How to write reflections?

To give guiding questions or not?

When we started writing the first reflection this year, I gave several guiding questions to the students. It seemed to confuse them. They stared at the questions and gave short answers.

When I realized how my help was having an opposite effect, I asked them to completely forget my questions and write from a heart. I asked them to imagine telling a story about themselves as learners. 

For the students who have experience with reflecting and who love writing this inspired creating reflections with strong voice. For the students who are less experienced in creating portfolios or expressing themselves in writing, the task became even harder. To compromise we came up with basic expectation of what should be included in a reflection. 

Any reflection should include what we learned in class, what the student knows, what he/she does well, what he/she could become better at, what she/he has created and what attitudes he/she has shown. I offer my help as an editor and sometimes also as a secretary. 

Over the years my expectations for the reflections have grown. Initially there were only two things included in a  portfolio reflection, what the task was and what attitude was demonstrated. The reflections were often dry and very similar to one another. Now I can see that each portfolio really shows the learner. It is never boring to read what the learners think and how they express themselves. Each portfolio is unique.