the pedagogy of "reflections"

[daijobu]

I see more and more the use of "reflections" aka "write about your feelings" being used in schools, in various classes, sometimes even after a math problem set.  Why are so many schools assigning these?  What purpose do they serve?  Do homeschoolers do this?  

[regentrude]

Taking a cynical guess: making students write about their feelings is a way to dumb down the writing assignment and remove any basis for critique by eliminating the need to know anything about any topic or having to apply critical thinking skills and draw logical conclusions. Anybody can spew forth stream-of-consciousness dribble about one's feelings, and nobody can claim anything is wrong - because well, who's to tell what feelings you have going on. 

Another reason may be that psychologists have managed to convince educators that the most important thing is that students feel good about their schooling, and that being in tune with their feelings is a valid substitute for actual learning.

 

Writing on one's feelings about a math assignment is ridiculous.

 

This said: writing about feelings can constitute a good writing assignment if balanced by other assignments that require critical thinking skills, factual knowledge. Feelings play an important role in personal narrative, a valid writing genre.

There is expressing one's emotions, and there is wallowing in them.

Edited December 14, 2016 by regentrude

[Rosie_0801]

The only reason I push dd to talk about feelings and whatnot is because I'm her mother and part of my job is to help her learn that kind of stuff.

 

I hated that kind of nonsense in school. If I was not volunteering such information, it's because I thought it was none of your damned business. I possibly wouldn't have found those assignments so offensive if the teacher had been contributing their own also. Then it slides down the scale from forced confidence to forced sharing, which is slightly less offensive.

[stutterfish]

In the UK  'reflection', in the educational sense, wouldn't necessarily mean writing about feelings: it's a request for a personal reflection on the learning process that has led to the final piece of work. Reflecting on the process has always been a part of assessment in the arts subjects (which are difficult to assess objectively), but this seems to have 'leaked' into many other subjects now, particularly in higher education.

 

This reflection might include a student asking themselves questions, such as: 

How did you begin to research this piece? What artists/scientists/research influenced you? How did you choose what to include/exclude in your final piece? What have you learned during this process? Would you do anything differently if you did it again? etc. 

 

I'm not sure what has caused the change that we see it more often now. I don't think it's a bad thing, necessarily, for a student to look closer at the journey they've taken through a larger piece of work to get to the end point, but I also understand that it can be irritating to have to do it too often!

Edited December 14, 2016 by stutterfish

[SarahW]

I think the sort of "write about a time when you also..." questions are supposed to help the student make a personal connection to the topic. The idea is that that sort of personal engagement will cause the student to notice the importance of the subject, or understand the subject better, or that a personal connection will help the subject move to the long-term memory.

 

I don't agree, since I think students have a default tendency to just B.S. these questions, and any memory engagement will be only how clever their B.S. or other selfish issue was, and not the subject.

 

But the theory behind it is sound - when doing something with my kid I'll sometimes point things out that connect to him personally. But I can do that because I know him really well, and if he doesn't see the connection then I know that comprehension has broken down somewhere. But I don't have him write it out. I think that would be a total waste of time.

[fralala]

If it's really an invitation to write about one's feelings, that's unfortunate. If that's what ends up happening even if it's meant for a different purpose, I'm not surprised, having been in plenty of classrooms where people don't think "not having done the assignment" is an impediment to voicing strong opinions about it.

 

I would interpret "reflections" as stutterfish did above, e.g. "This is the approach I took to solve the math problem, but next time it might be faster to..." or "This scientific demonstration didn't have the outcome we were trying to show. Here are some factors that might have influenced that. We will try again tomorrow, and this is what we'll change..."

[MinivanMom]

If it's really an invitation to write about one's feelings, that's unfortunate. If that's what ends up happening even if it's meant for a different purpose, I'm not surprised, having been in plenty of classrooms where people don't think "not having done the assignment" is an impediment to voicing strong opinions about it.

