New Year, New Strategy: Self-Reflection for Students

When I was younger and made a mistake, my dad would ask me if I learned anything from it. If I said yes, he would always say that learning something from my mistake was the important part. My dad's philosophy transfers well to the world of education. Learning from our mistakes is a key part of the learning process for both teachers and students. We must not only reflect and look at our mistakes, but also look at what was done well, how something was done, and consider what things can be improved.

Why Is Self-Reflection Necessary?

Reflection is necessary, not only for teachers, but also for students. Why is self-reflection necessary for our students? First, studies have shown that the mind breaks things into about twenty-minute increments, and then our minds decide how valuable things are from that time period. If teachers can get students to reflect within that twenty-minute time period, we can make optimal use of reflection at optimal times so that they do not disregard certain information. Second, self-reflection allows them to place information into appropriate chunks. It allows their brains to pause and connect new information with prior knowledge before moving onto a different subject. Third, it allows our pupils to realize what they have learned, how it is related to other things they know, and how they learned it. This can give them a sense of accomplishment as they see their growth, and it can allow them to discover more about how they learn best. Finally, self-reflection allows you, the teacher, to notice common misconceptions. If you ask your students to write down some of their self-reflections, it will give you insight into how they learned, what they learned, and where they are mistaken, so that you can correct them and also plan better for future lessons.

What Does Self-Reflection Look Like? 

The next question to consider is what does self-reflection look like for our learners? Usually it involves questions and answers. Below are a few questions to prompt your upper-elementary to high school learners:

1. What did you learn today about a particular topic (fractions, context clues, etc.)?
2. Explain if you feel you reached the day’s objective or not.
3. What in the lesson helped you understand more about today’s topic?
4. Why do you feel as though you have or have not met today’s objective?
5. How does today’s lesson connect with something in your life or with another subject?

When Should I Incorporate Self-Reflection?

Here are few formats that you can use to incorporate self-reflection in your classroom:

1. Pose one of the questions as an exit slip before they leave.
2. Periodically take time for think-pair-share.
3. Have pupils keep a journal for the class. You can specify a question for them to answer or give a list of questions to place in the front of their journals and allow them to choose which questions they will answer on a given day.
4. If your school or students have the necessary technology, pose the questions on a class blog or on a website, such as Edmodo or Schoology.

How Can I Get My Students to Embrace Self-Reflection? 

Self-reflection will make many learners uncomfortable. When explaining what self-reflection is, or presenting a question to your class, encourage pupils to work on some of these characters/skills:

1. Honesty: Self-reflection is a vital tool, but if they are not honest with themselves, it loses its value.
2. Specific: Being specific allows people to cement details in their mind, which aids them in retaining what they’ve learned with less room for mistakes.
3. Analytical: Being analytical encourages pupils to go deeper with their thinking. Analytical thinking is a skill that is essential is today’s culture since our children are provided with so many facts at their fingertips.

Try reflection several times in your class and notice the difference it can make!

More Ideas for Teaching Self-Reflection:

Being True to Yourself

Want something to display? This is a module for third graders about being true to oneself.  It includes many passages and activities covering reading skills. The final page provides a possible example of what you can display for self-reflection in your classroom.

Edmodo

Can you use technology to support self-reflection? This app allows teachers to post assignments, thoughts, and questions on it. Pupils can either message the teacher their reflections as an assignment or simply comment to the question.

Create the Habit of Reflective Writing

Though the article is directed for teachers, it provides some great principles about reflection. These principles can be beneficial for teachers to review for themselves. Also, teachers can incorporate some of these as they discuss self-reflection with the class .