Written Learning Reflection

My name is Katie Minger and I currently teach 9th grade English, Creative Writing, Public Speaking, and Video Production at a high school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. Over the past year I have completed my M.Ed in Digital Learning and Leading at Lamar University and have taken on a new role as the English Department Chair in our building. One of my current professional goals is to include more authentic writing and learning reflection opportunities for my students into their coursework.

One way that I feel that I could help my students engage with writing is to allow them time every Friday to write about their own learning journey through weekly reflection. Students can create learning reflection blogs on their ePortfolios. This type of activity would fall under the “Creative Communicator” indicator (6a, 6c, and 6d) in the ISTE Standards and the “Writing” indicator (C.C.1.4.9-10.U) in the Pennsylvania Common Core Standards for education. Students would build their own blog pages or add a blog section to their ePortfolio. Students could use google sites, wix, blogger, edublog, or any other site that they feel would allow them to share their thoughts on what and how they are learning with others. Students would have the opportunity to collaborate with their peers about the tools that they are using to build their blogs as well share their blog posts with each other.

Gura shares Thom Markham’s thoughts that teachers should “teach concepts, not facts; reward discovery; make reflection part of the lesson” (Markham, 2013). Teaching students to be active participants in their own learning reflection allows them to gain a better understanding of how they learn best. Allowing students time to actively put into words what and how they learn and to share these ideas and thoughts with their peers will create learners who are not afraid to get involved in their learning process.

Kolb discusses how “computers have the potential to enhance underserved students’ learning, but achieving a positive outcome depends on how the computers are being used with students” (Kolb, 18). I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Our district was forced to go 1:1 with devices when the pandemic forced schools to close all across the world. Once we got back to in person instruction, my students wanted nothing to do with working on a computer, let alone complete 62 minutes of online reading instruction through a program that was clearly not working for them or for us as instructors. Luckily, our curriculum director actually listened to our pleas and let us teach reading skills with our students how we felt would serve them best instead of forcing us to use the program that we were using. Since that time our students have risen to the challenge and their reading scores have been drastically improving.

I have found that using the computers only when they are absolutely necessary for a lesson, such as writing a response, conducting research, creating a presentation, or reflecting on the learning process through writing is much more effective with my students. Many of my students are scared of learning, because they have never really been taught to notice all of the different ways that they learn best. I believe that giving them an opportunity to write about what they are learning, what they are enjoying about their learning experiences, and what they are learning about themselves as learners is crucial to them overcoming many of the hurdles that lie in their way.

Gura, M. (2016). Make, learn, succeed building a culture of creativity in your school. International Society for Technology in Education.

ISTE. (2017). Iste standards for students a practical guide for learning with technology. International Society for Technology in Education.

Kolb, L. (2020). Learning first, technology second in practice new strategies, research and tools for student success. International Society for Technology in Education.

Markham, T. (2013, April 1). 10 ways to teach innovation. KQED Mindshift. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/27765/10-ways-to-teach-innovation