INSIGHT TO REFLECTION STRATEGIES

REFLECTIONS TYPES IN CLASSROOMS

Reflection is the heart of learning.  It is well understood that until the brain recalls and reviews the learnt fact, actual process of thinking and learning does not happen.   How does reflection generally happen?

• Can you reflect on what we have learnt?
• Can you recall on the aspects we have gone through?
• What do you think about this process?
• Design your own idea about the procedures we have reviewed?

These are some of the questions routinely asked to go through the level of learning that has happened inside the classroom.  Uniform learning is scientifically proven false, so is the uniform input of subject concept in classrooms.  Then, how can reflection be adapted to encompass all the non-uniformity inside our classrooms?

Design of reflection strategies based on the students, the lesson and the teacher is very important to achieve its projected outcome or MLLs (minimum learning levels).  Design of varied strategies within classroom space will be both personnel and time constraint philosophy.  Hence, reflection strategies must be based on the environment which is easily adaptable and accountable for most learners.  This includes catering to the types of learners – auditory, visual and kinaesthetic within the classroom conditions.  The lesson or the concept flow need to be taken into consideration while designing the reflection process.  The lesson or concept can be interlinked to any other aid which was previously taught or seen.  The general flow can be as follows.

There are various reflection strategies which are compatible for various lessons.  A pattern of its adaptability can be derived from the given table below.

Some common reflection techniques that can be used based on the subject under consideration:

• Picture based analysis

a.       What does this picture depict?

b.      What inference do you get from the given picture?

c.       Write a story based on the given picture?

d.      Observe and critically review the artistic, cultural and geographical elements of the picture.

e.      How does this picture stand different from the process or culture followed today?

f.        What does this picture tell about the society of the period under consideration?

• Projects

a.       Hypothetical statements and their validity

b.      Questionnaire and their analytical results

c.       Statistical analysis of business data and communication

d.      Society, development and its impact on environment

e.      Scope for socio-economic development of the region

f.        Industrialisation and effect on nature

3.      

• Technical 

a.       Social media Collaboration – Comments on updates, image, video or discussions

b.      Online testing and analysis

c.       Presentations

d.      Classroom Response systems

e.      School podcasts and video channels

f.        Extensions to design and building in technology.

Understandably, teacher recognition of all possible strategies and its implementation will consume a lot of positive engagement from them.  However, planning with proper scheme will benefit learner with positive learning.  Reflection when merely reduced to ‘class tests’ provide no scope for challenge or engagement.  This results in monotony and redundancy in student tendencies towards learning.  Reflection should show case the actual priorities for the application of the learnt.  Mere question and answer type of reflection may be beneficial to a select few, leaving a large gap in the learning outcomes. 

Reflection is not only for reiterating the learnt but also to provide thinking cues to extend the topic for further learning.  Reflection when designed with the right insight kindles interest and ability to extrapolate it to career building skills.   21^st century skill building is more to focus on reflection strategies than the classroom delivery process to build a future ready citizen of the globe.

A Jingle on 'Mode of Nutrition'

Food preparation - Autotrophs

Food consumption - Heterotrophs

Plant for food - Herbivores

Animal for food - Carnivores

Dead animal for food - Scavengers

Dead plant for food - Saprophytes

Live on other plant or animal - Parasite

If neuroplasticity is true, then why is change difficult?

Brain is the most complex organ in our body.  It remained a mystery for many years.  Now, Brain research has opened this ‘Pandora's box’ and new evidences point towards areas which were considered sedentary.  Engaging, challenging, moving and involving has become key terms for an active brain.  Understanding the intricacies of learning has taken a new step with the knowledge of neuroplasticity.

What is neuroplasticity?

Scientific evidence has shown that brain can learn at all ages.  Brain is not a solid frigid organ, which stops learning at a young age as previously thought, but more flexible and plastic in nature.  The ability of the brain to transform and translate comes with its ability to be plastic.  Brain based learning researches have proved that brain accepts new facts and processes when tuned to it.

However, learning has always been a challenge among students as well as adults and the question is why?

