Less is More: On Choosing Joy and Embracing Chaos

I have reached my capacity. I can't add one more thing. I am exhausted. 

These common phrases fill the offices of teachers near and far. Finding ways in which to combat these sentiments are almost as daunting as the to-do lists teachers create for themselves each day. I must admit that the phrases mentioned above have been felt by me this school year. As a person seeking work-life harmony, I know that I need to take action to create a healthier and happier relationship with rest and relaxation. While harmony of any kind needs to be frequently fine-tuned, there are ways to set healthy boundaries, and it is my goal to create and maintain them. Unfortunately, I am not succeeding, but admitting that there is a need to reevaluate is a good first step, right?

Social-emotional learning is a trending topic in the education world, and we cannot forget to apply those principles that are being thoughtfully crafted for our students to ourselves. I find that many educators who experience burnout are carrying the emotional load of their students, colleagues, and school. Being in the business of people makes it difficult to separate school from everyday life. A colleague suggested I read Angela Watson's book Fewer Things, Better: The Courage to Focus on What Matters Most, which has challenged me to reflect on what it means to be busy versus productive, overloaded versus efficient. Through conversations with friends and participating in the ongoing discussion on what SEL looks like in schools, I have come to realize that I need to care less to love more.

Yes, I have determined that I need to care a little less about the daily tasks and perfecting every detail to be able to engross myself more authentically in what matters. While this notion is counterintuitive, learning to let go will provide me with more space to refill my emotional bucket so that I can show more love, empathy, and understanding to the needs of Generation Z, a group of students who are experiencing levels of trauma and anxiety more than ever before.

As a parent of growing children who are almost school-aged now, I have begun to compare my parenting practices to my teaching style. As a parent, I am learning to challenge my children to accomplish tasks and chores on their own. In doing so, those clothes may not be folded as nicely, or the bins used to organize their toys end up a little more disorganized than I'd like. If I am okay with insignificant and menial chaos in my own home, I need to accept more disarray in my classroom and school-life.

I have been guilty of pushing myself to the limit to ensure that everyone succeeds at school, and in doing so, I have robbed students and adults alike of dissonance and discomfort that can lead to immense growth. Failure is okay; incomplete work can sometimes lead to an enriching life. A little chaos can lead to beautiful results. While there are times to take charge of a situation, I have to learn to accept that there are times when I need to allow someone else to own a problem. Students like my children, need to learn to self-manage and problem solve.

So how do we begin to circumvent feelings of fatigue and burnout?

1. Start by establishing clear rules and goals.

I have goals in mind to establish better work-life harmony, but I have not executed them yet. Formulating thoughts on paper and speaking them aloud to individuals who will and are holding me accountable is the first step toward implementation. Part of my problem and the problem of other educators is that we don't know how to turn off. There's not a magical off switch that powers down our desire to stop caring for and worrying about our students. Papers come home to be graded; lesson planning happens at all hours of the night but at some point. Boundaries have to be set. Even if it's scheduled, rest and relaxation have to happen. This area continues to be a work in progress for me, but progress is being made!

2. Keep validating others' feelings but don't own them.

Empathy is a powerful and critical skill, but taking on someone else's problem is not healthy for you or for the other person. When we assume the feelings of others, we hinder ourselves from helping others with their problems. We drain our batteries quicker, and that type of fatigue can carry into areas of our lives. Instead of feeling with - we should feel for and show support. Students upset mostly wants to be heard and validated. That act of validation can change a mood and uplift a person, instead of creating a cycle in which the feelings ruminate, and the situation is not solved. Listening and acknowledging someone's feelings alleviates

3. Turn off constant notifications.

A decade ago (or maybe two at this point), work was left at work, and home life was more preserved. That's not to say that teachers didn't grade and lesson plan at home, but the emails were not coming in at all hours of the day. Today, notifications, submissions, and emails are always coming, and I often become anxious about responding to the dings on my phone. I know many teachers have set great boundaries for themselves about the time in which they will reply and even read emails. My goal now is to stop looking at email at 8 PM. Once I have reached that point (having been up since 4 AM), I am no longer as effective, detailed, or responsive. While I am not ready to cut all ties to my email, I realize that I need to start setting better limits and value my time so that I can be more productive, effective, and engaged when it is time to respond.

