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Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class - Brilliant or Insane

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Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class - Brilliant or Insane

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How deep is your commitment to reflective practice?

Do you maintain a reflective journal? Do you blog? Do you capture and archive your reflections in a different space?

Do you consistently reserve a bit of time for your own reflective work? Do you help the learners you serve do the same?

I began creating dedicated time and space for reflection toward the end of my classroom teaching career, and the practice has followed me through my work at the WNY Young Writer's Studio. I've found that it can take very little time and yet, the return on our investment has always been significant.

Reflection makes all of us self-aware. It challenges us to think deeply about how we learn and why and why not.

Reflection deepens ownership. When we reflect, we become sensitive to the personal connection that exists between ourselves, our learning, and our work. The more we consider these connections, the deeper they seem to become. Reflection makes things matter more.

Reflection helps us get comfortable with uncomfortable. It also helps us fail forward. It's through reflection that we've discovered our greatest power as a writing community: our collective expertise and our willingness to encourage and celebrate risk-taking.

Reflection helps us know ourselves better. It helps us sharpen our vision, so we can align our actions to it. Reflection also helps us notice when we're getting off track.

Perhaps most importantly, reflection helps us advocate for ourselves and support others. Taking the time to reflect enables us to identify what we want, what we need, and what we must do to help ourselves. It also helps us realize how our gifts and strengths might be used in service to others.

I find that often, we struggle to find time to support reflective practice. Deadlines drive instruction far too much than they should, forcing learners and teachers to value perfection, products, and grades more than the development of softer and perhaps, more significant skills. Devoting a few moments at the end of class can make a real difference though, particularly when you pitch a few powerful prompts at learners. These are the ten questions that elicit the most powerful responses from the students I work with.

Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class

1. Reflect on your thinking, learning, and work today. What were you most proud of?

2. Where did you encounter struggle today, and what did you do to deal with it?

3. What about your thinking, learning, or work today brought you the most satisfaction? Why?

4. What is frustrating you? How do you plan to deal with that frustration?

5. What lessons were learned from failure today?

6. Where did you meet success, and who might benefit most from what you've learned along the way? How can you share this with them?

7. What are your next steps? Which of those steps will come easiest? Where will the terrain become rocky? What can you do now to navigate the road ahead with the most success?

8. What made you curious today?

9. How did I help you today? How did I hinder you? What can I do tomorrow to help you more?

10. How did you help the class today? How did you hinder the class today? What can you do tomorrow to help other learners more?

The learners I serve typically capture these reflections in a special section of their notebooks. These entries grow in number over the course of time, and eventually, they revisit them to prepare for conferences.

The influence that asking reflective questions has on the quality of our conferences is incredible. In fact, I hesitate to confer with kids unless they've had a chance to pursue purposeful reflection first.

Try it yourself. See how it makes a difference for your students. You can find a set of printable reflective prompts here.

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About The Author

angelastockman

A former English teacher, Angela Stockman is the founder of the WNY Young Writer's Studio, a community of writers and teachers of writing in Buffalo, New York. She is also an education consultant with expertise in curriculum design, instructional coaching, and assessment. Read more from Angela at Angelastockman.com.

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Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class

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How deep is your commitment to reflective practice? Do you maintain a reflective journal? Do you blog? Do you capture and archive your reflections in a different space? Do you consistently reserve a bit of time for your own reflective work? Do you help the learners you serve do the same?

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Activities/Checklist for Teachers & students

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The Nuts and Bolts of Explicit Modeling | Edutopia

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The Nuts and Bolts of Explicit Modeling | Edutopia

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Although many other methods of teaching are noteworthy -- such as case study, problem-based learning, and simulation -- many scholars agree that students need "careful, personal instruction with clear demonstrations in reading and writing", as well as in social studies, math, and science. (Note: NCTM membership is required to view this math link.)

What can instructional modeling teach?

"Most human behavior," according to Stanford professor Alfred Bandura, "is learned observationally through modeling." As evidence, watch Bandura's controversial Bobo Doll Experiments where children, after witnessing adults assault a wobble clown, follow suit.

Several instructional methods incorporate teacher modeling:

Cognitive apprenticeships: Showing students how to do something within an authentic context while making the thinking behind the procedure visible

Demonstrations: Planning, introducing a lesson, presenting, giving a performance, and summarizing

Worked examples: Solving a problem and writing out the steps (PDF, 197KB)

Think alouds: Modeling metacognition by stating aloud everything an instructor thinks while reading aloud (PDF, 11KB)

I detail other modeling approaches below.

