The Importance of Reflection
Reflection is an important part of the teaching and learning process. “Teaching can improve with reflection,” says Susan Black in a 2001 article in the American School Board Journal. Clyde Yoshida highlights that students “will take more responsibility for the quality of their work” and “begin to understand how they learn” in his article Creating a Culture of Student Reflection. For me, this blog is a tool for reflection. For my students, I need provide opportunities for reflection.
I was recently reminded of the importance of reflection in the learning process. Although I was eager to plow into the next project, I decided to take some time to have my grade 2 students reflect on their plant animations. Discussions with students and between students were rich and suprisingly thoughtful. Their personal reflection was guided by three questions: (1) What do you like best about your animation? (2) What could you have done to make it even better? (3) Whose animation do you think is the best?
More on the plant animations and results of this reflection activity next post.