4. Schedule time for joy.

Having children has taught me to be more present and in the moment. My time with my littles is fleeting and had been a dream of mine for a long time. It took almost five years to have our first child, and I didn't wait that long to miss the experience. Doing small things like going to the library as a family, apple picking, visiting relatives - these little trips fill our hearts in big ways. Always schedule time for joy and honor that time to the fullest.

5. Talk about anything but school.

When with teacher friends, my first instinct is to talk shop on weekends and when socializing, but being at school all day, grading all night, and then gabbing about it all weekend does not create space to reset. While my pride and joy is my work, if I want to have a life outside of that, I can't talk about it all the time. Reducing the conversations about school or just embracing another interest for a few minutes allows for a little space from such a meaningful vocation.

As a parent and teacher, I have learned that to be loving, effective, and engaging. I need to bear a little less of the load. My goal is to love, support, and walk alongside my kids - both small and big. Scrolling through some readings on my phone, I came across this poem by 19th-century poet and philosopher, Kahlil Gibran who states,

“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their thoughts.”

As a teacher, I have learned that I have to give them space to succeed and fail, achieve, and prevail. I am called to help them discover their thoughts and ideas, and in that process, I am there to guide them to - not drop them off at - their next destinations. We are far better supporters than carriers. It's time to lighten the load so that we can love more authentically, embrace life more joyfully, and teach more effectively. Less in this case really is so much more.

Teaching Gen Z

Recently, I watched a webinar as part of a PD workshop, hosted by the community college where I adjunct, that explored Gen Z learners. With a decade already come and gone, I have seen the Millennial generation matriculate through the school system. Replaced by Gen Z,  it has been easy to forget that society and my students' perspectives on it differ from their predecessors. As technology and our world evolves, so too do our students. While both Millennials and Gen Zers have similar characteristics and levels of proficiency with the types of technological communication that interests them (Note: They hate email.), there are some distinct differences. My mother has always told me, much to my chagrin, that children are the products of their parents. Parental viewpoints, values, and perspectives significantly impact how a child engages with and view the world in which they. Millenials have young Baby Boomer parents that grew up in a golden age in which the American Dream was thriving, and hard work seemingly paid off. Inherently, Millenials, the generation I am a part of seeks connections with others through many platforms, deeply values collaboration and dreams of work-life balance (or work-life harmony as I like to call it). Our curiosity and connectedness have made us overly optimistic, a characteristic that is now being deemed as toxic when taken too far. The list of characteristics about Millenials continue to occupy the headlines, perpetuating the idea that we are all spoiled and seek instant gratifications.

Millenials have gotten a bad rap. These headlines bashing Millenials frustrate me to no end. The idea that Millenials are lazy, still living at home, and love to eat avocado toast while drinking Starbucks lattes is mostly inaccurate. I must admit I indulge in a coffee after only getting four hours of sleep because I was working my side hustle (adjuncting at an awesome community college) the night before, but according to media headline, I'm still lazy and probably feel a little too entitled to that morning cup of joe. Entering the workforce in the great recession of 2008, in a time when work landscapes are radically shifting to consultation work and remote offices, has led to Millenials struggling to pay off excessive student debt and seek alternative types of employment. Still, Millenials remain incredibly open-minded and tend to view the world with slightly rosier glasses than their Gen X and Gen Z counterparts. I'll refrain from unleashing a verbal deluge about how Millenials never asked for participation trophies or demanded smartphones. In spite of the negativity thrown at my cohort on this planet, I see my generation using social media platforms and technology to rewrite the narrative on what the definition of the American Dream actually is and how it can be achieved.

Now that the youthfulness of Millenials has passed on to a new class of humans, I seek to understand and recognize the new population with my classroom and identify what motivates Gen Z. At first glance, they look like Millenials - tech-savvy and ready to use social media to document their lives, yet they are showing a decline in optimism. Considering issues such as global climate change, natural disasters, and the political climate, I am not surprised by this information, but recognizing the more realistic, "tell it like it is" attitude of the next generation does cause me to stop and reflect on my teaching practices and how I view their behavior. Remembering that our world continues to evolve at rapid rates, it is critical as a teacher that I identify how and why these changes impact my current students. Again I return to my mother's belief that children are a product of their parents. Gen X, the grunge-loving, slightly more cynical generation who values work-place independence are now raising these Gen Zers. Their children will reflect their desire to save money and work autonomously. With this iteration of students and their tech-savvy skills, it's time to insert blended learning and flexible scheduling opportunities.

