The gold dust of reflection Helping lower ability pupils to

become reflective learners

Barriers to Success

• Poor attendance• Poor self-discipline• Poor track record• Lack of confidence• Self-fulfilling prophecies

Educational Rationale

• Teaching for Understanding course– Assessment is for Learning – Feedback loop

• Developed as part of our BGE formal assessment

• Embedded across BGE and used in Senior Phase.

What it delivers

• Responsibility – includes the stakeholders• Focus – isolates the skills• Realism – insists on sincerity• Self-worth – inspires the possibility of success

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

The basic structure

• Set clear skill-based targets– I can structure a paragraph of argumentative

writing.– I can check and edit my own work for technical

errors.• Teach the skills– Provide more detailed success criteria with

exemplar.

The basic structure

• Reflect before the task– Something I need to check– Something I think I will do well– Something I think I will struggle with– How I will improve

• Do the task with appropriate time limits and support

• Assessment – self/peer/teacher• Reflect after the task– Use the same bullet points

Making it work

• Time – it needs to be regular• Teacher input – you need to engage in

dialogue with pupils• Tracking – you have to track skills• Target-setting – it feeds a culture of targets

Impact

• All pupils in 3.10 have made progress. Most have made substantial progress.

• Meta-cognition has improved - they now have a vocabulary to discuss their own learning.

• Improved behaviour, attendance, homework.• Independence and responsibility.• Hope

Examples• “Be in English.”• “Make homework a priority.”• “I can read for a longer period of time.”• “I achieved in some areas of Level 3.”• “I can understand words I didn’t understand

before.”• “I want to do more with my spare time.”• “I can consider different people now.”• “I will take more time thinking what I should write.”• “I can apply skills I have learned in other subjects.”

Practical Advice

• Incorporate reflection at the planning stage.• Deal with thoughtless reflection by setting

ground rules – they must use the success criteria.

• Keep the evidence.