Writing and reflection can help in forming long-term memories and aiding recall of information, but teaching methods need to allow learners to give full attention to writing and provide guidance for reflection.
Tate suggest several methods for integrating writing and reflection, including having learners write down words or short phrases you want them to remember, stopping presentations to have learners write short responses to a question (quick writes), and giving learners time to reflect by writing in personal journals.
Application: I have co-facilitated several Working Out Loud workshops. In these face-to-face workshops, we as few as 90 minutes and as much as 5 hours introducing learners to the concept of Working Out Loud. As Tate suggests, we make use of a handout designed for writing and reflection. The handout includes short instructions for each exercise we lead, but it also has plenty of room for reflection. We build in time for reflection after each exercise and guide that process with key questions and prompts to get learners started writing.
Assessment: Free Discussion (Barkley & Major, 2016, pp. 271-276)
Because assessing the human dimension is critical in the Working Out Loud process, we have used free discussion as our primary assessment technique. We encourage discussions after each reflection period. Depending on the number of participants, we have had these discussions in small and large groups. In small group discussions, we often have employed a facilitator within each group to prompt the conversation and keep the discussion going. We’ve found these discussions to not only be helpful assessment but to significantly contribute to social learning as learner’s share and explore their different experiences and contexts.
References
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Tate, M. L. (2012). “Sit and Get” won’t grow dendrites: 20 professional learning strategies that engage the adult brain. (2nd Ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.