Written by 
What does it mean to reflect? It can be difficult to articulate what exactly it means, and thus even more difficult for students to understand what a teacher might be asking for when they say, “Please write a reflection about your cell biology project.”
I have asked my students to reflect many times over the years, often as a final question on quizzes and tests. My scaffolding for a thorough answer usually looking like some variation of this:
REFLECT: On a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing), how did you do on this test? How did you prepare for it? Will you prepare for the next test in the same way? Why or why not? Explain your ideas. Note: For best results, focus on what you have control over when answering this question.
I have been refining this type of question for nearly as long as I have been teaching. Sometimes I have a particular prior version in mind and then I lose my way within Google Drive and have to reinvent the wheel. This is not efficient and it is highly frustrating in the moment when I know I have a good thing, a better thing, and cannot find it when I most need it.
I recently wrote an email to each of my chemistry students to support their reflection writing, and it boiled down to this:
- Look back – what did you do? how did you do it? what was the result?
- Look inward – how did you feel at the time and/or upon receiving the feedback or grade?
- Look outward – how did it connect with the course content and/or current events?
- Look forward – what are your future plans based on what you have learned from this?
Then I used Canva to make a graphic that I forgot about until today. It was all just shades of grey, so I touched it up before writing this post. I added the pink cyclic arrows because learning should never stop and pink is cheerful. I added the mint green background because, let’s face it, green is awesome, especially the mint green that makes you think of your grandparents’ kitchen wall circa 1978. Yes, the graphic is hideous, but I love it anyway.
So, in case you need language and/or graphics to support learner reflection wherever you are, I am now sharing it with you. Thanks for reading.
Ahh reflection. I often wonder if I provide enough scaffolding for students during the reflection process. Thanks for the multi-directional and multi-coloured reflection idea and I’m going to try it out! The idea of looking back, forward and inward etc makes me think about building some movement into this reflection idea. I might post the words in different corners of the room and have them do something active before they answer each question!? I sometimes try to find ways beyond writing for my students to use to think about their thinking… video reflections, the use of drama techniques like tableau sometimes reduce the “drag factor” students can feel about the reflection process. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the concise language here @lfarooq. As usual, you’ve created clarity out of the slightly abstract and given clear, accessible pathways. You’re a wonder filled with magic. And then you unleash Canva! Thank you!
what a great way to summarize what we are always trying to get kids to work on in our classes
This is a great post because it provides some concrete questions to support student reflection. I just replied to a great post from @hprosser on this very topic of “reflection”. I am lamenting the lack of opportunities for students to reflect on their thinking and doing and understanding, for teachers to reflect on their craft, and for me as an administrator to reflect on the larger goals that we are driving toward as a school community.
I attended a fantastic conference last year held by the Independent Schools Experiential Educators Network (ISEEN) and they had a fantastic presenter David Mochel: https://www.appliedattention.com/. While he focusses primarily on Mindfulness, he did some great activities with us that I’ve taken with me on my journey to heighten reflection in education. He is actually the keynote presenter for this year’s CIS Ontario Experiential Educators Network conference: https://www.cisontario.ca/page.cfm?id=310&verbose=3895
It would be great for you to connect with @hprosser and I at the next F2F to talk more about this!
Garth.