Recently I read Start Something That Matters by TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, a book that addresses the desire to use for-profit companies to engage in nonprofit ventures. This theory of using one's professional platform to participate in more philanthropic pursuits is one that this generation is and will adopt in their futures. When they believe in a cause, their motivation increases tenfold, and they are willing to use their digital resources to share their thoughts openly. Student motivation has been down lately and perhaps technology is to blame or increasing levels of anxiety that is the result of numerous factors (including ACEs, pressure to perform, economic disparity, violence, social and political issues, etc.). Whatever the reason, my goal is to deliver my best Jaime Escalante impression and reach these kids.

Teaching a room full of repeat freshmen this summer has challenged me to reflect on student motivation. A few days ago, I ended up on my Sukow soapbox and started preaching about developing literacy and communication skills that will make the remainder of their high school experience more successful as they develop a strong sense of self-efficacy. (I wasn't handed a ribbon, but I did receive a round of applause. Thanks for the metaphorical gold star, kids!) When students improve their reading skills, they inherently become better writers. When they develop their writing skills, they naturally become better speakers with some encouragement to face their speech anxiety. These skills are interdependent and are the foundation for any future pursuit - academic, personal, and professional.

While I am still new in exploring generational studies and how that impacts classroom learning, I have drawn a few initial nuggets of knowledge.


1. Gen Z prefers to work individually. 

As offices turn digital and require more remote work, this generation seeks autonomy, although they are highly driven by relationships. Working alongside others instead of directly with others is a more efficient way to complete work. Although the webinar I recently completed and some of my initial readings suggests that this generation still values and is motivated by their relationships. Perhaps a blended-learning model would be most desirable for these students as it would allow them to meet and engage with others face-to-face but also work independently and at their own pace.


2. Students in this generation are more invested in projects that are broken into smaller tasks and want to feel a sense of accomplishment along the way. 

Gamification and badging are both strategies that may drive these students who are motivated by their sense of accomplishments. Direct feedback after completing a step in a greater project or assignment motivate these students to continue working, and the latter seems like a great educational practice. Giving students more feedback before a test or a summative is collected is the best way to help their revise, grow, and cultivate critical skills. Creating mastery pathways and using learning management systems to personalize the learning experience can help students to work at their own pace while accomplishing specific curriculum-based tasks. I'm still not sold on badging or how that could possibly motivate students, but I suppose everyone likes a sticker to put on their Chromebooks, right?



3. When learning is directly relevant and related to their interests, they will work. Hard. 

Student motivation seems to be lacking as of late, although I doubt this is a groundbreaking problem. The phrase "kids these days" has been used for generations. I propose that if we reframe how we view our frustrations with "kids these days," we can empower both our students and ourselves to be more proactive, productive, and positive (Sorry, I can't seem to shake my Millenial optimism). In the book Marching Off the Map: Inspire Students to Navigate a Brand New World by Tim Elmore, student-apathy is addressed. By tapping into students' passion, we can encourage them to take control of their educational pursuits. Providing student choice, blending classroom experiences, and encouraging students to choose their independent books or research topics are not new concepts, but finding ways to update the curriculum using these teaching practices is still crucial. When our students seem to lack motivation, there are multiple factors at play. Perhaps social-emotional obstacles are in the way, or there is a gap in prior knowledge to be able to engage with the current curriculum, whatever the reason might be, we must continue to reflect as teachers and adapt when possible to provide students with learning experiences that will spark their motivational fire.


4. Gen Z needs to be challenged to be content creators not just side-line consumers. 

Consuming digital media is a constant in students' lives. They are plugged into YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and the ever-evolving list of social platforms (such as TikTok) continue to occupy their free (and even not so free) hours. Instead of allowing students to be passive consumers of content, they should devote their time to networking, engaging, and creating through the platforms that are most comfortable to them. By navigating the interwebs effectively, they can learn and hone their skills; they can find their voices. While students need direct instruction in digital citizenship, especially since their digital footprints are permanent, learning to develop their brand and foster relationships that could be professionally beneficial to them in the future is a critical part of their world.

Note: My daughter, the three-year-old vlogger, is preparing her first TED Talk as I write this.

