Hey! I am Kelsey Shore, educator, adventurer and learner, sharing from the unceded traditional territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh People.
Along with your completed work, please submit a written self-reflection.
That phrase might evoke emotion if you are a student, teacher or parent here in British Columbia.
Among the changes unveiled in the 2014 BC provincial curriculum overhaul, the inclusion of student self-assessment and reflection.
This shift toward focusing on self-assessment and reflection, while new to mainstream curricula, is not new to educational conversations.
So, what do teachers know and need to know about student self-assessment and reflection in inclusive classrooms?
How do you use student self-assessment and reflection in teaching and learning?
Hi Kelsey! What’s your secret for getting so many teachers to respond to your survey? 160 respondents is amazing! And then you followed up with focus groups….a really rich data set summarized in 3 min!
Hey Rachel, great question. I think most of it comes down to timing and connection.
Timing – The ministry is in the process of changing province wide reporting policies and teachers feel the pressure. I think in some ways this survey allowed teachers to feel like their collective voice was being heard as we transition into the somewhat unknown.
Connection – I work as a district wide support teacher. My familiarity to staff as someone who is generally curious and inquisitive about best practice in education maybe made teachers feel compelled to respond?
Thanks Kelsey, this was an interesting video. Self-reflections, like all skills, needs to be modelled and practiced in the classroom for sure! Hopefully the Core Competences will help provide a more clear frame work for educators with this. I am curious about how you networked your focus group? Seven teachers from four different BC School Districts is an excellent cross-section sample. Overall, great summary!
This is maybe one instance where COVID-19 had a positive impact on research! Due to circumstance, I was able to use Zoom as my focus group setting. Participants self-identified by emailing me at the end of the survey. I responded to perspective focus group participants with the date, time, consent form and questions, allowing them to see if it was something they truly wanted to participate in. Does that answer your question?
Nice work Kelsey! Thank you.
Great job Kelsey! I agree as teachers we are pretty use to implementing self-reflection. I’ve done it since when I started teaching in the 90’s. It isn’t until recently that I feel like I’ve figured out how to get authentic and valuable self-reflection and assessment from my students. Like most skills it takes daily practice! I also think we focus too much on recording. Doing frequent oral reflections makes it much easier for students to then reflect on paper at given times.
Kerry, thank you for sharing your practical insight!! The documentation focus is something that came up in both my survey and focus group. What type of oral reflections do you use with your students? Is it prompt based?
Hi Kelsey. I think that your project topic is very timely and important. I was impressed with how well you outlined the history and research that you found relating to self-assessment and reflection. I agree with your findings that work sample exemplars help both teachers and students understand how to actively reflect better. I think that rubrics are also very useful…especially if the student help to co-create a rubric of what good reflection looks like. In case you aren’t aware, SET-BC has created a mini-course entitled, “Digital Tools to Support Self-Reflection & Assessment” – see https://www.setbc.org/2019/05/digital-tools-to-support-self-reflection-and-assessment/#1545176d05e5-17befujc7cb-3ef1d251-d2f9700f-26c7
Best wishes in your journey!
Thanks Melissa!! Rubrics was one of the topics that came up several times in the focus group!! Our Instructional Leadership team has been exploring the rubrics in the book, Deeper Learning: Engage the World Change the World. If you haven’t, check them out. I’d love to know your feedback!!
That SET-BC unit does a really good job of connecting self-assessment and reflection to the First People’s Principles of Learning. Love it.
Hi Kelsey,
Thanks for sharing such an engaging and comprehensive presentation. I will definitely be subscribing to your future educational podcasts and TedTalks. 😉
I’d be interested to know what self-assessment methods teachers are currently using. From my personal observations, many of us have gotten stuck on the idea that self-assessment is equated with a written reflection. I think that a necessary shift towards meaningful self-assessment would be to incorporate different tools and methods to self-assess. Like all things, students need to have voice and choice in how they share and reflect on their learning.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kelsey, thanks for sharing a perfectly executed 3 minute thesis! I am amazed at how much information you covered in that time. I completely agree that both educators and students need support and practice in how to reflect. Was Dewey’s view of reflection the ‘operational definition’ for your study or did you recognize different types of reflection (inquiry reflection, self-reflection, emotional reflection, critical reflection)?