Planning Tips

Modeling necessitates meticulous planning. Start with assessment to identify areas of greatest need. After identifying a skill or concept to model, anticipate areas that are most likely to confuse learners. If the skill is particularly difficult, try the following:

Narrowing the steps

Breaking the skill down into two or more chunks and modeling them over the next few days

Modeling with an easier text to teach point of view (like Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs instead of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway)

Preparing to model the procedure more than once, especially in a group including English-language learners and students with learning difficulties

Asking more questions by writing down "check for understanding" questions in advance to reduce the number of details you have to juggle

Right Before Modeling. . .

I generally do three things in front of students before modeling a skill.

1. Review the previous lesson.

Example: "Yesterday, we learned how to add integers. There were three things we practiced. Who can tell me what those three things were? Today we are going to __________."

2. Introduce learning goals.

Example: "I'm going to teach you to/about __________. This skill/concept will help you __________. By the end of this demonstration, you'll be able to __________."

3. Introduce steps (in writing) and check for understanding.

Example: "So in this demo, we'll do __________ first, then __________, and then __________. Is there anything you want me to clarify before I start? Bob, tell me what you'll be able to do at the end of this lesson and why."

Explicit Modeling

Explicit modeling (EM), supported by ample research, works best for modeling facts and procedures that require precision, such as math and grammar. In the eight steps of EM, summarized in this PDF (44KB), the teacher:

1. Breaks down the concept or skill into critical features or elements

2. Clearly describes the concept or skill

3. Clearly models the concept or skill

4. Provides multi-sensory instruction (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic)

5. Thinks aloud as she or he models

6. Models examples and non-examples

7. Works with cues (pointing, circling, or highlighting)

8. Provides high levels of teacher-student interaction (Source: MathVIDS)

I yield to criticism that EM is teacher centered and teacher directed, two overused and maligned classroom paradigms. Furthermore, I agree that the goal for any instructor is to shift students into more agentive, self-directed behaviors.

What EM does effectively, however, is lighten extraneous cognitive load, or mental effort -- a whopping benefit of the method. Heavy loads impact completion (my mom tries to use Facebook every two months, but because I've neglected to help her master that skill step by step, she'll never rejoice at uploaded photos of my crockpot masterpieces).

The equation: EM = decreased cognitive load = task completion.

After Modeling

Allow plenty of time for students to review and practice soon after the concept or skill has been demonstrated. Studies suggest that students compare their work with an expert's (such as the teacher) to improve learning (PDF, 197KB).

One math instructor I know models how to solve a problem, then assigns a related problem on the board for everyone to complete independently. If only a handful of students complete the problem perfectly, he asks them to write down the steps they took and explain them in small groups.

Karen Lea writes: "Modeling means that the teacher does most of the work the first time, and then gradually the students do most of the work" -- a research-supported approach (PDF, 1.3MB) referred to as the gradual release of responsibility (GRR). After the instructor demonstration, the following occurs in GRR:

1. Shared experience: The class collaborates with the teacher to work through the skill.

2. Guided practice: Students apply the skill with the support of peers, often while being observed by the teacher.

3. Independent practice: Students apply the skill on their own.

Monica Baines models GRR in this video.

Advanced Degree of Difficulty

While instructors often monitor students as they struggle with a new problem, learners rarely watch instructors take the same risk, thereby perpetuating the myth of teachers' intellectual supremacy. In real time, while students observe, try formulating and attempting to answer questions related to an historical artifact, or try writing a poem from scratch in front of the class, or try testing a new scientific hypothesis.

The payoff? You'll model grit.

Finally, keep your expectations of students high. They may struggle, but will nevertheless benefit from clear modeling and your faith in their abilities.

Please share your own modeling tips.

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The Nuts and Bolts of Explicit Modeling | Edutopia

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Although many other methods of teaching are noteworthy -- such as case study, problem-based learning, and simulation -- many scholars agree that students need "careful, personal instruction with clear demonstrations in reading and writing", as well as in social studies, math, and science. (Note: NCTM membership is required to view this math link.)

