SLMAM 10/08: Research Reflections, Journaling, and Exit Slips
Have you read Leslie Preddy’s article, “Research Reflections, Journaling, and Exit Slips,” in the October, 2008, issue of School Library Media Activities Monthly?
Her suggestions for how we can get students to think more reflectively about their work process, product, resources, and feelings (comfort/discomfort, etc.) are a great way of showing how small steps can lead to big rewards.
My favorite quote:
Using one of these strategies allows students the necessary practice to look back on their experiences until they are capable of doing this independently and intuitively as an effective and efficient researcher does.
Exit questions (either written or orally, including recording them in a podcast) only take a few minutes, but as Leslie says, they help students build skills until those skills are naturally integrated into how students think.
These strategies support the AASL Standards’ vision that student learning is more than mastering skills. It’s about the whole experience and developing the flexible mindset that will allow students to embrace an unknown future. Leslie’s ideas map to these standards:
1.4.1 Monitor own information-seeking processes for effectiveness and progress, and adapt as necessary. (Asking students to reflect on the effectiveness of their search skills helps them become conscious of the fact that searching is a process that can be refined.)
1.4.3 Monitor gathered information, and assess for gaps or weaknesses. (Asking students to reflect on the process helps them discover what they have found and what remains to be found.)
1.4.4 Seek appropriate help when it is needed. (An exit slip offers a student the chance to ask for help, especially if a sentence prompt like, “What are you feeling uncertain about? or,”How can your teacher or librarian help you?” is offered.)
2.4.2 Reflect on systematic process, and assess for completeness. (Journaliing offers an opportunity to reflect both on process and on product. For those of you who practice the Big6 model, in which Step 6 calls for this kind of reflection, you can see that the new AASL Standards are compatible.)