Reflection - Chapter 10

Writing is such a personal and reflective task; students are given the opportunity to write about their views on specific subjects when journaling. As educators, it is our responsibility to facilitate a love of writing and teaching students how much they can learn from themselves. We all know school days are busy; therefore writing must be planned and precise. It’s easy to think we will implement reflection; but carving out the time and pre-planning the questions will ensure this important task doesn’t get left out.

By pre-planning the questions, you can promote elaborating and critical reflection skills. Questions should ask more than, “What did you learn?” Try asking students why this project is important to them, and why they care. Predicting is a valuable skill and fits in perfectly for journaling about projects. Children have wonderful imaginations and love to share; facilitate that joyful experience.

When students care about something, it shows through pride. Build that pride by incorporating your schools’ traditions and identity into your PBL projects. For example, our bird project will include a tour of our school ground; specifically the garden sanctuary. This sanctuary was built by students and staff and is an ever-growing entity of our school pride. The students reflected during a writing assignment about how important they feel; taking care of the garden is so fulfilling. This reflection sparked the idea that we must include a tour on the day of our event.