Student Voice and Reflection

In the PYP Enhancements April communique we learned that Reflection is no longer a Key Concept.

This was initially met with excitement and agreement on Twitter. Many educators felt that finally there is a focus and a justification of really emphasizing reflection as a tool to improve student learning.

However, I do agree with this tweet from Nicole Jaggers:

I’m not sold on removing reflection! I asked my staff to guess which concept has been removed and they all hoped it was ‘form’. Their reasoning- form is in everything! Shaky ground when concepts are removed because they are in everything, we would have no key concepts! #pypchat

— Nicole Jaggers (@NicoleJaggers) April 19, 2018

This is essentially true with all key concepts as they are macro-concepts, therefore making the removal of Reflection an odd deed indeed.

Key concepts are macro-concepts that transcend disciplines such as change, interdependence, system and relationships. The PYP has identified eight macro-concepts as key concepts to use for the programme.

— Concept-based teaching and learning by H Lynn Erickson

As the discussion matured and more and more people were voicing their support and agreement to the new enhancement I began to wonder whether we were talking about the same thing. I started to wonder if there was a misinterpretation of what fully integrated means or if my own interpretation was inaccurate and that’s when I came across this comment that perfectly summarizes what I had been thinking about

Exactly. It’s about reliability, validity and evidence – how do we know what we know? It’s not about reflecting on learning and to think it is is missing the point on why it was included as a concept in the first place in my humble opinion. pic.twitter.com/8LbYjsSxws

— Michael Hughes (@HughesT0KY0) May 3, 2018

There is a huge difference between being reflective and reflection as a concept.

An example from MTPYPH,’Social Studies:•What makes one historical source better than another? •What stereotypes do we have about this place? •Which primary sources have we used to gather data? •How reliable are our own opinions and those of others?’ Not just self reflection..

— Dom Thomas (@DomThomas8) May 2, 2018

Student Voice – Becoming a meta-cognitive thinker

Metacognition in the school context is thinking about one’s thinking.  More precisely it refers to the processes we use to plan, monitor, and assess our own understanding, learning, and performance.

To be able to one needs to have a critical awareness of

a) one’s thinking and learning
b) oneself as a thinker and learner

Metacognition literally means “big thinking.” You are thinking about thinking. During this process you are examining your brain’s processing. Teachers work to guide students to become more strategic thinkers by helping them understand the way they are processing information. Questioning, visualizing, and synthesizing information are all ways that readers can examine their thinking process. Through scaffolding and reciprocal teaching, students are able to practice the skills that lead to these overt acts becoming automatic.

— Fountas and Pinnell, 2000

In our Digital World, we can create, capture, curate, and connect student learning in any form. We definitely should be empowering students to independently to document their learning not just in school but everywhere where their learning and action takes place. Digital portfolios, blogs, and social media tools are in our grasp to take this step further, to redefine thinking about our thinking, to document our learning process, and to receive and give feedback. However, if we just document learning, reflect without feedback, and  do routines without thinking there is a chance that even the best intentions become  disjointed from Why:

When we stop to think about how, when, why and where we document our own learning… does it connect with what we are asking of students? #studentagency #pypchat https://t.co/RCPmvNALC3

— Taryn BondClegg (@makingoodhumans) May 11, 2018

 Therefore we need to make sure that through our ATL -lense we focus on metacognition and reflection and rise above routines to think about thinking.

• Reference:
  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00098655.2016.1170450
  http://www.lifescied.org/content/11/2/113.full
• Additional reading:
  http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/11061