Reading Reflection 10

It's important to have our students take time to reflect on learning experiences. Taking time to reflect helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but more importantly makes learning really stick. Setting aside time for reflection helps students to reveal things they might not otherwise think about: what they learned, their growth as learners, and what they want to learn in projects ahead. Ask students, how was our project important to you? Ask them to reflect on their skill development. The end of a project is also a time to think about growth in learning dispositions. Give students an opportunity to reflect on ways they overcame obstacles or persisted when they work was hard. Lastly, help students think about how joyous and gratifying the learning journey can be.

Ask students to reflect and elaborate during and after a project. Ask: what does this get you wondering about next? What do you want to learn now and how do you want to go about it? Having your students reflect and elaborate will get your students involved and interested in the next steps of the project.

Most schools' identities are tired to their traditions. Some schools are sport powerhouses. My high school was known for their state champion wrestling through out my four years in high school. Other schools send students to science competitions. Think about how your class and school can establish a tradition of emeplary project work. Once you have established a tradition of excellence, students will feel its a privilege to honor the tradition with their hard work. As you reach the culmination, think about ways to showcase your project that will establish your identity as a community of learners.

Celebrate the project with your students. Show students work, put on an event, create a blog, or hold a party. Any way you do it, celebrate learning, and build you school's identity as a place where kids get to learn through projects. Displaying projects in a classroom gives students a sense of pride in their work. Have students celebrate projects from throughout the whole year. It's more meaningful than a typical class party and just as joyful and it's one last chance to anchor memories in students minds. You will learn a lot right here about what students remember and value. This will be useful as you plan for the next year.

Their are a lot of concepts in this chapter that relates to our class project. During our project we have been using a blog to reflect with other students in our class. We have also been asking our students in our projects to reflect on their project work. We are also creating a website to show off all our hard work this semester.