Encouraging Student Self-Reflection (30 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 19)

Name three powerful  ways students can reflect on their learning, then discuss closely the one you use most often.

There are a variety of ways that students can reflect on their learning, as long as enough time is provided and the expectation for thoughtful reflection is modeled and made explicit.  My favorite ways to encourage reflection are through:

• discussion (peer conferencing, conversations)
• writing (statements of intent or observations about what worked and what didn't)
• self-assessment
  

The one that I use most often is asking students to self-assess their work.  When I ask a student to self-assess their work, I often ask them to evaluate projects based upon the criteria outlined on a rubric, and then take it a step further.  The meaty, meaningful part comes when students explain what their process was, what they are most proud of, and areas where they had the most difficulty, in order to help themselves determine how they might improve in the future.  Students who curate samples of their own work in the form of a digital portfolio (or some other type of evidence) can learn to be more reflective as they document their own growth.

(This derivative work was created under a Creative Commons license, courtesy of chrisotruro §catching up§ /Flickr/ CC BY NC SA)