Wendy, wow! Thank you for those kudos. You won’t be surprised to know, ‘slow down!’ is written on every evaluation I’ve ever had.
I actually didn’t define self-assessment or reflection, somewhat intentionally.
The Ministry of Education states that, “Summative reporting will also include student self-assessment of core competencies, with teacher support as appropriate for the student” (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2018). My local District Education Plan adds the additional ,”students use reflection and collect samples of their work to drive their learning forward”.
Based on these somewhat vague statements, I wanted to know what teachers know, and need to know. The ambiguity, lack of clarity and variety of terms used to describe the same concept are peppered throughout my literature review, survey data and focus group responses. Common language required!
Thanks for sharing. I love reflecting and am still really digging into how to teach self-reflecting skills so this is was right up my alley!
Hi Kelsey,
Great presentation with a fantastic overview of the research and how your work fits in the context. I love hearing that I’m in the same boat as other teachers about student self-reflection, but that everyone has similar goals in mind, to make student learning better. I would love to see teachers within a school coming together to track students’ reflections over the years, so that their students have a record of their learning and meta-learning. Thank you for your presentation!
Ana
Hi Kelsey
Such a great and timely topic!
I have struggled with this as a Kindergarten teacher. Trying to create self-assessments that all my students are capable of doing while remaining authentic and accurate can be very challenging. I would find it beneficial to have more training with examples if offered in my district.
Take care
Excellent presentation, I loved the walk through time. I was curious about the definition you would use for reflection, but from your reply to Wendy’s comment I see your intentionality with leaving it out. I would be curious to learn more about strategies for teaching reflective practices!
Jeff I posted a little infographic above… it might be helpful??
Wow that covered a lot in 3 minutes! I know that your video was an accurate look at my own practice with student self assessment, as I understand its importance and can see the benefits in my students. Sometimes I feel a little lost when it comes to teaching the explicit skill of reflection though, and I agree that it would be really helpful to have some more examples at a variety of levels. I would love to see some documents/examples for supporting self reflection in intermediate students who are able to think with some complexity, but may still be held back by low literacy skills. Thanks for the 3 minute overview!
Hey Jordan!
It doesn’t have to be in writing. That is one of the biggest take aways from my research. Using video, image and voice note and conferencing all foster self-assessment and reflection. I’ll post a one pager above with some places to start.
Using the language from the curriculum is super helpful for consistency.
1. I can…. (curricular competency in kid friendly language)
2. Make core competencies visible (magnets, draw them, put them on printables)
Upper intermediate/middle school is my happy place. Let me know if you want samples and examples!!
Hi Kelsey,
Your 3-min thesis title instantly grabbed my attention because student self-assessment and reflection is an important process in moving learning forward. However, as you said, creating meaningful self-assessment/reflection is skill that needs to be taught. I find even if I teach it, it can be met with resistance or generalized student comments/reflections. Of course, this makes me see that I am not being explicit enough in my teaching and modelling, or that I need to approach it from a different angle. Suffice it to say, I feel the same way about the common themes that came out of your research! Have you come across examples of these themes that you have found to be effective in teaching self-assessment/reflection?
All the best,
Jess
Jess one of the big ones, common language. If learners are using the same words for things it becomes familiar and easier to use. I’ll post a one pager above with some of the most important pieces to include.
Hi Kelsey. Thank you for a thorough presentation. I like how you presented the information. Theme 3 stood out for me in that I find teachers want examples of what student self-reflection and assessment look like in day to day practice. Great job on getting so many survey responses!
