With mid year exams coming to an end it is vital that students MUST self reflect to LEARN!
Self reflection is one of the most useful tools that students have available to them and is a necessary part of the learning process. Unfortunately though it is not a tool that is used effectively by students as it should be. This is most likely because students do not necessarily understand what it is and what they should be doing.
Whilst I have highlighted the end of exams being a time to self reflect this is something students should be doing all the time. It is something that students should be doing on every piece of work they do throughout the school year. They should be reflecting on what they did well and where they can improve.
Learning from feedback, as well as a students own experiences in completing work and tests/exams, will put a student in good stead to keep learning and improving their results going forward.
When to self reflect?
Self reflection is something that every student should be doing after every assessment task, assignment, piece of work submitted, essay written, test or exam. Students should be self reflecting no matter what result they achieve – a high or low mark.
Here are three simple questions students should ask themselves regularly when it comes to their work:
- What is working?
- What is not working?
- What is next? What changes do I need to make?
When a student reflects on ‘what is next’ it is asking them to make a choice and to plan about how they will move forward with the information they have been given. It creates self awareness for a student and they need to take steps forward to ensure they learn from what they did or didn’t do well.
What to do with exam results?
With mid year exam results being received students should be reviewing them all in terms of the mark and feedback and asking themselves the questions above. They should be self reflecting on:
- the work they do during the term – what could they do differently to improve?
- the preparation for the exams – what they did or didn’t do, how was their effort?
- their approach to exams on the day in terms of the order they answered questions, how was the timing?
Self reflection is an integral part of the learning process and should become a regular habit for students to undertake – not just at exam time. By doing so students are more likely to stop making the same mistakes over and over and be able to keep improving and achieve greater success. Students MUST self reflect to LEARN!
So if you are a student are you prepared to take the steps to reflect in order to learn and improve?
For further information on how I support students by equipping them with the tools they need to study smarter not harder please get in touch via email or give me a call – 0409 967 166.
