Chapter 5-Learning through Reflection

Richardson, J. S., Morgan, R. F., & Fleener, C. 2012. Reading to learn in the content areas. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Learning through Reflection

Finally! We are able to see what our students have learned! The third and final step in the Preparation, Assistance, and reflection (P.A.R) framework is reflection, which takes place after the student have been prepared and assisted with the reading.  The reflection phase helps clarify thinking and focus understanding. In this stage, students develop new ways to remember the information they have learned. Reflective thinking is a helpful way for students to retain material because the more time students spend reflecting on what they have learned, they more they will remember it and use it in their everyday lives.

Five important categories of reflective learning are: rehearsal, elaboration, organizational thinking, comprehension monitoring, and affective thinking. After all, the main goal is for our students to be autonomous learners-self regulated learners! Some important skills to emphasize in the reflection phase of reading are the importance of communication skills, critical thinking skills, and critical literacy. As teachers, we do not just teach our context area we teach how to think “outside” the box. However, this can be extremely difficult when teaching students with ASD who have social deficits. Because these students are very literal and have difficulties communicating effectively, these skills are often even harder to teach than the actual context. 

Reflecting through cooperative learning allows students to get involved in their learning (if they are willing to). When cooperative learning takes place it allows students to develop leadership and communication skills, and improve motivation and achievement. Cooperative learning is different than group work because cooperative learning requires the use of interpersonal and social skills in order to achieve a task not just breaking work up into pieces.

 PAR relates directly to cooperative learning:

Phase1- individual phase; key concept-commitment

Phase2-group work; key concept-consensus

Phase 3- teacher-led discussion; key concept-arbitration/mediation

Some strategies and activities for reflection in reading are: Brainstorming, post-graphic organizers, make connections, double-entry journals, rallytable, numbered heads together, paired reading, three-step interview, repeated reading and text lookbacks, group summarizations, reelection guides, think-pair-share, extended anticipation guides, ABOUT/POINT,  think-Alouds.