5 Ways to Help Students Build Reflection Skills

As educators, we are tasked with engaging our wide range of students in learning experiences that meet their unique needs while ensuring that we address relevant standards. This is a challenge in and of itself, but there is also a need to ensure that all of this is happening in a learning environment that invites students to confidently interact with content and feel supported. When students are dysregulated, these teaching tasks can become nearly impossible.

Because of that, I have leaned into the art and practice of self-monitoring and reflection as checkpoints across my lessons to ensure that students are fully equipped to engage. These five self-regulation practices can help shape students’ sense of agency while leveraging their sense of self in both academic and behavior decision-making. By teaching students to reflect throughout the learning process, we can empower them to confidently navigate challenges both in and outside the classroom.

5 CLASSROOM SELF-REFLECTION METHODS TO EMPOWER STUDENTS

1. Daily closing reflection. Often, amid the hustle and bustle of dismissal procedures, it can be difficult to close the day on an optimistic note. However, doing so can bring joy and has been shown to increase dopamine levels, which in turn produce positive feelings about school experiences.

To engage students in this kind of closing reflection, I provide sentence frames and encourage students to reflect either in writing or in small groups. Here are some of my favorite sentence stems:

• Memorable Moment Monday (What was the most memorable moment of the day?)
• Take a Bow Tuesday (Share what you were proud of today.)
• Wonder Wednesday (What do you still wonder about?)
• Thankful Thursday (What or whom are you thankful for today?)
• Feel Good Friday (What, in your learning or friendships, made you feel good this week?)

As I review each comment from students, I am provided with a window into their sense of belonging within their classroom experiences. Furthermore, it can alert me to make any adjustments or be responsive to support my students.

2. Peer and personal feedback. When working on a writing piece with students, I use a self-monitoring strategy I call the Praise, Probe, and Propel method for students to reflect on their own work and that of their peers.

After students have finished their writing sample, each student completes this process for at least one of their peers: Students read a peer’s work and then identify something they liked—praise; questions they have—probe; and opportunities to improve—propel. Students can note these on the reflection framework sheet or in their notebooks.

This works well as peer feedback and helps students reflect on how their peers produce work that is both similar to and different from their own. Additionally, students get to pause and consider how they can improve their own writing based on what they identify in their peers’ work. Students can also complete this framework as a self-reflection with slight adjustments to the sentence stems.

3. Weekly self-monitoring form. At the end of each week, I post a weekly self-monitoring form to my students’ online learning platform. This form, which students complete individually, provides me with insights into how students have felt about their learning and our classroom in that week.

I adjust the weekly monitoring forms throughout the year but often use this “Self-reflection to become the best version of myself” form, as it encourages students to think holistically about themselves as learners. It allows my students to reflect upon the expectations of a successful learner in the areas of both academics and social and emotional descriptors.

Students complete sentence starters such as these: “This week I loved learning about…, “A goal for next week is...” This provides psychological safety for my students to express insight into their educational experiences.

4. Student-led SMART goal conferences. During family-teacher conferences, I encourage students to set goals with me and their families during the portion of the meeting that they join. While not all schools invite students to these conferences, it is a great way to promote self-reflection if you do have the opportunity.

Before the conference, I ask the student to think about a goal they want to work on throughout the next few months of the school year. I encourage students to create SMART(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals, which students know about already, as we have dedicated class periods at the beginning of the year to setting effective goals.

Then, during the conference, the student has the opportunity to share their goal aloud with me and their family. As they share, they talk about why they set that goal and how they knew it was something they needed to work on. Additionally, the student will share how it will help them grow in the classroom when they achieve it.

By sharing the goal with their family, students gain accountability beyond our classroom and learn how to articulate the goals they have for themselves. Students can create Google Slides to present their goals or just speak to their goals, whatever makes the most sense for them.

5. Asynchronous digital reflections. One final way I like to engage my students in reflection is through asynchronous digital reflections. These take the form of a journal-entry type of reflection, but students are able to complete it in whatever way suits them. Students might type out responses, record a video of them speaking, or create visuals to accompany their responses.

I prompt students to complete sentence frames such as “I am growing as a learner in the area of…,” “Strategies that are helping me are...,” “Something I would like my teacher to know is…,” “A question I have is…” in their reflections.

As I review student responses, I get a deeper look into my students’ view of themselves, their needs, and their strengths. This allows me to adjust our classroom instruction and also creates a stronger sense of trust between my students and me.

I have students complete this kind of reflection at the end of a unit, as it takes a bit more time but provides valuable insights for me.

Carving space and time for my students to monitor and evaluate their own experiences has been a fruitful long-term investment. It has elevated my students’ confidence and view of themselves as learners. I am confident that with continued practice in the classroom, they can make self-reflection a part of their life even outside of school.