Journey Summary
This session will use collaborative reflection strategies, Critical Friends Group (CFG), to reflect on your experiences with planning and implementing the experience you designed during the Design Through Inquiry (DTI) sessions. For educators and learners, reflection plays a key role in successful learning experiences. You will write a reflection in your “eMINTS Reflective Journal” and collect artifacts that support your reflection. You will also consider the benefits of self-reflection and design a self-reflection activity for students.
Curriculum-framing Questions
Essential Question
- How might reflection encourage growth?
Unit Questions
- How might a collaborative reflection strategy help teachers design lessons?
- How might the use of data and artifacts support lesson design and revision?
- In what ways might self-reflection drive learning?
Content Questions
- What is a Critical Friends collaborative reflection strategy?
- What benefits might students gain from self-reflection?
Introduction
Self-reflection is an important strategy for both teachers and students to build upon our performance and expand our learning. Reflection facilitates both sense-making and metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking). Reflection helps us think abstractly about our learning by identifying patterns and making connections between ideas. Reflection around metacognition helps make the processes involved in thinking visible so that we are better able to apply higher-level thinking to new situations. A Critical Freinds Group (CFG) can be used in the planning phase of a lesson or after implementation to support the construction and application of quality learning experiences. Establishing and using group norms can ensure a structured and respectful environment for constructive feedback and collaboration.
Theory Behind Practice
All eMINTS materials are grounded in research-based best practices in K-12 education.
Digging Deeper
Agenda
- Opener: What’s the Story?
- Meet the CFG Protocol
- Share with Critical Friends
- Reflecting on an Experience
- Student Self-Reflection
- My Reflective Journal
- Closer: Self-Reflection Connection
Classroom Visit w/Students
Ask your facilitator to assist as you complete a collaborative reflection activity with students or to model a self-reflection activity with your students.
Classroom Visit w/out Students
Ask for advice and/or a planning conversation as you revise your DTI: Design Through Inquiry lesson. Work with your facilitator to finish your student self-reflection or review activity.
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