As we get close to the end of the year and are wrapping things up in our classes to go on our much needed break, I wanted to share with you an end-of-the-year activity that I believe we all must do. This activity is a reflection activity for you and your students.
I have students that continue to do the same thing over and over again with the same results time and again. They end up feeling powerless and frustrated. I’ve always tried to tell them to try something different or that we should try a different approach, but they just don’t listen. Has this happened to you?
This continued to happen until I tried something different with them, self-evaluations. At the end of each of our units, I created space for my students to answer some questions to help them reflect. This is called metacognitive awareness. Metacognition is a strategy that helps us be aware that we have a choice to change how we think and behave so we have different results.
Have you grabbed the Spanish Language Booster resource yet? This free resource will help your students by giving them choices and challenging them.
What Is Metacognition?
Metacognition is the ability to think about our thinking. It’s the ability to reflect on what we did, the effects of what we did, and identifying ways to do things differently. It’s thinking about how we learn, not what we learned.
Reflection Activity
What I love about this reflection activity is that students get back control of their learning. There are a lot of things that students can do to take control of their learning. They just need to reflect on it. Research finds that there is a direct correlation between metacognitive awareness and success in learning.
How To Promote Metacognitive Awareness
You can promote metacognitive awareness by asking questions before, during, and after a task. I’ve been doing this activity at the end of my units, but it is also a good idea to do at the end of the year. I have a specific evaluation that I give my students at the end of the year to look at what they did the first semester, where do they need improvement, and things they could change for the next semester.
How do I do this? I do this with a survey. The survey has two sections. One is a self-reflection and the second is more of an evaluation for myself.
What Did I Discover?
One of the things that I discovered was that my students who needed the most help gave the most vague answers. I used to do open questions, but now I give guided questions and specific answers to choose from. You can get and use my workbook HERE. I always start with a positive question to celebrate my students.
I start off by asking them what they did well this semester. Then, I give them answers to check off. I’ll have answers such as: I used Spanish as much as I could, I listened with intention, and I supported my classmates. I also give them space to add an answer of their own.
Then, I ask them what they could do differently next semester. I share more of the answers that I give my students to choose from in episode 12 of the Growing with Proficiency The Podcast. Listen HERE. Next, I ask them to describe in one word their attitude in the class. I, again, give them options such as engaged or interested.
The final question I ask them is how that attitude affected their performance in the class. It really is about helping them think about how they learned in the class this semester. Hopefully, it also helps them to think about what they could do differently next semester.
How Did I Do?
The last question I did not want to do for a long time. But, when I did, it made such a difference. This was to ask my students how I did. I ask them what did I do that made a difference for you and how. This helps me look at my teaching.
Teachers Need To Also Reflect
The next section is for us as teachers. Why? Because, like our students, we can be really hard on ourselves and only see the negative. There may be things we can’t control as teachers, but there are things that we can. We may feel frustrated and that there is nothing we can do to make things better. But, there are! We find these things through reflection. Don’t forget to grab the workbook to help you do this. Get it HERE.
This workbook is a guide. You can print it, but there is also research that shows that handwriting allows us to think deeper. We type faster than we write, so writing allows us to slow down and think more about what we are reflecting on. After you reflect, you will see more of your wins and how you make a difference. You will also see things that you can do differently.
Listen to episode 12 of the Growing with Proficiency The Podcast to hear about the three pillars I reflect on. Comment below and let me know how your end-of-the-year reflection went and what you learned.
