Week 5 EDLD 5366 Final Reflection

The Importance of Student Reflection

First, I would like to explore a change in belief that I had while reading from ETE (2005) which was that "reflection can occur at any time in the learning process.”  I was under the impression that reflection was an ending process the summary of the lesson, and now I see that reflection can be integrated throughout a lesson, as a learning tool.  I also saw merit in the idea brought forth by Herbert (1995) that there are many different approaches to reflection at times it may be necessary to be “blunt” and at other times a “gentle” approach may be best depending upon the individual student.

The group web site experience is always a bit out of the box for me.  I am a very individual student who likes to have control over the end product. It is always a growing experience for me as I allow others to complete tasks on their own time frame and also allow others choices in work to be the final product.  I do see value in the personal growth as well as learning how to communicate online as I see that area growing rapidly in the near future.

As I move forward with my learning and research I would like to explore how to help a student transfer a mathematical mistake into a meaningful mistake where they are able to make a connection between the errors that they made as to not make that error in the future.  This week I came up with a reflection piece in which a student must write a complete sentence with appropriate content vocabulary either stating what they did correctly to solve the problem or where they made an error.  I guided students through this new process and found it very exciting to see true reflection of the test.  I was guiding students through their thought process and helping them to see where the error occurred.  I will continue to explore this new thought process throughout future lessons.

       Websites have a very valid place in a k-12 classroom on many different levels.  As a teacher they hold a great value as a learning tool to show case videos of lessons that both parents and students can engage in.  They also provide a learning opportunity for colleagues as they are able to see a snap-shot of a lesson and integrate pieces into their own lessons to allow the school to develop a consistency across the subject matter in the delivery.  As Herbert (2001) discusses the importance of electronic portfolios as a “learner centered” activity it is essential to see the use of a student blog as a “assessment for learning” as opposed to an “assessment of learning”. Blogs can be used as a vehicle for learning as a way to see their thought process of weekly lessons and they could further serve as a great portfolio of student growth throughout a school year.

References:

ETE Team. (2005). The reflective student. Retrieved from www.cotf.edu/ete/teacher/reflect.html

Hebert, E. (2001) The Power of Portfolios. Jossey-Bass

Herbert, T. (1995). Experiential learning: A teacher's perspective. 

1997-2004 by Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA-supported Classroom of