Reflection Protocols

What Is It?

Reflection Protocols cover a variety of strategies that are used to engage students in reflective thinking about their learning. Reflective protocols can be used as formative assessments, checks for understanding, opportunities for students to make connections to the learning objectives, and opportunities for student-to-student or student-to-teacher communication practice.

Why Use It?

Reflection is an important part of learning. When students reflect, they have an opportunity to make connections between there lived experiences/prior learning and the new learning, determine if they were able to meet/master the learning objectives, benefit from the perspectives of others as they reflect with their peers, and set goals for future learning.

Reflection Protocol Options:

There are a number of different Reflection Protocols for teachers to choose from depending on the needs of their lesson and class. Here is a brief list to choose from:

• What? So What? Now What? - This is a scaffolded strategy for student reflection to construct deeper meaning. Students are asked a series of questions either in a conference or whole group discussion in rounds to elicit deeper thinking. This strategy can support writing conclusions, inferences, and real-world applications. This strategy can also be used to reflect on current events or conflicts.

• Metacognitive Debrief - A metacognitive debrief is a formative opportunity for students to reflect on the learning of the lesson and for teachers to receive feedback on what worked and challenged students. After the main activities of a lesson, take the opportunity to "debrief" the learning by rehashing each activity through a metacognitive lens. This exercise is not meant to review or reteach content so much as allow students and teachers to examine what worked or challenged them about the organization and planning of the lesson.

  • Metacognition Strategies HS Exemplar

  • Metacognition Strategies MS Exemplar

  • What is Metacognition?

  • (Article w/ Infographics - 5 Ways to Boost Metacognition in the Classroom)

• Seesaw Reflection Routines - Reflection routines help students think about what they learned and what their next steps are in their learning. This is helpful for teachers because they can see student thinking and help plan what's next for individual students. When using this strategy teachers might want to model the reflection routine for students and also provide feedback on student responses.

• DLIQ - DLIQ is a format for reflecting that can be completed daily or weekly, and it can be completed using words or pictures. DLIQ stands for Did Learned Interesting Questions.

• "I used to think...Now I know..." is a strategy where students divide their paper into two columns with the headings, "I Used to Think..." and "Now I Know..." Before the lesson begins, share the topic of the lesson with students and allow them time to write their thoughts on the topic. After instruction, have students reflect on the topic or concept again, completing the right side of their paper using the stem "Now I know..." This strategy uses sentence stems to help students document their prior learning and compare it to new learning.