I still have much to learn, but I am hopeful that with a deeper understanding of the successors to the Millenial generation, I can continue to adapt and revise my teaching practices in ways that provide my students with greater access to learning, autonomy, and a sense of empowerment. My biggest takeaway from what I have learned thus far is that change is the only constant in education and life. We must be observant, seek understanding, and not be afraid to experiment with what works in the classroom.

If anyone has resources or books to read on Teaching Gen Z, please share!

TED Talks that Inspired My 2017

Quiet mornings allow me to prepare for the school day. I wake up naturally and am often at school before the hallways fill. During this time, when I am most creative, I review lessons, create new assignments and activities, and grade countless essays without distraction. When I'm not grading, I love to lose myself down the rabbit hole of TED - scanning titles and subjects for my daily dose of inspiration. TED talks are fantastic examples of public speakers who are passionate about their content, willing to show vulnerability, and excited to share their life's work. While I might not be knowledgeable in the fields of medicine or astrophysics, listening and learning from these excellent presenters is inspiring. This fall, the following TED talks have brought me through some challenging moments, motivated me to overcome adversity, and reminded me that no matter what is placed before me, there is power in the words and stories we share.

We Should Aim for Perfection and Stop Fearing Failure by Jon Bowers

After listening to Jon Bowers's talk on aiming for perfection, I am reminded that while we might fall short of goals or achievements, we should never stop striving to accomplish our absolute best. Yes, we will fail. No speech, lesson, work presentation, sales pitch, etc. is without some minor flub or flaw, but through a commitment to excellence, repeated practice, and aiming for quality in each communicative experience, we can create messages and moments that leave a significant impact on our audience. Failure is a powerful step in the journey to perfection - to becoming the best at whatever we pursue. Without failure, we cannot learn and grow. This talk does a beautiful job reinforcing the value of failure and not accepting anything less than our best. Without the learning that occurs from failing, we cannot truly know success.

What Makes Life Worth Living in the Face of Dying by Lucy Kalanithi

This speech is incredibly near and dear to my heart. The beauty that is shared through this speaker's vulnerability and genuine message is incredibly powerful and moving. We all have or will experience loss, and this talk does a fantastic job of showcasing both the joys and the struggles of living. On a personal note, this year I have struggled with understanding mortality and reflecting on what makes a quality life after learning about my son's diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. While there is so much hope related to his diagnosis, and we fully expect him to live a completely normal life (with work), this is the TED Talk that I needed to cope and put his life in perspective. None of us are guaranteed anything in our journeys. Living is a hazard in itself, and our lives are fleeting. We must strive to embrace the moments given to us in spite of the struggles we are facing because each moment is a gift. Dr. Kalanithi beautifully shares her story of loss and pays tribute to a life well-lived by empowering the audience to take charge of living the best life imaginable through her message.

The Happy Secret to Better Work by John Achor

Okay, slow down John Achor. This speaker talks fast, but his passion and information are powerful. He certainly is engaging and funny, and on top of that, his message is important. He talks about changing the lens of how we view the world. Our success in the workforce is closely related to how we view stress. When we view stress as a challenge, we can rise above any adversity to ascertain greatness. So often in our schools, we know students who are overwhelmed with homework, rigorous classes, and extracurricular activities. Our students, like us, feel overwhelmed. Instead of embracing the idea that the only way to be happy is to generate a list of accomplishments, we need to teach our students to view hard work as a positive challenge. This  talk emphasizes the idea that we can train the brain to focus on optimism, which serves as a primer for hard work and achievement. In a world that so often highlights the negative, this talk is a great reminder of how we can control our reality through our outlooks and perceptions.

Success, Failure, and the Drive to Keep Creating by Elizabeth Gilbert

I love Elizabeth Gilbert's talks. She is inspiring, and this TED Talk is particularly powerful because she self-discloses her feelings on failure. She discusses her rejections and losses, and instead of simply giving up, she highlights how she persevered. I used this talk with my speech team students during camp. When we put ourselves out in front of the world, we are sure to experience some form of rejection or failure. As artists, performers, speakers, writers, and creators, are work will not always be well received or be critically acclaimed, but the reason we create and share should not be for the praise or approval of others. Our work should be about expressing ourselves, finding our voices, and sharing ideas that matter. When we can find that intrinsic motivation, the rejection that inevitably occurs at a speech tournament or in some other real-world experience does not seem so daunting. Instead, rejection creates an opportunity to try again.