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Image of Instruction Time

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Video of Workshop Model in ELA classroom

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Video of Workshop Model in ELA classroom

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Check out the supporting materials, questions, & comments

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How would you describe the teacher's role in this classroom?

2. In what ways does this lesson illustrate differentiated instruction?

3. How does the Workshop Model help the teacher address his students' various learning needs?

School Details

Shaw Middle School
4106 North Cook St
Spokane WA 99207

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Students in Mr. Allen's 7th grade English Language Arts classroom work on a persuasive writing unit using the Workshop Model. Some students work on completing an editorial while others develop an advertising campaign. In this highly differentiated classroom, the teacher works with individual students and small groups to meet them where they are at in the assignment.

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Summary & Rationale

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Tips, Resources & videos on Workshop Model

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Differentiation Made Easy:Teaching with a Workshop Approach - Home

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Image of Planning Time

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Check out the Math Planners.

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Education World: Minimize Lecture, Maximize Learning: Workshop Model

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Education World: Minimize Lecture, Maximize Learning: Workshop Model

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Article

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Education World is committed to bringing educators the practical tools they need to make good decisions, engage in effective leadership and implement strategies that work. The following excerpt from So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning describes the workshop model that the author relies on to foster a cycle of student work, timely feedback, and assessment. When students can show what they understand, you can adjust your teaching to what they need the most.
Just like the athletes on the field who do the majority of the work during practice, students in my classroom do the majority of the work by reading, writing, and thinking during class. By organizing my time using the workshop model every day, all year long, I can ensure that their reading, writing, and thinking are getting better.

In its simplest form, the workshop model has four basic parts: opening, mini-lesson, work time, and debriefing.

The opening is an opportunity to share the day's learning targets and set the stage for the day.

During the mini-lesson the teacher provides direct instruction for the whole class.

During the work time, students get to dig in and practice the learning. This is the most important part of the workshop and therefore must be the longest part of the period. I try to give students the bulk of the class to work, practice, or apply what has been taught during the mini-lesson.

As students work, I confer with individuals or small groups. Often my conferences are pretty short-about two to four minutes long. The purpose of conferring is twofold. I want to assess student learning and help them to build stamina. When I confer, I try to figure out what students know and what they need so they can continue doing the work on their own. My goal when conferring isn't to "fix" students but rather to provide support and scaffolding so students can be the ones who engage in the critical thinking. Just like during the mini-lesson, I must be careful not to take time away from students' doing the work. Conferring helps me help students stay on task so they can build stamina, skill, and endurance.

Catch-and-release occurs during the work time and can be either a planned or an unplanned part of the workshop. When I use the catch-and-release technique, it is because I have noticed a pattern of confusion in several students. Instead of repeating the teaching to each individual student, I temporarily halt the work time to quickly share a strategy or a piece of content that will benefit the class's learning process. Other times when I use catch-and-release, I've anticipated places where students might struggle. In these cases, I model a way to negotiate the difficulty and then I release the kids so they have time to practice what I showed them. In either case, the catches are short, usually lasting only a few minutes.

The debriefing occurs at the end of the workshop and gives students an opportunity to be metacognitive as they synthesize, reflect on, and name what they have learned for the day.

Whether learners are struggling, gifted, or in between, they all deserve a year's worth of growth. When they get two-thirds of each class period to work, the minutes of practice time add up. When there is intentional planning with student work minutes in mind, combined with a teacher by their side conferring and giving targeted feedback, students can't help but expand their knowledge and increase their skills. This means they can tackle any kind of text with confidence and have the wherewithal to know what they need to do to construct meaning. If we do our jobs well, by listening to teach instead of talking to teach, students should be just as exhausted as teachers at the end of the day-and just as brilliant.
Be sure to read two other excerpts from this book: Grading That Reflects Your Values and Annotating as an Assessment Tool.

Education World®
Copyright © 2012, 2017 Education World

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Minimize Lecture, Maximize Learning: Workshop Model | Education World

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Education World is committed to bringing educators the practical tools they need to make good decisions, engage in effective leadership and implement strategies that work. The following excerpt from So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning describes the workshop model that the author relies on to foster a cycle of student work, timely feedback, and assessment.

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Framework for lessons

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What are the 3 components of the model lesson?

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See how Seven Hills Elementary School in Justin, TX, uses the workshop model to increase student engagement and achievement.