15 Reflection Methods To Assist College students Retain What You Simply Taught Them

15 Reflection Methods To Assist College students Retain What You Simply Taught Them

by Terry Heick

Reflection is a pure a part of studying.

All of us take into consideration new experiences–the tenting on the automotive trip dwelling, the errors made in a sport, or the feelings felt whereas ending a long-term challenge that’s taken months to finish.

Under I’ve shared 15 methods for college kids to replicate on their studying. Modeling the usage of every up entrance can go a great distance in the direction of ensuring you get the standard of labor you’d prefer to see all year long–and college students study extra within the course of. (This submit pairs properly with eight Reflective Questions To Assist Any Scholar Suppose About Their Studying.)

15 Reflection Methods To Assist College students Retain What You Simply Taught Them

1. Pair-Share

Pair-share is a traditional studying technique the place college students are paired, after which verbally ‘share’ one thing that may assist them study new content material, deepen understanding, or overview what they already know. It will also be used as a fast and soiled evaluation device, because the conversations typically replicate a degree of understanding the instructor can use gauge mastery and plan additional instruction.

2. Sentence Stem-based responses

Sentence-stems are nice as a result of they’re like coaching wheels–or to combine a metaphor, instruments to teach college students into pondering and talking in sure patterns. For instance, you may implore college students to ‘suppose critically,’ but when they don’t have even the essential phrasing of crucial pondering (e.g., ‘That is vital as a result of…’), crucial pondering might be past their attain.

You too can see our sentence stems for crucial pondering right here for different examples (you don’t have to purchase the supplies to see the samples).

Three. Layered Textual content

Layered textual content is one thing I’ve meant to write down about for years and by no means have. A layered textual content is a digital doc that’s stuffed with hyperlinks that talk, effectively, absolutely anything: Questions college students have, alternatives for additional inquiry, odd references and allusions that replicate the schema college students use to make that means, and so forth. (Rap Genius does a model of this.)

By including ‘layers’ of that means to a textual content by way of significant hyperlinking, college students can replicate again on something, from a pre-assessment journal entry that demonstrated their lack of awareness, to a form of ‘marking up’ of what they realized when, and from the place.

four. Tweet

140 characters forces college students to replicate fast and to the purpose–nice for temporary bursts of reflection or hesitant writers who would wrestle to write down significant journal entries or essays. In actual fact, you may mix twitter with #6 for twitter exit slips.

5. Three-2-1

Three-2-1 is a tried-and-true method to body something from a pair-share or journal entry (e.g., ask college students to write down Three issues they suppose they know, 2 issues they know they don’t know, and one factor they’re sure of a few subject) pre-assessment to a post-assessment (e.g., checklist 3 ways your essay mirrored mastery of talent X, two methods talent Y nonetheless wants enhancing, and a technique you can also make your argument stronger within the subsequent 5 minutes) to a mirrored image of the post-assessment.

6. Exit Slips

Whether or not you name them exit slips or exit tickets, asking college students to briefly depart behind some residue of studying–a thought, a definition, a query–is a robust instructing technique. In actual fact, ‘exit-slip instructing’ actually drives how I exploit information within the classroom. Asking college students to drop some little bit of reflection of the educational course of on a chair by the door on the best way out is a no brainer.

Some examples?

How did you reply emotionally to one thing you struggled with at this time? What did you discover most stunning about _____? How did your understanding of _______ change at this time? What about _____ nonetheless confuses you or makes your curious?

7. Write-Round

I really like write-arounds–simple methods for college kids to write down asynchronously and collaboratively. And the writing fragments college students use don’t should be prose–sure key vocabulary and phrases may also help college students replicate, however most significantly in a write-around, assist college students studying from each other as every scholar is ready to learn different responses earlier than creating theirs.

eight. Sketch

Whether or not by sketch-notes or doodles, permitting college students to attract what they suppose they know, how they consider their studying has modified, or some form of metaphorical pathway in the direction of deeper understanding is a good studying technique for college kids that have a tendency in the direction of inventive expression, and a non-threatening method for struggling college students to a minimum of write one thing down on paper you should utilize to gauge perceive and plan your (their) subsequent step.

9. Podcast

By means of podcasting as a reflecting technique, college students will speak about their studying whereas recording. If you wish to maintain it ‘closed-circuit’ (not printed), or truly push it to a public viewers of some variety is dependent upon the educational and college students and privateness points and so forth.

This will also be merely an audio file recorded and uploaded to a non-public YouTube channel that’s shared with academics or mother and father.

10. Brainstorming

Brainstorming could be an efficient reflection technique as a result of it disarms points with different approaches. For hesitant writers, journaling could not work as a result of the writing course of may overwhelm the educational. Podcasting could not work for shy college students, Pair-Share could not work effectively if college students are paired successfully, and so forth.

Brainstorming is way less complicated. College students may take an allotted time to write down down every part they bear in mind a few subject. Or, they may brainstorm questions they nonetheless have (issues they’re confused or interested by). They may even brainstorm how what what they realized actually connects with what they already know by creating an idea map.

11. Jigsawing

Jigsawing is a grouping technique the place a process, idea, or one thing ‘bigger’ is damaged down into small puzzles items, and college students in teams analyze the small puzzle piece, then share out to create the puzzle at massive. Utilizing this method for reflection is seamless: Amongst different approaches, you may immediate college students in teams to collect and share questions they’ve (you would group by readiness/capability, for instance) in teams, after which select one query that they weren’t capable of reply amongst themselves with the entire class (anonymously–nobody has to know who wrote the query).

12. Prezi

Consider a cross between a sketch, collage, and presentation, and you’ve got a prezi. Participating–although distracting and overwhelming if the reflection you want is minor–reflection device that enables college students to create an artifact of studying for his or her digital portfolios.

13. Vlog

This reflection technique is near ‘Podcasting’ and even has one thing in frequent with pair-sharing. By reflecting by way of vlog’ing, college students merely speak about their studying to a digital camera.

This method would achieve success for college kids that love speaking to a digital camera, however much less so for others (who, if they’ve to speak in any respect about their studying, could choose podcasting–or just recording audio information which are by no means printed.

14. Collage

You might do a traditional collage of studying reflections, however a multimedia collage can be attainable–possibly a sketchnote with a voiceover recorded as a YouTube video to share as a fast presentation with the category (or absent college students).

15. Journaling

The College of Missouri-St Louis gives Three sorts of journals that display the completely different prospects of the in any other case vanilla-sounding ‘journaling.’

1. Private Journal – College students will write freely about their expertise. That is normally executed weekly. These private journals could also be submitted periodically to the trainer, or stored as a reference to make use of on the finish of the expertise when placing collectively an instructional essay reflecting their expertise. (Hatcher 1996)

2. Dialogue Journal – College students submit loose-leaf pages from a dialogue journal bi-weekly (or in any other case at applicable intervals) for the trainer to learn and touch upon. Whereas labor intensive for the trainer, this will present continuous suggestions to college students and immediate new questions for college kids to contemplate through the semester. (Goldsmith, 1995)

Three. Highlighted Journal – Earlier than college students submit the reflective journal, they reread private entries and, utilizing a highlighter, mark sections of the journal that straight relate to ideas mentioned within the textual content or at school. This makes it simpler for the trainer to establish the coed to replicate on their expertise in gentle after all content material. (Gary Hesser, Augsberg Faculty)

15 Methods For College students To Mirror On Their Studying; picture attribution Flickr person woodleywonderworks