“Being an inquiry teacher means more than being able to design tasks within a cycle of inquiry or inviting students to ask and pursue problems and questions. Inquiry comes from a deeper commitment to reflective, process-oriented learning. The inquirer (both teacher and learner) sees themselves and their learning as a ‘work in progress.’ They are driven by the desire not to simply accumulate or conquer a body of knowledge but to make meaning of the ever-changing knowledge landscape of which we are part. This includes acquiring knowledge, but it is understanding that is the ultimate quest.”
-Kath Murdoch The Power of Inquiry
Why Reflect?
Awareness does not just happen by accident. In my personal life I find myself constantly reflecting about interactions, grappling with new knowledge and seeking constant growth.
During the previous school year my partner and I were in a long distance relationship. Between work, time difference and general life happenings, we found it challenging to share the small moments. Consequently, we began to write personal reflections in a memory book. By writing one line a day, we found that we became closer and could empathize more with each other. I loved being able to look back on what we did a week ago, a month ago and ,pretty soon, a year ago.
My personal experience with daily quick reflection led me to consider incorporating more purposeful and consistent reflection in my class. At times I find that assumptions are made that students can meaningfully reflect upon their personal and academic learning to grow; often that is not the case.
How to Reflect?
*Please note that these ‘levels’ need to be fluid.*
‘Tip of iceberg’ Level 1: Group and Personal Connections
Each day we create our own class ‘line of the day’–a synthesis of high, lows and neutral that students share in a class discussion. Students are encouraged to write personal lines on the calendar cards as well. When leaving for the day, students use reflection prompts, created by Kath Murdock,to share with me on their way out the door. Click here to download the document I revamped based upon Kath’s work.
‘Water level’-Level 2: Class actions
Leading students to the next reflection level takes trust as students have to be more vulnerable. Each week as a class we think about what the goal will be, why we’re doing it and how we’ll achieve it. Throughout the week students are encouraged to add onto the goal to make it more of a graffiti board. It is most effective with the goal being right by the daily schedule; leading to constant reference and life!
‘Diving deep’-Level 3: Individual action
If we are really pushing dispositional teaching it will be coming through in level 3. This is really the “so what?” part of reflecting. Through action students, and we as people, are continuing to develop and grow. Without this individual action component, why even reflect? At this level, we consider “so what, why does this matter?” and “now what, with the information you have, are you doing to do about it?”) For my students this action component is critical. We are currently goal setting by zooming into one thing that all of our goals will come out of –one anchoring word. In an upcoming blog post, I’ll speak to reasons behind the ‘anchor word’ goal setting based upon self-awareness.
With the reflections my students make, I am learning ways to support them with where they are–in a multitude of ways.
Wondering for Wisdom 