Reflections, reflections, reflections

When was the last time you had to write a reflection about yourself?
Twice a year the students in PYP pause and ponder about who they are as writers and readers, what attitudes do they show in math and UOI, what are some things they have created, what are their strengths and areas to grow, what have they learned and how much they have grown.

As a teacher it is fascinating to see how different students approach the task and what is that they find most important to include in their reflections.

We take writing reflections similarly to writing any texts. We think what is the purpose, who is the audience, what ideas and details to include, how to structure the text, and what words to use so it would be interesting to read.

Writing reflections takes time, yet it is important not to just plow on with learning, but to stop and see where we started,  where we are now and where we are heading.

I hope that when you see the student portfolios, you will take time to read what they have written, compliment their achievements and discuss their future goals.

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. 

Portfolios in grade 3

Continuing from yesterday.
Last year Grade 2 used Keynote to create electronic portfolios. Keynote looks visually very appealing and allows to make each presentation in personal style. Unfortunately the portfolios were too big to be saved and some got lost in the process of collecting I-Pads. I thought I would try something different. At first I thought of Google Sites or Wikispaces, but you need internet access to be able to view them. I needed something that would keep things in the cyber space but at the same time would be accessible when internet is down. I picked Evernote
I have been using Evernote mainly for collecting Pd reading and also for recording reading workshop conference notes. This is what my notebook collection looks like.

I can have many notes in one notebook. I can insert pictures and audiorecording to my notes. The only drawback is that I can't insert videos. I can include a link.
With students we created a notebook for each subject. Since many of the students had updated their I-Pad, their Evernote layout differs from the one I have.

So far Evernote has been easy to use. When we have our first student-parent-teacher conference, we will find out whether it will be easy to view and pleasing to the eye.

Creating portfolios

There are many different ways to collect data about students. We use assessment to understand the learner, to measure progress and to set goals. I have mentioned that I listen to the children reading to me and thinking out loud, observe them during math, or regularly read their journals. These are informal ways to gather data. I wrote about MAP test. This is a formal standardized assessment. Each assessment has its value. Piecing together info that I have collected from different assessments helps me to decide what experiences would help to meet each learner's needs.

Over the years I have found that one of the most powerful assessment strategies is a portfolio.
A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that tells a story of the student as a learner. Each chosen piece includes a self-reflection. It shows interests, habits, effort, knowledge, attitude, skills, progress, and goals in all subject areas. Creating a portfolio asks the learner to take charge. At ISE we don't create showcase portfolios with the best and most beautiful work. The portfolio may include sketches, drafts and even unfinished pieces if the learner is able to explain why she/he chose it.

So far I in my classes students have collected papers and printed out reflections to assemble between covers.

This year I am trying out electronic portfolios. Some of my students had experience with electronic portfolios last year. They used Keynote to do it. This year we are taking a different approach. What and how we plan to do, I will write in a future blog post.