Reflection in Instruction

I incorporate reflection into my classroom in many ways. We do a lot of pre-reflection before instruction to activate background knowledge. My kids love telling stories. (This gets to the point where we need to discuss that when I ask if there are any questions, their questions cannot start with “This one time…”) However, this is great for making connections to what they already know and have experienced.

Having students reflect throughout a project is a great idea. They need to be aware of what they are doing and what they are learning. They need to be held accountable for their own learning and reflecting allows them to understand what they are (or are not) learning.

When teaching my students to reflect they have a very difficult time at first. I do a ton of modeling and thinking aloud reflecting on myself. This also builds a community trust, because they can see that I am just like them, I am not perfect, and I have things that I am working on as well. I also teach them that we reflect to make ourselves better, not to put ourselves down or “dip into our own buckets.” (We talk about being bucket fillers.)

I also connect reflecting with goal setting at the very beginning of the year. I got this idea off Pinterest, but at the beginning of the year my students and I had to make goals for ourselves (academic, behavior, and personal) and we wrote them on paper di-cut balloons. Then I took all their pictures and they cut themselves out to look like they were being carried through the sky holding onto their bunch of goal balloons. We come back to these often through the year and the students reflect on how they are doing working towards their goals. This is working great to have them practice reflecting on their own learning and growth. It really holds them accountable.