The Crunch

Have you felt that you don't have time to properly close your lessons? With all the push for to prepare for testing and so many objectives to cover, who has time for reflection?  It is so important, and the more I read about it, the more convinced I am that I have to make time to do better on this piece. Research shows that kids learn and comprehend better when they are allowed to reflect on the lesson or what they've read or done.  Even if it is just an exit ticket.  It doesn't have to be fancy, and it doesn't have to be at the end of the class period.  

In math, for example, you can do a reflection question after just one word problem!  I love to teach problem solving by modeling step-by-step.  We spend weeks on different types of problems.  I'm sharing some reflection questions that could be used with math, but they could also be used with any reading activity as well.

I plan to use these questions so often that reflection becomes automatically a part of our day.  In the end, I want kids to ask themselves these questions after they've done something. 

I have put together some questions that you could use to help kids reflect.  One suggestion is to just use the whole sheet (placed on the document camera or orally) of questions as a daily tool for you to help them reflect on any reading or math assignment. But another thing you could do is to print and laminate the individual cards and hand them out to groups to discuss their ideas and strategies.  For this freebie click {HERE}.

FREEBIE!