Hi Mary, I am curating a blog and some social media channels to share out how teachers are doing this, what it looks like, and what we can do to formulate common language. I love using WALT, WINK and TIB…
https://www.teachstarter.com/au/blog/whats-the-goss-on-walt-and-wilf-examples-included/
Hi Kelsey, great job outlining student self reflection and the need for more support for teachers! This really spoke to me, I’ve informally used self-reflection in my classes for years, and even though I think I understand it’s importance I’ve never explicitly taught it (and probably don’t give it as much time as it needs). You’re definitely right about teachers needing more pro D training and students examples!
Hey Owen,
I TOTALLY feel you on the giving it as much time as it needs. After switching school districts I began realizing how much I was relying on the kids having common language for reflecting and assessing their work.
Here are a few bits from the research:
1. Start small. Choose one, maybe two subjects to connect it to
2. Connect it to learning intentions and tasks (content & curricular comps)
3. It doesn’t have to be in writing for it to count
4. Reflections are not marks or for marks (totally formative!!)
This is a timely topic. I know the struggle of teaching students how to effectively reflect, and then the challenge of assessing that reflection for learning. I’m working on ways to do that well, and enjoying the process. Self-assessment and reflective thought is often under-utilized, but so valuable. I agree that teachers can definitely use support on how to do it well.
Thank you for sharing, Kelsey.
This is such an important and very present topic for teachers. What types of questions did you use in your survey to gather data from teachers? I am wondering if your research included a scope from K-12 or was it narrowed in. You have shared some fantastic insights and I love the reminder that it does not always have to be written and it should be formative. We do a lot of self-assessment at the school I am currently working at and I often wonder how to make it as effective and meaningful as possible.
Hayley
Hi Kelsey,
I really enjoyed your thoughtful and engaging topic. It reminded me a lot of my time in the educational system where rote learning was the norm (as described by Freire, where he described learning as being like a bank withdrawal by students and deposit by educators). The 2014 shift in BC curriculum saw social-emotional knowledge, mental-health well-being, and trauma-informed practice as just as important areas of knowledge as math, science, social studies… etc, and with this shift educators began to focus on “learning how to learn” and “making learning/metacognition visible” (as described by Adrienne Gear). Student self-assessment is one major area where students demonstrate their knowledge and how their learning has grown, stretched, changed and transformed. I agree regarding the importance of explicitly teaching this process to students and continuously reflecting on best practices. I have found using I can… statements helps focus students towards the learning outcome and gives students ownership over their own learning. Thank you for sharing!
Wow! Nice job on the video, these can be tough to execute well.
I love the topic, I am an intermediate classroom teacher and trying to get students to learn how to self-reflect on their work is quite a challenge. Not something that comes naturally for sure. Was odd sitting down with some collegues trying to figure out how to explicitly teach reflective behaviours.
Congrats on winning People’s Choice! Your video was incredibly informative, thank you!
Yes congrats Kelsey! You did a wonderful job.
Great job, Kelsey! I really enjoyed your video. Your topic is so useful for all educators. Self-assessment and reflection are critical parts of the learning process for all learners! I have seen how impactful self-assessment can be when students have the knowledge and tools to do so.
Hi Kelsey,
You were able to pack a lot into just 3 minutes. Fantastic! As someone who is constantly reflecting, I have to remind myself that it does not come as organically to all. I am finding that it can be quite challenging for my students to do, but once they’ve had some practice, it is heart-warming to listen to them broach the subject of self-reflection/assessment on their own. It ties seamlessly into the idea that we are all life-long learners as opportunities to learn are always present.
Cheers,
Vanessa
Thank you Kelsey,
This was a really engaging and interesting video and I enjoyed getting to hear you speak more during the conference.
I know self-assessment has always been a struggle with my students who often struggle with written output. We often end up doing verbal responses and scribing if teachers want a written document. One question I had was, did you find any techniques or insights for students who struggle more with self-reflection? I find even with prompting and examples I have many students that have difficulty both with the recall and reflection element.
Thanks,
Claire