Age is Nothing; Attitude is Everything by Bobbie Hickey

This young speaker is such a source of encouragement. Even though she is young, she has such a powerful perspective on how to live a memorable life. In spite of surgeries and physical impairments, she views the world as a place to embrace and overcome obstacles. She believes the world is a place to explore and live fully. Her normal is different than most, but the wisdom she has acquired reminds us all to face adversity. Determination can allow us all to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Perception and a positive attitude enable us to take on the world. Her words are a great reminder that no matter what the world tells us, it is important to remember how capable we are.

How to Gain Control of Your Free Time by Laura Vanderkam

Managing time and finding work-life balance are two topics that intrigue me. This speaker does a wonderful job of reminding us that we have a limited amount of time. We live in a culture of busy. We are encouraged to feel the stress of busyness, but busy and full are two synonyms that can change our attitude. When we say our lives are too hectic to complete a task, it is not that we are too busy. It means that whatever activity is being placed before us is not a priority. A single week is comprised of 168 hours. We can make those hours full by prioritizing what we value. We can find time to read, run, spend time with our family, etc., but we must actively choose to focus on what matters. As I attempt to teach my speech team kids, busy is an attitude that means we are not living in the moment. Whether it is studying for a test, attending a practice, or spending time with friends, we need to be present and attentive - making the most of the time we have. Our society has taught us that full schedules mean we are embracing our lives as we should, but no matter what the calendar says, we should always remember that we do have time for what we deem important - we might just need to shift our priorities or our attitudes to embrace those moments and opportunities.

These TED talks have affirmed in me the value of our fleeting moments and reminded me that I need to prioritize time with loved ones, reshift my lens and attitude, and embrace obstacles as minor bumps in the road to make my life better. As I sit quietly at this moment drinking coffee (and a diet coke because my coffee was too hot), I am so grateful for the time to reflect on 2017 and look forward to everything 2018 has in store personally, professionally, and everything that falls in between.

Using Feedback to Make Assessments More Meaningful

This semester, one of my goals has been rethinking feedback - how I give it, how I maximize the impact of feedback given, and how I can produce more meaningful feedback for my students. So often, we as teachers spend hours of our lives reading through student responses, adding comments on papers, and correcting grammar only to find our labors tossed into the recycling bin, or more accurately, discarded into the digital cloud since most of our students' papers are now submitted electronically. Feeling the disappointment of my comments not reaching my students one too many times, I began to reflect on why I provide feedback to my students. This form of communication with students is utilized because it shows that I care about my students as readers, writers, and thinkers. Providing a detailed reflection on their work in a time-efficient manner can foster my relationship with my students and allow me to identify their strengths as students and people. Furthermore, I craft comments with the intention of encouraging growth and engagement, but if students aren't reading my comments, then all of this effort is for naught.

How do I solve an issue that goes back well beyond my time as a teacher? How do I ensure that my students are receiving their feedback, and more importantly, how do I ensure that they are processing that feedback in a manner that will improve their academic abilities? After a quarter of reflection and attempts of personalizing my feedback, here are my conclusions:

1. The more immediate the feedback, the more effective it is. 

I grade believe in grading papers quickly. When I have an assignment to grade, such as a literary analysis after finishing a novel, I tend to forgo sleep. Instead, I stay up by the glow of my computer screen or better yet, I set an alarm and wake up especially early to complete a half class set of essays before school begins. This practice is slightly unreasonable, and my husband has since learned that we plan our lives around grading as much as possible, but I believe that this practice is critical. When I grade an assignment quickly, it shows my students that I value their work. Their achievement matters and the work is still fresh in their minds. The more immediate and direct the feedback is, the more likely they are to care. If two or three weeks pass, they will have long forgotten the assignment or no longer care to revisit the content that has since been replaced by a new text or a new unit. Immediacy also surprises students. They aren't expecting feedback yet, but when they receive it promptly, they are more likely to care and more likely to be interested in what is said.