 

I would interpret "reflections" as stutterfish did above, e.g. "This is the approach I took to solve the math problem, but next time it might be faster to..." or "This scientific demonstration didn't have the outcome we were trying to show. Here are some factors that might have influenced that. We will try again tomorrow, and this is what we'll change..."

 

This is how I have always understood the word "reflections" in an educational context. 

[Syllieann]

It's because we have no content standards. Any attempt at content standards has been criticized as unfair and biased. This results in the home being a stronger predictor or content knowledge than the school. Kids who come from lower SES homes don't tend to get exposed to much content. Schools are rated on how well they can close the gap (among other things), and removing the content requirement from writing allows them to at least teach some writing to those kids. Of course, it does a disservice to kids who do possess content knowledge. But, oh well, the thinking goes, those kids will always score proficient anyway.

 

ETA: No, we definitely don't do this. It is what completely made me hate literature classes. If I had been lucky enough to have a literature class that didn't contain this bs, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it. I get the impression that most wtm boardies actually expect their kids to know something. I'm sure other homeschool styles probably do use this method to some extent though.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Syllieann

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by ..Kathy..

[Farrar]

I agree with Stutterfish's explanation. I'm sure it's being done as "write about your feelings" sometimes - or that kids are interpreting it that way. But my understanding of the pedagogy is that you're supposed to be reflecting on the process. For a big art or research project or something along those lines, I think it's to help kids reflect on what they learned, not move on from the information too quickly, be able to see how they might do a better or more efficient job in the future. It might include, "I liked this," or "I hate this topic," but that's not the focus.

 

In terms of math, I think it's part of the CC push for kids to explain their math processes. So, not, "I feel happy when I do math," but, "I found this problem easy because I understand how such and such works and all I had to do was add this and subtract that and it's like that other problem from yesterday, etc." I think the purpose is to get kids more aware of their thinking processes, which will hopefully help them think smarter. If they can pinpoint why something was difficult, that's useful. Or if they can explain how they did something, then they can apply it more easily the next time, perhaps in a more complex way.

 

I have deeply mixed feelings about this though. I mean, on the one hand, it's good, especially at the end of long, complex projects in the arts and humanities. If you spend a month working on a serious self-portrait for an art course, stopping to reflect will enrich what you learned about art and creativity in the process. If you just finished a long research presentation about a history topic, being able to pause and say what research path might have worked better is useful. In science, the lab report process has always included some of these types of questions. And kids should be able to explain their thinking and reflect on how they're doing in math.

 

But... I think it's being overused, especially in science and math. Like, asking 7 yos to write sentences about how they solved a basic addition problem - while I think 7 yos should be invited to think deeply about math and have to explain their processes sometimes - is just jarring and adds a level of difficulty to math that makes it onerously hard for a large segment of kids. Reflection is good... but there's also a lot to be said for just doing. Reflection can be a positive process that helps kids pause and think... or it can become the bureaucratic paperwork of education. I mean, 10 yos should be worried about reading and writing and learning new things and not about writing TPS reports (Office Space reference for the confused). 

 

In our homeschool (and this is based loosely on when I worked in a Quaker school without grades), we pause four times per school year to have the kids write self-assessments and reflections. What have they learned? What are they proud of? What do they need to work on? What goals do they have? What is difficult and why? What is easy and why? Those sorts of questions. I like cordoning off that time, so to speak, and not having it part of our everyday process except as an informal, oral conversation as needed. Sometimes our math programs ask for this sort of thing though - I liked the way Jousting Armadillos asked kids to explain their thinking, for example. That's more on an everyday basis.

[wapiti]

In the UK  'reflection', in the educational sense, wouldn't necessarily mean writing about feelings: it's a request for a personal reflection on the learning process that has led to the final piece of work. Reflecting on the process has always been a part of assessment in the arts subjects (which are difficult to assess objectively), but this seems to have 'leaked' into many other subjects now, particularly in higher education.

 

This reflection might include a student asking themselves questions, such as: 

How did you begin to research this piece? What artists/scientists/research influenced you? How did you choose what to include/exclude in your final piece? What have you learned during this process? Would you do anything differently if you did it again? etc. 

