Last week we had a professional development session with Andy Hind (@andyhind_es4s) about deep learning. One thing that stuck out to me was the value of reflection time in order to deepen learning.
- Reflection time for students.
- Reflection time for me.
Students need time to reflect on their learning in order to embed it and connect it to their existing knowledge. One strategy Andy used which I will use in lessons was a small picture of a nutshell that popped up about twenty minutes into a session. Andy said, “Tell your partner everything that has happened so far, in a nutshell.”
He said that students should reflect at four points in a one hour lesson. At the beginning (thinking back to the last lesson), after twenty minutes, after forty minutes, and at the end. I scribbled down this time line.
Tomorrow I’m incorporating reflection time into my lessons twice. At the beginning of one of my lessons we are going to recap the last session with the instructions on this slide.
In another lesson I want to ask students to reflect at the end of the lesson, and I’m using the slide below. It’s a feedback structure I have used since even before I was a school teacher. I learned about it from my colleague Richard Hoshino while I was a lecturer at university.
The “3 Minute Feedback” questions always follow the same pattern. The first question is related to today’s lesson and allows me to see if students have succeeded with the objective of the lesson. The second question relates to my teaching. The third one is always worded exactly as above and gives students a chance to share anything on their minds. I like to respond to these via Edmodo after the lesson by giving the class an idea of the proportion of responses of each type and by answering the questions.
I need reflection time in order to become a better teacher. I used to blog more regularly and this was a good method of reflection for me. But Andy also suggested a private reflection journal and I’ve started one this week. I set an alarm for half an hour before I want to go home. I use 15 minutes for writing reflection and 15 minutes for tidying up my desk. I haven’t managed to do it every day this week, but I’m pleased that I have done it three out of the last six workdays. I’m going to either write in my journal or on this blog during my afternoon reflection times this year.
How do you include student reflection into your lessons?