To make this process a little more feasible for educators, tech tools such as Permanent Clipboard, Google Keep, or Auto Text Expander allows grading essays at a faster rate to be a more realistic goal. When a teacher can craft a comment bank, he or she can provide more detail, begin to recognize patterns in student work, and even insert links for students to gather more information. Other ways to provide more immediate feedback is creating automated feedback such as inserting comments on a Google Forms quiz, adding personalized comments in Google Classroom, or creating more student driven formative assessments in web tools such as Quizlet, Kahoot, and Socrative. No matter the type of feedback or assessment for which a teacher is providing commentary, the more immediate the feedback, the more invested they will be in what these comments say.

2. Feedback should be delivered in a variety of ways. 

Feedback does not always have to be extended written feedback by the teacher. Feedback can come in several forms - it can be illustrated, comments can be coded by the teacher and students, and it can even be audio. Effective feedback can be delivered via voice comments or screencasting, a method that I have discovered my students appreciate (or at least a form to which they pay attention). Diversifying how one provides feedback is also rejuvenating for the teacher.

Diversifying formative assessments can also provide great information to teachers and students. Formative assessment is a fast and effective manner with which to provide students with feedback as to where they stand individually and in comparison to their peers. Using Google Quizzes to illustrate their percentages and talk about their understanding is a great tool. Kahoot, Socrative, PollEverywhere, and other similar tools also provide feedback, encourage discussion, and also make learning a little more fun. When students have a variety of tools to show them what they know and remind them of what they still need to learn, it can create a dialogue between a teacher and students, motivate students, and drive instruction. Formative assessment does not need to count in the grade book, or it can. This type of assessment is flexible and provides such valuable feedback to teachers and students alike.

3. Formative assessment does play a significant role in the outcome of summative assignments. 

Scaffolding and chunking assignments can help students to create better final products. Whether it is writing a paper, comprehending a major concept, or crafting a presentation, providing students with feedback along the way through formative assessments can help students to redraft their work, make corrections, and increase understanding. As a means of striving to use a larger variety of formative assessments in this quarter, I decided to break down a writing assignment into more of a writers workshop, and the process yielded significant results.

For the paper assignment my sophomores recently submitted, I used daily face-to-face conferencing, screencasting, and traditional written feedback. I set clear and specific formative checks into the writing schedule. Throughout the process, students were more engaged, completed their work, and showed measurable growth from the previous paper assignment turned in early in the quarter. They knew what was expected of them and could articulate what areas in which they still needed help (i.e. quote integration). By providing a variety of types of feedback, students seemed to understand what I was expecting more and were more willing to talk about their writing with their peers. While providing this feedback took more of my time and felt tedious, I was encouraged by the results I observed in my students on a formative level and when I graded the summative draft. Chunking the paper into smaller formative assessments was tedious and time-consuming, but I found that when students were engaged in this process, I had better results. Finding ways to tie formative assessments into larger summative products can help students to grow and produce better summative products.

4. The more personal the feedback, the more likely students are to engage with it. 

During this quarter, I have attempted to find a way to encourage my students to interact with their feedback. If I'm spending the time to provide it, I want students to view feedback as meaningful. To encourage students to look at my critiques, I've started creating a highlight reel using Screencastify to point out repeated mistakes and give an overall summary of what I found with their writing. Creating videos only about 90 seconds to two minutes long, I have found that students are far more likely to open the documents that I have commented on and look at the comments after hearing my voice and watching me point out specific annotations on their papers. Yes, this does take some time, but it has encouraged students to reexamine their work. Screencasting works better on shorter writing assignments and projects than it does for longer essays, but it is another tool to make feedback personal.

Note: VideoNot.es and EdPuzzle can provide teachers with ways to annotate videos if students are submitting a video project. I have seen history and science teachers create powerful feedback using these tools!

5. When feedback is given, students should be held accountable for reading and interacting with their feedback. 

So often because of time I find myself skipping this step. Also, when I allow students to revise, few students take advantage of this opportunity unless it is required. One idea that has helped increase student engagement with formal comments is requiring that students comment back on my feedback. For longer assignments, this might be too involved. An alternative might be to have students comment on repeated mistake or a specific number of annotations. Another tool I use to encourage student reflection is using Google Forms to encourage targeted self-evaluation and reflection. Asking students to grade their own work, justify a specific a grade that they believe they deserve can be a meaningful process. Students are often honest about how diligently they have worked, talk about strengths and weaknesses, and will share areas in which they need more help. As with any assignment, this process can be time-consuming, but when students process their learning, it is time well-spent.

