Celebrating Learning with Self-Reflection
05/16/22 • 28 min
As we approach the end of the school year, this episode of Room to Grow addresses using self-reflection to celebrate the learning of the year. Our hosts use this definition: “Self-Reflection is the evaluation or judgement of one’s performance and the identification of one’s strengths and weaknesses with a view to improving one’s learning outcomes (Damore, 2017),” and start with unpacking this quote from John Dewey: “We don’t learn from experiences, we learn from reflecting on our experiences.”
In the conversation, Curtis and Joanie suggest that reflecting at the end of a lesson, unit, month or school year provides the opportunity to be energized by and to benefit from what we’ve experienced and how we use that learning to continue to improve.
After making the case for self-reflection, the discussion shifts to specific ideas for student and teacher self-reflection. Ensuring that students understand the purpose of self-reflection is integral to making the process meaningful for students, and increases the likelihood that their reflective practices will contribute positively to owning their own learning, and to building positive mathematical identities. Some specific reflection questions and protocols are discussed, giving you ideas you can apply in your own setting as we all wrap up the 2021-22 school year.
We encourage you to explore these resources, mentioned and referenced in this episode:
- Dewey quote and Damore’s definition of Self-Reflection came from this post: Routines for Self-Reflection: https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/routinesselfreflection.html
- Journal of Practitioner Research article on reflection as a tool for continuous improvement: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=jpr
- Edutopia article with specific ideas for engaging students in self-reflection: www.edutopia.org/article/frameworks-reflection
- Tuning protocol as a way for groups of teachers to reflect specifically on student work: http://essentialschools.org/horace-issues/the-tuning-protocol-a-process-for-reflection-on-teacher-and-student-work/
- Teachers and Change: The Role of Reflective Practice: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812039870
Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected]. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
As we approach the end of the school year, this episode of Room to Grow addresses using self-reflection to celebrate the learning of the year. Our hosts use this definition: “Self-Reflection is the evaluation or judgement of one’s performance and the identification of one’s strengths and weaknesses with a view to improving one’s learning outcomes (Damore, 2017),” and start with unpacking this quote from John Dewey: “We don’t learn from experiences, we learn from reflecting on our experiences.”
In the conversation, Curtis and Joanie suggest that reflecting at the end of a lesson, unit, month or school year provides the opportunity to be energized by and to benefit from what we’ve experienced and how we use that learning to continue to improve.
After making the case for self-reflection, the discussion shifts to specific ideas for student and teacher self-reflection. Ensuring that students understand the purpose of self-reflection is integral to making the process meaningful for students, and increases the likelihood that their reflective practices will contribute positively to owning their own learning, and to building positive mathematical identities. Some specific reflection questions and protocols are discussed, giving you ideas you can apply in your own setting as we all wrap up the 2021-22 school year.
We encourage you to explore these resources, mentioned and referenced in this episode:
- Dewey quote and Damore’s definition of Self-Reflection came from this post: Routines for Self-Reflection: https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/routinesselfreflection.html
- Journal of Practitioner Research article on reflection as a tool for continuous improvement: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=jpr
- Edutopia article with specific ideas for engaging students in self-reflection: www.edutopia.org/article/frameworks-reflection
- Tuning protocol as a way for groups of teachers to reflect specifically on student work: http://essentialschools.org/horace-issues/the-tuning-protocol-a-process-for-reflection-on-teacher-and-student-work/
- Teachers and Change: The Role of Reflective Practice: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812039870
Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected]. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
Previous Episode
Giving Meaningful Feedback
In this episode, we discuss considerations for providing meaningful feedback to our students. We think this is a great follow-up to our last episode on grading! In preparing for our discussion, we learned about the research supporting effective feedback for learning, which includes suggestions around the type of feedback to give, when to give it, and how meaningful feedback is separate from grading.
Our research articles suggest that feedback is not advice or criticism, but information that helps the receive to understand their next actions. Although it makes sense that students must engage with feedback in order for it to be meaningful, we were intrigued by the suggestion that the receiver of feedback should work harder as a result of the feedback than the giver of the feedback! In other words, our students should work harder than us, their teachers!
We explore some concrete ideas for making your feedback more meaningful, reflect on our own mistakes around providing feedback, and emphasize the fact that in all aspects of a teachers work, relationships matter most.
We encourage you to explore these resources, mentioned and referenced in this episode:
- Blog post from Edutopia. The five suggestions here are backed by research. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-providing-students-meaningful-feedback-marianne-stenger
- Article from the South Carolina Center for Teaching Excellence. This resource is general for all content areas, is a quick read, and includes a list of specific ideas for effective and efficient feedback. https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/cte/teaching_resources/grading_assessment_toolbox/providing_meaningful_student_feedback/index.php
- Article from ASCD (free if you haven’t already accessed your limit of free articles). Grant Wiggins authors this article that Curtis and Joanie refer to multiple times during this episode. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/seven-keys-to-effective-feedback
- Article/research summary from the Tang Institute. Although this resource appears longer than the others, the summaries and graphics make it very readable. This would be a great resource for a PLC or professional learning setting. https://tanginstitute.andover.edu/files/Feedback-in-Practice.pdf
Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected] . Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
Next Episode
Uncovering Assumptions in Math Instruction
In this episode of Room to Grow, Curtis and Joanie consider assumptions that we make during math instruction and how these have the potential to interfere with students’ understanding of the mathematics. Teachers know more math than their students, and as a teacher, it can sometimes be a challenge to remember what it was like before we knew and understood a math concept. This can lead us to inadvertently assuming that students are following our thinking or considering external knowledge that they actually might not yet have access to!
Our hosts get into some math content, specifically talking about the equals sign, solving systems of equations, and the standard algorithm for multiplication. In each of these examples, the common structures of instruction can lead students to an incorrect or incomplete understanding, or can force a focus on procedures without the concepts that back up these ways to doing. Curtis and Joanie had some personal “ah ha” moments during the episode as we discussed these math topics.
Frequent listeners know that Joanie and Curtis don’t claim to have silver bullet solutions, but they suggest that slowing down when planning and teaching, regularly collaborating with other teachers, and stopping to identify assumptions can all contribute to better teaching and learning. Listen to hear more about why Joanie recommends teaching “for big circles, and not pinpricks.”
We encourage you to explore these resources, mentioned and referenced in this episode:
- Teaching Children Mathematics article (subscription required) The Equals Sign: A Balancing Act
- Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally by John van de Walle
- Presentation of From Student-Invented Strategies to Standard Algorithms: What’s the Rush by Fran Huntoon
- Discussion about teaching algorithms on myNCTM (membership required)
Did you enjoy this episode of Room to Grow? Please leave a review and share the episode with others. Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected]. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.
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