I must admit I've been pretty bad at getting pupils to reflect on their work in the past. However recently I've adopted several practices that have helped in this important area:
Firstly as a school, we've adopted WWW (what went well) and EBI (even better if) as something we aim to put on every piece of work. The latter, EBI, provides a hande to get pupils and teachers thinking about what could be done to improve. Bit by bit, we're becoming more reflective as a result. The need to put EBI on each piece of work is a good discipline and forces teachers to offer real advice on which pupils can reflect.
Secondly, I've tried the '3 Bs before me' technique I first heard about in an INSET talk given by Phil Garner. He suggested pupils follow this sequence when working independently on a task before resorting to teacher help:
- Brain
- Book
- Buddy
It hasn't totally eliminated the I-can't-find-it-sir laziness from kids working on a comprehension task where the answer's staring them in the face; but it has reduced them.
Lastly, Google docs has enabled the reinvigoration of an old favourite of mine - aficionados of the SAMR model take note! I used to get pupils to answer an exam question, copy their script onto acetate (those were the days!) and ask them to mark each other's with close reference to the mark scheme. The real learning took place though where markers had to stand up at the front of the class, project their marked script and justify the marks they had or hadn't given. Google Docs speeds the clerical aspects of this exercise up, but also allows for more detailed annotation by the marker. The discussions that ensue can be marvellously reflective.