Getting students to reflect on their own writing throughout the writing process.
I have recently been looking for new ways to end lessons. Aiming for more of a focus on reflection, I created a poster for my classroom: *Click here for the high-quality, printable PDF version. I …
Tweet We are 7 weeks into the school year and gearing up for parent teacher conferences later this week. In our school, we try to schedule all conferences on a Thursday evening or Friday morning. This way if multiple folks need to be involved in the conference, we are all in the building at the same time. The evening hours also work much better for parents. As the math specialist I get invited to attend the difficult conferences. If a student is behind or in some cases very ahead of their peers, I will often be asked to join the conference. Classroom teachers also invite me when they know parents have specific concerns or when it is a student I have a lot of contact with. Sometimes I am asked to sit in on a conference because the parents are very difficult or have expressed opinions about their students math learning that do not show understanding of how or why we are teaching math as we do. Depending on the reason for the conference and what the concerns are, I have many approaches but here are a few things I always do in conference situations. - I like to start on a positive note by sharing a recent piece of student work that illustrates something they can do well or something that shows how far they have come. Because I do so much formative assessment, I have a lot of student work samples available to choose from and can always find something positive. - I then like to have parents share how they think their child is doing and any concerns they have. - I am all about data driven decision making so then I will share any assessments. For primary students this often includes individual interviews, especially if a student is behind. I go over the current assessment results and show their progress over time if applicable. - I show other student work and point out specifically how the work illustrates them progressing or not progressing toward meeting the standard. I also like to explain what the next steps are in terms of what we are working on next. - I prepare myself to answer the hard questions. Why are you teaching it this way instead of that way? These big questions parents have when they are new to my school or my way of thinking about math used to really challenge me. As I have become more experienced and read more research on math education I have been better prepared to answer these questions. I like to show parents that it isn't MY way of teaching that I am going for but rather what the research says works. - I focus on the big mathematical ideas for that grade. For each grade level I can think of 3-5 things that are the most important things kids have and understand in order for them to be successful in the next grade. If a student is behind, I focus the conference on the most important skills and make sure my discussion focuses on how to move a student forward with these big ideas. This year, in addition to my role as a math specialist (part interventionist and part coach), I have 2 groups of students that I am doing the primary math instruction for. This means that I will hopefully get to meet with the parents of kids in these groups because their classroom teachers don't see them for math. To help out with ones I might miss and to keep the classroom teachers up to speed on what their students are doing in math, I have been gathering data and putting together some things that can be shared with parents. One of the things I created for my fourth grade group was this quick reflection on their learning. I loved seeing their responses and it gave me great information about how they are feeling about math! Want to use this with your students? Click on the picture to get it from Google Drive.
Easy and Simple Weekly student reflection sheet for any age, grade or homeschooling. Goal setting and accountability worksheet. Great for teachers or councelors
Reflection too often gets shoved aside over the school year. This system will immerse it into your classroom routine so it gets the attention it deserves.
These exit ticket ideas to help students reflect on learning are a great formative assessment to help with the learning process and ensure that students understand the learning material. Teachers can use these exit slips as an informal assessment when they have students respond to the prompt. Stude
Most teachers agree that having students reflect upon their learning is important. But how do you incorporate this valuable reflection time into an already busy day. I've gathered a few ideas of how you can give your students time for meaningful self-reflections and not take up too much of your instruction time. Hand Signals I've found hand signals the quickest and easiest way to give student time for a quick reflect on their learning. 4 fingers mean . . . I know everything that was taught so well I can teach it to others. 3 fingers mean . . . I know and can do everything that was taught without mistakes. 2 fingers mean . . . I can do most of the things that were taught but need help with the harder parts. 1 finger means . . .I don’t know what was taught and can’t do any of it. Number Scale If you'd like to keep the reflection a little more private you can have a reflection strip on each desk. Students can point to their number. You can see their reflection pretty quickly as you walk around the room. This number scale is available for free in my TPT store. Click here to download it to use in your classroom. Stop Light Colors Another simple self assessment that gets students thinking about their learning are stop light cards. Each student can have a set of cards, one red, one yellow and one green. Through out the lesson a teacher can ask a question about student understanding and the students can display the appropriate card. Green: I got it! Yellow: I almost have it. Red: I don’t understand You can use 3 Stoplight Cards (green, yellow and red) held together with a book ring. Students flip to the color to show their understanding of a skill or concept and hold it up for the teacher to see. Or you can print and use these Stoplight Desk Tents. Simply print cut, fold, and tape. Now you have something to set on each desk. Students turn it to show what they think of the skill or objective. (Click on the picture to download this free printable.) **June 2020 I updated these desk tents. Now you have a choice between the full color or the ink-saving style. I also included two editable slides so you can change the colors or the text to match your need. The new file is a PowerPoint, so make sure you have that program. (If you prefer a noneditable PDF version, email me at debbie@crockettsclassroom and I'll add a link to this post.) Written Reflections While not as quick as the first few ideas mentioned in this blog post, written reflections are also a valuable way for students to spend thinking about their learning. You can have them write in their reading, writing or math journal. Or write a reflection at the end of the week, looking back at the entire week of learning. While researching for ideas on written reflections I came across an excellent website, Copy/Paste, by Peter Pappas. He's come up with reflections levels based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking Skills. I love the way these reflections make students go deeper and deeper about their learning! You can post these questions and have students answer each question at the end of a lesson. Since this reflection would take longer I wouldn't have students do this type of reflection more than once a week.
Free parent-teacher conference forms to help guide your conversation and make sure you share everything you want and need to with parents.
These exit ticket ideas to help students reflect on learning are a great formative assessment to help with the learning process and ensure that students understand the learning material. Teachers can use these exit slips as an informal assessment when they have students respond to the prompt. Stude
Andrew Wales is the creator of T.A.I.L.S. (Traveling Adventurers in Laboratory Science) for Boy’s Quest magazine, and a similar comic for their sister publication Hopscotch. In addition he’s also creates comics and illustrations for Fun for Kids magazine. He’s currently working on his self-pub
You spend hours marking and commenting on student work, and then they don't even read your feedback. The solution is all in how you time it.
Notes From the Portable is a blog about teaching, reflecting on connections to Common Core Standards and 21st-Century Skills.
Self-reflection is one of the most powerful practices to improve teaching. When you practice self-reflection regularly, it will completely transform your classroom and instruction. Furthermore, self-reflection can take you from being a good teacher to being a great teacher. Are you ready to begin the transformation?
After a challenging year of pandemic schooling, these activities help students reflect on what they’ve learned and look forward to what’s coming next.
I cannot believe that it's already time to start thinking about Parent-Teacher Conferences. We will start scheduling ours tomorrow, and then we will meet with parents