Providing feedback is such an important part of our roles as teachers. Finding ways to make it more engaging and efficient is a passion of mine. Not only does improving the quality and speed of the feedback process make our jobs a little easier, but it also makes our efforts more meaningful.

Ending the Year "Write": Using Written and Spoken Reflections to Wrap Up a School Year

This past week, I watched my seniors enjoy their last week of high school.  Their excitement and energy has filled the classroom since prom at the beginning of May, but this week, they were officially faced with the reality that their high school careers have come to an end.  In order to allow seniors to fully appreciate what they have learned, it is important to provide time to reflect.  Metacongitive processing is beneficial at any age, and this year, with such a high-spirited group, I have really enjoyed taking the time to reflect with them.   Here are a few activities that I have tried to work into my end of the year schedule with my seniors and sophomores.  Ranging from typical to a little more unique, I saw a great deal of benefit from these activities and received useful feedback from my students.  As hard as saying goodbye can be, embracing their excitement has been rewarding and rejuvenating, and reflection is an incredibly valuable part of that process.

1. Traditional Written Reflection: At the end of the year, asking a few questions such as "What was the most memorable activity in this class?" or "What can the teacher do to improve student learning?" can provide teachers with valuable comments that can be reflected upon over the summer as a means of preparing for next year.  Every year is an opportunity for improvement and adjustments that can improve student learning.  Writing this information on a note card or a half sheet of paper is a quick, easy way for students to provide comments that I've found valuable.  Often times, I find that students write kind words as well... or draw very goofy pictures that certainly have made me laugh.

2. Google Survey Reflection:  At the end of each quarter, I have students complete a Google Survey that asks them to reflect upon their current grade, identify their strengths and weaknesses, highlight class learning activities that have been both valuable and less valuable, and asked to provide me with any other feedback that would help me improve the course.  What I like about administering the same survey reflection multiple times throughout the year is that it has allowed me to collect qualitative data that I have used to improve student work.  I always post the results (without names) as a means of opening up communication with students about the class and have identified how I am planning on making adjustments to improve their classroom experience.  Often times, kids who are excelling simply post positive comments, and students who are not turning in work or using class time wisely will admit it.  Its a great way to dialogue with the group and individuals about progress and how we can work together to increase learning!

3. Name Web: At the beginning of the semester in my sophomore classes, I have students play the name game using a ball of yarn to show how interconnected we all are.  In addition to sharing their names, students have to share the origins and history of their names.  At the end of the semester, we get into the same web and share one way their identity has changed as a result of this course.  While everyone knows each others' names, they still make the web to show how we all belong to a community that we have built together throughout the course of the semester.

4. Letters to Future Students: Writing a reflection with the understanding that a future student who is taking the same course next year will read it is a great way to encourage students to think deeply about what they learned and how it affected them.  Writing for a real audience also increases their efforts, writing level, and thought that they place into the assignment.  In these letters, outline the course, give advice, and share what they learned from the experiences that they had.  These are great tools to use at the beginning of the semester, and future students have enjoyed reading what their predecessors had to share.

5. Impromptu Eulogies: In my senior speech class, I've tried to think a little outside of the box in terms of reflections.  Instead of writing out a formal essay during the Special Occasion Speech Unit (the last two weeks of school), this year I had students complete impromptu eulogies on a classmate.  Since their high school days are over, I frame the eulogies as a way to acknowledge their commencement and recognize the new lives they are about to experience.  Each student starts by writing his/her name on a sheet of paper and then selects another student at random.  Then, they all have five minutes to write a one to two minute speech honoring their peer.  In  speech class, they have shared so much about their passions, interests, and personal lives that no matter how closely they know each other outside of class, they have enough to say about their peers.  While some students have fun with the eulogy and develop clever ways in which the student they are speaking on has met an untimely end, all speeches were good-natured, fun, and even touching.  After everyone has spoken, students are asked to write a thank you note to the student who spoke about him or her as a way of practicing effective communication and showing thanks for the kind (and in many cases, humorous) words. This certainly was the least conventional but perhaps the most fun reflection activity.

Now that the school year is coming to a close, I am eager and excited to have more time to reflect upon this school year, reexamine my curriculum, and learn more about best practices to use in my classroom this summer.  Reflection is an invaluable part of the learning process for teachers, too!