Our Reading Lives

 

Reflection.

John Dewey said,

“We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”

Think about that for a moment. If that’s true, what are the implications for our learning spaces? How much time do we devote to reflection? At a time where there are not enough hours in the day to do everything thrown our way, how do we find time to reflect? Those are the questions that have been meandering in my head all year long and so, I have made an attempt to bring reflection to the forefront as often as possible.

We are currently reflecting on our reading lives over the past 7 months, to help us set goals to grow as readers. We took a look at our reading logs, considered the “I Can” statements for the third trimester and made observations after reviewing the “You the Reader” inventory. Here is a screenshot of part of the inventory:

I then asked the kids to create some kind of visual of their reading lives and to include the following:

The experience has been powerful, both for me and the students. On the one hand, it provides me with glimpses into my learners, giving me new ways of seeing my students. The benefits are incredibly significant for the students, as it gives them a chance to reflect; set stretch goals; and probably most valuable of all, it helps shape their understanding of who they are as learners.

For me, the trick now is to continue to embed reflection in everything we do. I have a long way to go to truly make this part of our normal, everyday lives but I’m a big believer in these words:

I’m sure I’ll blog about this topic again. Stay tuned…