Chapt 10 Reading Reflection

Chpt 10 Reading Reflection
Celebrating and Reflecting
Stephanie Hill

   After a difficult project or assignment, many teachers are so busy moving on to the next lesson, that they forget that it is important for your students to reflect on the journey.  Your students need to feel accomplished about their work, thus reflecting on one's work is one major way that this can occur.  Many times students just rush through projects but if they are asked to reflect on their work, they may actually benefit because they will realize that they did learn something.  If your students know that you care about their work then they are more likely to put effort into their reflection and gain understanding from their work.
   Students need to reflect and elaborate because it allows them to focus on the few things of a project that matter most.  When your students think about themselves as learners, they do not need to constantly ask you to tell them what they learned, they will understand and will think for themselves.  This chapter also notes that  asking your students too many questions could overwhelm them and cause them to hate the project instead of loving it.  I agree with this point because I know that many times students might feel like they are putting more work into a reflection than the project, which can be frustrating to children.
   When students elaborate, it will allow their knowledge to grow.  If students finish a project and never think about the topic/issue again, then the project was a waste of time.  Students need to elaborate because it springs the next cycle of learning, such as the example in the book about writing a grand proposal.  Elaboration also causes children to gain new interests and thus give you a new idea for a project or lesson.
   Schools can build tradition and identity in numerous ways.  When your principal, parents and guest walk into your school or classroom, you want them to feel like they are apart of something.  Without tradition an identity, your students will have a harder time understanding who you are as a teacher, your values and how you function.  If you have a project that children love-stick with it!  Many times, as mentioned in the books, younger siblings or grade levels will hear about a project/activity/routine that you did and expect and want to do it!  When you can get children in your classroom who are already excited about something they heard their older brother did (for example), then you have succeeded! By getting your parents and community involved, you also can build tradition and a bond with others.
  Celebrating your students work is another way to build tradition and identity.  By posting pictures of your students families, it shows that you care about your students.  When parents know that you truly care about their child and family-you are more likely to have more communication and feedback from them.  Also, when you post your students work, other students from different classrooms can see what type of teacher you are.
  This chapter relates to my project because it has shown me how important it is to build your classroom off of who you are as a person.  For example, for the classroom gardening project, I would want to take pictures of the garden to send home to families.  This way the parents feel apart of your classroom and see what their child is learning and doing while in your classroom.