 

I'm not sure what has caused the change that we see it more often now. I don't think it's a bad thing, necessarily, for a student to look closer at the journey they've taken through a larger piece of work to get to the end point, but I also understand that it can be irritating to have to do it too often!

 

This.  AFAIK, the reflections are only intended as tools to learn study skills.

 

My 8th graders and also now my 5th grader have done reflections, both in the old school and in their new one.  It was weirder at the old school because it was set up more loosely, a complete waste of time IMO and requiring a written answer that was far too lengthy, completely unguided (um, there were reflections for PE and music).

 

But, at their new school, it's much more specific, guided, and brief.  For math, it might look like, how did you study for the unit test?  did you do the practice quizzes?  was that effective/enough? etc.  The questions are worded in such a way that it's possible the teacher may be getting some information from this exercise as well.

 

I do think it's good for them to think about whether they would approach their studies in a different way next time.  (Then again, they are 13, so I suspect they might not remember next time that they should have gone the different route....I don't know.)  As long as it's not a huge time-user, I don't really care one way or the other.

Edited December 14, 2016 by wapiti

[LMD]

In our homeschool (and this is based loosely on when I worked in a Quaker school without grades), we pause four times per school year to have the kids write self-assessments and reflections. What have they learned? What are they proud of? What do they need to work on? What goals do they have? What is difficult and why? What is easy and why? Those sorts of questions. I like cordoning off that time, so to speak, and not having it part of our everyday process except as an informal, oral conversation as needed. Sometimes our math programs ask for this sort of thing though - I liked the way Jousting Armadillos asked kids to explain their thinking, for example. That's more on an everyday basis.

This sounds really interesting Farrar, could you possibly explain a little bit more or post a link please?

[Farrar]

This sounds really interesting Farrar, could you possibly explain a little bit more or post a link please?

 

We do it pretty informally. Basically I just have the kids write about what they've been doing and learning and how schoolwork is going. As well as how they could improve. I give them guideline questions like that and then have them do the writing. I go back through it and polish it with them, but not in a serious way - just very quickly, doing a quick edit and also pushing them to say more about a couple of things if they left something out. It's usually just about a page or so typed up. It's part of our portfolio process when the kids also choose their best example work and we throw the rest away - and I make a list of books we've read and field trips we've taken. That stuff and their short self assessment paper all goes into a binder for the year.

 

I find that it's a really good thing for them. They usually emerge feeling positive about schoolwork and also feeling more committed to something - not always the thing I expect, but often someone is like, gee, I should really work on my handwriting or, I really want to do a better job focusing when I work on math, or something like that. And then they do. Not perfectly, but it does help to have them reflect on how they're working and what's going well.

 

A lot of the reflection work being done in schools is much, much more routine and constant. It'll be a couple of questions tacked on to every test, every paper, sometimes a question after several different math problems. I think the purpose is overlapping to what I'm talking about, but not completely the same. But I like having it be a separate pause moment every 3 months or so instead of something every other day. I can see arguments for both, of course, and I try to - especially when it comes to processes like lab processes or math processes - check in with the kids and have them writing that kind of stuff too occasionally. But mostly I think when it's all the time like that it gets to be sort of filled with bs and not very thoughtful.

[Bluegoat]

I agree with Stutterfish's explanation. I'm sure it's being done as "write about your feelings" sometimes - or that kids are interpreting it that way. But my understanding of the pedagogy is that you're supposed to be reflecting on the process. For a big art or research project or something along those lines, I think it's to help kids reflect on what they learned, not move on from the information too quickly, be able to see how they might do a better or more efficient job in the future. It might include, "I liked this," or "I hate this topic," but that's not the focus.

 

In terms of math, I think it's part of the CC push for kids to explain their math processes. So, not, "I feel happy when I do math," but, "I found this problem easy because I understand how such and such works and all I had to do was add this and subtract that and it's like that other problem from yesterday, etc." I think the purpose is to get kids more aware of their thinking processes, which will hopefully help them think smarter. If they can pinpoint why something was difficult, that's useful. Or if they can explain how they did something, then they can apply it more easily the next time, perhaps in a more complex way.

