30 Day Reflection: 3 2 1 Reflect

This is the 19th day in a 30 day challenge from Teach Thought.


Day 19: Name three powerful ways students can reflect on their learning, then discuss closely which one you use most often.


Whole Group Debrief
One of my favorite ways to have students reflect on their learning is by asking two simple questions.

              1. What did we do well today?
              2. What do we need to work on?

These two questions typically illicit some very thoughtful and, often, brutally honest comments. It's a great way to assess whether or not a new activity or procedure went well or not.


Silent Conversation
I love to have my students help each other reflect, but I find that they often lose focus when talking face-to-face and their conversations get off track quickly. This is where the silent conversation strategy comes in handy.  Sometimes, I will have students use post-it notes and write comments on another student's or group's work. I ask them to use three sentence starters.

1. I think...
2. I wonder...
3. Have you considered...

Again, students provide helpful feedback and the student whose work is being viewed can keep the post-it notes and address them on their time frame. Often, a student is too overwhelmed with the verbal conversation to remember everything that was said.


3-2-1 Minute Reflection
Sometimes when a student is completely stuck or overwhelmed by a task or text, I ask them to give me a 3-2-1 Minute Reflection. I tell them to set a 60 second timer on their phone and then jot down responses to the following prompts.

List 3 words associated with this task/text.
List 2 frustrations with this task/text.
List 1 question you want someone to answer about the task/text.

The reflection isn't overwhelming since it is only one minute long, Also, by having students write it down it gives them a response other than "I don't know" when we sit down to conference.