This is an image of a silhouette of a person sitting in a pondering position with his hand rested on his chin, staring into the distance against a background of a setting sun. He appears to be deep in thought.

Taking the opportunity to reflect on our learning allows us to make important connections and acquire deeper understanding. Reflection also incites planning and action.
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Reflection is a critical step in the learning process. It is an intentional action, undertaken with a specific purpose. Reflection can be a personal experience, taken on individually, or it can be approached in a group setting. When we reflect on our learning, we take time to analyze new information, ideas, and/or concepts, and also to make connections to things that we have learned previously, experiences we have had, or situations we have encountered. When we take the opportunity to step back and truly think about what we have learned, and how it makes sense in the context of our own lives, that learning takes on greater meaning and we gain deeper understanding and appreciation. As well, it increases the longevity of our learning, meaning we are more likely to ‘hold on’ to the new learning for longer.

This is an image of a John Dewey quotation that reads, “We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.

There are many questions that can be used to prompt and guide reflection. This can be dependent upon the type of learning we have undertaken. For instance, you may be reflecting on learning you have gained from a self-discovery exercise, or reading you have done on a concept or theory, or perhaps an inquiry you have undertaken on a particular topic.

The 21st Century Learning Academy - a school at the Whitfield Career Academy – provides 40 Reflection Questions, organized into four categories that align extremely well with the structure of this course: Backward-Looking, Inward-Looking, Outward-Looking, Forward-Looking.

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Refer to these questions when asked to produce reflections throughout this course. Select those that are most pertinent to the learning or piece of work upon which are reflecting. At the same time, know that this is not an exhaustive list - you are welcome to add your own questions or thoughts as well.

The 40 Reflection Questions

21st Century Learning Academy: A School at the Whitfield Career Academy

Backward-Looking:

  1. How much did you know about the subject before we started?
  2. What process did you go through to produce this piece?
  3. Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?
  4. In what ways have you gotten better at this kind of work?
  5. In what ways do you think you need to improve?
  6. What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them?
  7. What resources did you use while working on this piece? Which ones were especially helpful? Which ones would you use again?
  8. Does this work tell a story?

Inward-Looking:

  1. How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?
  2. What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?
  3. What did/do you find frustrating about it?
  4. What were your standards for this piece of work?
  5. Did you meet your standards?
  6. What were your goals for meeting this piece of work? Did your goals change as you worked on it? Did you meet your goals?
  7. What does this piece reveal about you as a learner?
  8. What did you learn about yourself as you worked on this piece?
  9. Have you changed any ideas you used to have on this subject?
  10. Find another piece of work that you did at the beginning of the year to compare and contrast with this what changes can you see?
  11. How did those changes come about?
  12. What does that tell you about yourself and how you learn?

Outward-Looking:

  1. Did you do your work the way other people did theirs?
  2. In what ways did you do it differently?
  3. In what ways was your work or process similar?
  4. If you were the teacher, what comments would you make about this piece?
  5. What grade would you give it? Why?
  6. What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?
  7. What do your classmates particularly notice about your piece when they look at it?
  8. In what ways did your work meet the standards for this assignment?
  9. In what ways did it not meet those standards?
  10. If someone else were looking at the piece, what might they learn about who you are?

Forward-Looking:

  1. One thing I would like to improve upon is...
  2. What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?
  3. What will you change in the next revision of this piece?
  4. What's the one thing that you have seen in your classmates' work or process that you would like to try in your next piece?
  5. As you look at this piece, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon?
  6. What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time?
  7. What would you like to spend more time on in school?
  8. What might you want next year's teacher to know about you (what things you're good at)?
  9. What things you might want more help with?
  10. What work would you show her to help her understand those things?

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