I’ve already spoken at length about the importance of reflection in education and how we as teachers can use reflection to help students learn. But what are some specific questions or activities we could be doing to help students reflect?
Below you will find a list of such questions, grouped accordingly to why you might use them in your classroom. Obviously many of these may need to be reworded to decrease or increase the complexity depending on what age level you’re using them with, but hopefully they give you some ideas you can utilize in with your own students. As always, if you have any thoughts, questions or comments about this work, feel free to hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, or via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Enjoy!
Relationships and Collaboration
1.What are some ways you could share this learning with your parents or family?
2.Could you say something positive about each of your classmates?
3.What could you do today to help you develop better relationships with your peers?
4.Why is it important for students in a school to have positive relationships with each other?
5.What are some ways in which the adults in the school could help you improve the relationships you have with your classmates?
6.What, if anything, have you done or said lately that may have been considered bullying towards other students?
7.What are some things your classmates do that help you learn?
8.What are some things your classmates do that prevent you from learning?
9.What are some things you do in the classroom that you worry might prevent others from learning?
10.What are some things you do in the classroom that you believe can help other people learn?
Community and Citizenship
11.What are some problems you see in the school that you believe the adults should be working to solve?
12.What are some of the solutions to those problems?
13.What are some positive ways you could talk to adults about these problems and solutions?
Academic Performance
14.What did you learn (today, this week, this year, etc) ?
15.Why do you believe we’re studying this objective?
16.Did you give your best effort on this most recent assignment?
17.Did this activity help you learn more than others we’ve done? Why?
18.Did you come to class today prepared to learn (in both your attitude and with all your supplies) ?
19.What are some things you did really well on this assignment?
20.What mistakes did you make on my last assignment that you did not make on today’s assignment?
21.What resources do you have that can help you learn new material?
22.If you could do this assignment over, what would you do differently?
23.What class activities or assignments help you learn the most?
24.What do you believe the teacher could have done differently to help you learn this objective easier?
25.What’s one thing the teacher did for this objective that you really liked?
26.How can you prove to the teacher you know the objective?
27.What evidence do you have to support your answer?
Future and Goal Setting
28.What would you like to learn more about (today, this week, this year, etc) ?
29.What problems do you hope to solve (today, this week, this school year, in your lifetime, etc) ?
30.What will you need to learn to solve those problems?
31.How can you take what you have learned and apply it to your own life?
32.What are your dreams?
33.What are some of the potential obstacles you may face in chasing those dreams?
34.What are some things you can do to overcome those obstacles?
35.What actions are you taking today to help you reach your goals in the future?
All through with this piece? Consider checking out…
30 Questions for Teacher Reflection
Lesson Planning Using the Four Critical Questions
The Hidden Connection Between Learning and Video Games
One Way to Handle Defiant Students