got the problem right because…
• I know how to...

If you got part of the problem right…

• It is still difficult for me…
• I should ask my teachers or my peers…
• I need help with...

If you got none of the problem right…

• I make mistakes on…
• I need to relearn…
• I need help with...

Another type of reflection with formal assessment is contingent upon the type of response a leaner gave on an assessment.  These are similar in organization to the last set of prompts; however, they differ in two ways. First, they are in the form of a question asked by the teacher. And second, these questions are less about getting the “right answer” and more about understanding the concept. Although I have added to this list, the majority of these prompts are from Jeromie Heath (@TeachHeath).

If you’re wondering when teachers have time for students to reflect thoughtfully, it is a natural question. I have found that discussing a formal written assessment takes close to an entire 50-minute period. It may seem like a lot of time to spend going over a completed quiz or test, but it has become one of the best learning opportunities for my students. They see mistakes and successes all in one place, and I give them the time and space to reflect on both. In the beginning, when this process is unfamiliar to them, it will take longer, but eventually, it will become a smooth part of the learning experience.

In the end, reflection is a process that will improve with practice.  It will seem uncomfortable and forced at the beginning.  Make it a regular part of your classroom and, along with everything else you introduce, it will become a habit. The bonus is this habit will likely become something they do after they leave your class and head to the next.

Share you comments and thoughts below, email Aric and Megan at stemflowerlc@gmail.com or visit stemandflowerlearning.com.

To subscribe to receive a weekly newsletter, please click here. 

STEM and Flower Learning Consultants

Teaching Students to Reflect Begins with Teacher Reflection

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you handed back a quiz or rough draft of an essay with meaningful feedback directing the learner where to go with their learning and as they read the feedback they made plan, asked themselves questions and completely internalized your suggestions only to then continue working on the standard(s) in question to find deeper understanding and become more proficient? Well, of course it would! I want that of my learners and for my learners. But it wasn’t until I began really reflecting on my teaching and my practices that I became proficient enough to help my learners with the process.  

I recommend that teachers wanting to increase learner reflection in their classes begin reflecting individually in a more formal way.  All of us walk out of class or the building at the end of each day and think about how everything went and how we may do it different next time.  Beit a lesson, a project, a conversation or an entire unit, we are doing some sort of reflection on how an experience transpired. However, it is less common for us to write down our thoughts.  I am not implying you do not make a note and leave it in a file that you’ll find next year when planning that particular unit, but I will guess that most teachers do not make an effort to ask ourselves any deeper questions beyond: “How did that go?” and “What would I do differently?” Both are beginner questions so let’s go deeper.

Here are some questions to answer out loud or in writing: (modified from Julie Tice – Writing a Teaching Diary, 2004)

• Was there a clear outcome for the students?
• Did the students understand what we did in the lesson?
• Was what we did too easy or too difficult?
• What problems did the students have (if any)? How did I address the problems?
• Were all the students on task (i.e. doing what they were supposed to be doing)?
• If not, when was that and why did it happen?
• Which parts of the lesson did the students seem to enjoy most? And least?
• Did activities last the right length of time?  Was the pace of the lesson right?
• Did I use whole class work, group work, partner work or individual work? Why did I choose that arrangement and was it the best for student learning?
• Were my instructions clear?
• Did I provide opportunities for all the students to participate?
• Was I aware of how all of the students were progressing?
• What are my next steps? What will I do the next time I see my students?

Give it a try. It will take around 10 minutes in the beginning and may even feel unnatural, but so did putting on skis for the first time. Keep trying and before you know it, you’ll be reflecting without making a conscious decision to. After you’ve done it for a few weeks, you can help your learners make the transition and see the benefits.

Share you comments and thoughts below, email Aric and Megan at stemflowerlc@gmail.com or visit stemandflowerlearning.com.

To subscribe to receive a weekly newsletter, please click here. 

STEM and Flower Learning Consultants

The Damage of a D

The letter grade of “D” is damaging to our students and to the education system. What does a “D” communicate? It communicates to many students that they can move on to the next course or that they’ve earned just enough credit to graduate. But are they ready to move on? The “D” grade grants permission, so certainly they must be ready. Or are they? 

Of course this debate would be unnecessary if we weren’t required to give letter grades in the first place, but we will take a few steps back and focus on what is reality in our schools - we give letter grades at least twice a year. In 2008, Mount Olive Schools, in New Jersey, banned D’s from being issued to students. As, Bs, Cs, and Fs were all still given but the school board approved a no D policy with parent support.  Why? Laurie Reynolds, Mount Olive’s superintendent, states for the New York Times, “D’s are throwaway grades. No one wants to hire a D anything (in society), so why do we have D students and give them credit for it?” Her point is clear - a D grade earns students credit and moves them onto the next course or grade-level and they are more often than not under-prepared to be successful. 

Consider prerequisites for college courses or even for college admission. Universities in California will not admit students that received a D in any core class such as algebra. The community college in my hometown Chicago suburb requires all students that earned a D in geometry to retake the course at the college for no credit before taking a credit-bearing math class - and that’s for an associates degree. If this is the reality for our graduating seniors, should issuing D’s be reconsidered in our high schools?

Share you comments and thoughts below, email Aric and Megan at stemflowerlc@gmail.com or visit stemandflowerlearning.com.

To subscribe to receive a weekly newsletter, please click here. 

STEM and Flower Learning Consultants

Separating Proficiency From Behavior

Let me tell you about “Jake D.” Jake was a student in my class last year, and he was what some teachers call an “onion kid”-each time we try to help him and peel back another layer of pain, poor self-image, challenging home life, rationale for bad behavior, we cry more and more. Despite being a distraction to other students’ learning and rarely completing an activity on time or at all, Jake always performed well on summative assessments. He was constantly tardy, regularly disruptive, and personified a poor work ethic, but demonstrated consistently and brilliantly that he “knew what I was teaching him” all year long by showing proficiency (and sometimes mastery) on all standards for every summative assessment. What are Jake’s grades in all his other classes? In the C or D range. In my class? Straight A’s.

Wait. Jake is not a “Straight A” student? “Straight A” students do their work, show up on time, and work well in groups. Why is that? Perhaps it is because in traditional grading systems, behavior is a significant factor in determining students’ final grade. Points/credit/grades are earned for being compliant, bringing in materials for extra credit, and participation/collaboration. Also, points/credits/grades are reduced for misbehaving, late work, and being silent. What if the ONLY factor in determining a student’s final grade was his/her proficiency in standards? Then, the learners’ final grade would be an accurate reflection of what we “taught” and nothing else. It is possible; you can do it; teachers do it all the time; Aric and Megan have been doing it for years.

Let’s be clear. Behavior, citizenship, work habits, employability, or whatever you want to call it, IS important, SHOULD be taught, and NEEDS to be reported...just reported separately from proficiency. In my school, Armada, learners earn two marks at the end of every grading period: a letter grade and a “Citizenship” mark. This duality and separation facilitates distinguishing proficiency from behavior-a key element to a successful Standards Based Learning classroom.

Oh, and Jake? In my class, he earned an “A” and the lowest citizenship mark possible. On the A.C.T.? In Reading and English,” he earned scores well above the national average. So is he really a “D” student?

Share you comments and thoughts below, email Aric and Megan at stemflowerlc@gmail.com or visit stemandflowerlearning.com.

To subscribe to receive a weekly newsletter, please click here. 

STEM and Flower Learning Consultants