Pausing to Reflect on Learning
Our schoolED consultant Kath Koidis writes – We know that concluding lessons with dedicated time to students reflecting on their learning is effective practice. But what is the first thing to go when we get in the swing of that lesson or feel pressured for time or want students to have just a few more minutes to keep working during independent practice? That’s right, the reflection time!
“Effective lessons commonly end with an activity in which students reflect on their experience of the lesson.” (Marzano, 2012)
Reflection time (sometimes referred to as ‘share time’) at the end of the lesson is a planned opportunity for students to take a moment to pause to reflect on what they learnt in the lesson. Students are guided to reflect on what they learnt, based on the learning intention and success criteria. They then self-assess to consider how they know they learnt it and what they still need to know. This dedicated time to reflect is also an opportunity for teachers to formatively assess student learning.
When we zoom out and think about the lesson, the reflective stage really only takes very little time out of the lesson, however, its impact on learning is significant.
“Students are helped to bring things together in their own minds, to make sense out of what has just been taught.” (Hattie, 2009)
We know it is important for students to stop and reflect on their learning before moving on to the next lesson and we want them to consider these moments of self-assessment and reflection to improve and build on their skills in future lessons. The teacher can also use this stage in the lesson as formative assessment to inform and plan for future practice. It is an ideal time for teachers to gain insight into student’s success in working towards the learning intention and success criteria and use this information when planning lessons.
An effective approach to capturing reflections is through the use of exit tickets. Students often take to this approach as it is low stakes and teachers can quickly and efficiently check in and glean individual student learning. However, students need to be taught how to reflect on their learning and the language used to foster this thinking. For meaningful reflections to take place, teachers can co-construct reflective prompts on anchor charts. For example:
- I was able to … I know this because…
- The most challenging thing was…
- I surprised myself by…
These can be referred to at the end of every lesson to model and support student reflective thinking.
For more ideas, resources and support in planning for and embedding this practice, contact SchoolEd Consulting.
Author: Kath Koidis
