Reflection Techniques
As you read the assigned readings each week I encourage you to begin by taking notes regarding what stands out to you in the readings.
- What catches your interest?
- What resonates with you?
- What leaves you with questions?
Then, to help you start to make sense of the week's readings as a whole, I would like you to complete a readings reflection that tries to bring the set of readings together. Most weeks the format of this summary is very flexible. The style of your reflection should be largely driven by you and your interaction with the readings. However, in order to guide you I will often suggest a particular reflection technique. While I encourage you to use it (and many weeks I have tried to select the technique that I think best fits the readings) I am OK with you using whatever reflection style/technique works for you that week. The only thing that I will ask is that there is some sort of organization to the final reflection and not just a brain dump of notes.
3-2-1
Go back through the notes that you created as you completed the weekly readings. Then, to help you start to make sense of the week's readings as a whole, I would like you to summarize by writing about:
- Discuss THREE new ideas that stood out to you as you completed the readings.
- Discuss TWO things that you already knew about but that were deepened or reinforced as you completed the readings.
- Discuss ONE question you would still want answered or would like to discuss in small group.
Note, it is acceptable to deviate slightly from these numbers - in particular in the upwards direction. But it is very possible that a particular topic is very familiar to you and you don't have three new ideas (although in that case you, perhaps, have more than two things that deepened or reinforced your previous knowledge). Similarly, you may have more than one question. But by encouraging yourself to BEGIN by considering 3-2-1, you start to engage with the material in a more meaningful way.
Countdown
Go back through the notes that you created as you completed the weekly readings and consider the things that most stand out to you from each of the topics/sections that you read. Then, to help you start to make sense of the week's readings as a whole, I would like you to summarize by writing about:- Make a list of the five most important "ideas" from this week's readings.
- RANK them in importance from #5 (least important of the list) to #1 (most important of the list).
- EXPLAIN why you think each element is important and why it has the ranking that it does on your personal list.
MANIC
Go back through the notes that you created as you completed the weekly readings. Then, to help you start to make sense of the week's readings as a whole, I would like you to summarize by writing about:- Discuss what you think was the MOST important idea you read about and why? [You can choose more than one. But this should be a limited list]
- Discuss something you AGREE with and why.
- Discuss something you do NOT agree with and why.
- Discuss something you found INTERESTING and why[maybe something you hadn't ever thought about before or something you think could completely change the way you teach].
- Discuss something you found CONFUSING. If you have a specific questions, ask it. If you are just generally confused, try to explain what is confusing.