 

I have deeply mixed feelings about this though. I mean, on the one hand, it's good, especially at the end of long, complex projects in the arts and humanities. If you spend a month working on a serious self-portrait for an art course, stopping to reflect will enrich what you learned about art and creativity in the process. If you just finished a long research presentation about a history topic, being able to pause and say what research path might have worked better is useful. In science, the lab report process has always included some of these types of questions. And kids should be able to explain their thinking and reflect on how they're doing in math.

 

But... I think it's being overused, especially in science and math. Like, asking 7 yos to write sentences about how they solved a basic addition problem - while I think 7 yos should be invited to think deeply about math and have to explain their processes sometimes - is just jarring and adds a level of difficulty to math that makes it onerously hard for a large segment of kids. Reflection is good... but there's also a lot to be said for just doing. Reflection can be a positive process that helps kids pause and think... or it can become the bureaucratic paperwork of education. I mean, 10 yos should be worried about reading and writing and learning new things and not about writing TPS reports (Office Space reference for the confused). 

 

In our homeschool (and this is based loosely on when I worked in a Quaker school without grades), we pause four times per school year to have the kids write self-assessments and reflections. What have they learned? What are they proud of? What do they need to work on? What goals do they have? What is difficult and why? What is easy and why? Those sorts of questions. I like cordoning off that time, so to speak, and not having it part of our everyday process except as an informal, oral conversation as needed. Sometimes our math programs ask for this sort of thing though - I liked the way Jousting Armadillos asked kids to explain their thinking, for example. That's more on an everyday basis.

 

I think that part of the problem is that reflecting that way requires a level of analytical ability that is really above what most children are capable of in the early elementary years.  And by most I mean the ones that really can do it are not just bright but on a really different developmental level.

[Farrar]

I think that part of the problem is that reflecting that way requires a level of analytical ability that is really above what most children are capable of in the early elementary years.  And by most I mean the ones that really can do it are not just bright but on a really different developmental level.

 

I basically agree... especially when it's written. I think you can have a conversation, you can ask kids to show you with manipulatives, you can talk about it, you can draw picures (though, with math it becomes a problem when the drawing of pictures becomes an algorithm on its own as well)... but asking kids to write out a process is mostly unreasonable before a certain stage of development. It's definitely seen as inappropriate from the perspective of the WTM take on the grammar stage.

 

We've done Destination Imagination for years and a couple of years ago they added this reflection piece and it honestly feels like a giant waste of time. We're in the midst of prepping for the tournament and it's HARD work and the kids have to stop and write this whole reflection essay to turn in when they get there. It's a huge, obnoxious distraction. And it's extra weird for the little kids. Ds12 is coaching a team of 5-6 yos this year and I was reminding him that he'd have to get them to do this somehow and we all groaned. I think he nearly pitched a fit just thinking about it. Sigh.

[MerryAtHope]

 

In our homeschool (and this is based loosely on when I worked in a Quaker school without grades), we pause four times per school year to have the kids write self-assessments and reflections. What have they learned? What are they proud of? What do they need to work on? What goals do they have? What is difficult and why? What is easy and why? Those sorts of questions. I like cordoning off that time, so to speak, and not having it part of our everyday process except as an informal, oral conversation as needed. Sometimes our math programs ask for this sort of thing though - I liked the way Jousting Armadillos asked kids to explain their thinking, for example. That's more on an everyday basis.

 

I like that. We always did informal conversations a few times a year, and then an end of the year questionnaire with similar questions.

[stutterfish]

I think that part of the problem is that reflecting that way requires a level of analytical ability that is really above what most children are capable of in the early elementary years. And by most I mean the ones that really can do it are not just bright but on a really different developmental level.

Yes. This. I understand the purpose of reflecting on a piece of work, but it needs to be appropriate to age and stage of development, otherwise it can quickly kill a love of learning.