The harder I can encourage children to think about their thinking, the less I feel I have to work! When I encourage children to reflect upon their learning, I find they begin to set themselves more appropriate goals and learn more. When students are setting themselves appropriate and achievable goals, then they are drivers of their own learning and growth. I believe this encouragement leads most kids to want to engage with the math content more.
At the end of every lesson, I host a reflection discussion. Some kids are great at reflecting, and others can be way off the mark when it comes to self-assessment. Taking just a few minutes to talk about why they score their success at this or that is really key to helping with gauging their self-improvement. I try to ask how they will improve or maintain their score and discuss those learning strategies to strive for success & what that looks like.
When kids can self-assess well, they can make really good choices about where to go for help and what to do next and even know where to start with ‘Let’s Go!, ‘Strive For Success!’ & ‘Mathematician!’ The more children reflect on their own learning, set their own mini goals, and strive to improve, the more their learning will enter their home discussions and drive exploration.
In Mrs. Rowntree’s resources you’ll find a reflection page in every lesson presentation, like the one displayed here. Not only will children be encouraged to reflect upon their learning in accordance with the lesson’s success criteria, but also other students are encouraged to share their ideas and exemplary work to learn from each other. Head over to TeachBuySell at https://teachbuysell.com.au/store/Mrs-Rowntree to download a free lesson to try it out with your class and read about the teacher tips.
Stay tuned for my next unit! Year 4 Fractions as Numbers on a Number Line. It will be the first of four units on fractions for Year 4 students.
Mrs Rowntree 