Encouraging Student Reflection

     Good morning! It has been a couple weeks since I have posted. Busy lives and all. I came across something this week. I was discussing different ways teachers encourage student reflection in their classroom. I got a few great ideas and I wanted to share them.

     The first is a flipchart, that the students keep on their desks, that has 3 phrases 1) I got it and I can teach someone 2) I am having a little trouble but can keep working 3) I am confused and need help ***This by far was the coolest thing I cam across. For two reasons it is EASY to implememnt in every lesson and it was color coded so that students (it was used with Kinders) could associate meaning with color if they weren't yet able to read.

     Another idea I saw was a post-it graph (as a frugal people I think this could get expensive, but you could laminate names and use velcro to make it reusable). At the conclusion of a lesson students would participate in invidual work and put their post-it where they thought they fell.

     The final way I fould was called "2 stars and a wish" students have to actively think about their activities or lessons. They must identify 2 stars (2 things they liked or found easy about the lesson) and a wish (something they would change, needed more help on, or a new way to look at something). These all were wonderful ideas and I think we're (as teachers) always looking for new ways to encourage reflection, retention, and engagement.

                                           I will post another helpful hint tomorrow.

  If you have any helpful strategies to help others with student reflection PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! We're all in this together and if we collaborate those who benefit most are the students.