When our brain is so tuned to learn new things and understand new surroundings, training and implementing new practices is the most difficult process.  Is it because of the complexity of the new process or the basic emotional response associated with learning new things?

It is well understood the logical brain is the newly evolved brain while the primitive brain is the one which responds first when we come across any situations.  The primitive brain or the evolved brain sets its focus only on ‘fight or flight’ both emotionally opposing factors. Adult brain which carries the bitter experiences of childhood relates new experiences to the old harsh ones and the response being ‘fight’ or ‘flight’. 

Stressors or stress signaling incidents relate response to fear.  The ultimate ‘fear of failing’ makes the learner take a back step.  The problem of ‘fear’ may not be based on the current job or situation, it can be a response to traumatic childhood experiences or personal family problems which does not allow the individual to move forward towards new engagements.  Risk taking is a challenging aspect, only learners who have the ability to bend or attune this fear will overcome the hurdle of learning in a new facts in a new environment. 

The safety of the environment is also a deciding factor in learning.  Learner needs to feel safe in the environment of learning.  Organisations which do not provide this factor in terms of safety of the employee, related benefits and their functions would face failure in changing their learning attitudes.  Behaviors, systems and practices of organisations decide the continuity and the learning potential of individuals.  Google is a best example for such organisations.

1.       Do organisations provide scope for making mistakes?

2.       Are you comfortable in making mistakes?

Mistakes should help us understand the criteria’s required for the process completion, as Thomas Edison rightly puts it ‘I have not failed, I have found 10,000 ways that won’t work’.  When mistakes are pointed out claiming – waste of time or money, learning stumbles. 

Emotionally unstable or stressed brain does not function towards achievement.  When learning environments overcome such factors, change is the result.  It is important to understand that classrooms where our children learn are no different.  When the environment children are, is not emotionally safe, learning and change does not occur. As

Rita Pearson says – “Kids don’t learn from a person they don’t like’, the factor of ‘favoritism’ is based on the emotional connection the teacher or the mentor makes with the student or mentee respectively.  This emotional connection constructs memories which help in change.  Without an emotional contact, not established between organisations and teachers, teachers and students, students and parents, change will still be a far fetched dream.

Land and sea breeze

Land and sea breeze

In the day, in the light

Land is hot, Water is cold,

Air on land, it gets hot

And up it moves

Air on water is still cold

Takes its place.

This movement is the breeze of land.

In the night, still a fright,

Water is hot when land is cold

Air on water up it moves,

Air on land takes its place

This movement is the breeze of sea.

Language learning and its variations

Language is a medium to transform ideas to reality.
Language holds the rings of communication.
Language represents expressions in words
Language dictates power in the words of poets
Language is what makes world a village.

It is universally accepted that language is the central to our existence as ‘Global citizens’.  Human evolution for long has stamped its travel adventures in history.  Moving across the globe and wandering, civilizations have communicated from sign to sounds to letters.  Defining a language and learning its rules to communicate has fascinated mankind all along.  Ever wondered, how people learned a new language.  It is not an easy task. 

Moving to a new place was considered difficult just because the person had to converse and live with a new language.  I still remember the good old days when my mom had to move to a new place and she found it difficult to master the language there.  However, the same has not been the case with me.  Though, the 90’s and early 2000’s were not so tech savvy, thanks to the communication networks, televisions and local networks saved us from the burden of embarrassment in making mistakes while learning a new language.  Movies and news were the major programs which helped develop a language then for the non-native speakers.

Today, apps like ‘Duolingo’, ‘HelloTalk, Babbel etc., provides a better opportunity for such migrating speakers.  The comparison of a foreign language, its structure and grammar with that of a local language has become possible.  Language learners, see a wide opportunity in learning new language.  Pronunciation was also a bitter task during the yester years, the speed of native speakers become non-adaptable for non-native listeners.  With the prominence of such language building apps, and the speed that can be controlled, pronunciation checks are better amongst its users.

Free courses offered by online platforms like Edx or Allison or Canva has also provided scope to interact and learn, not only within leaners of the native country but also to those outside the country. 

Focus on language learning is prioritised on building the four basic skill development in the order as – Listening, speaking, reading and writing.  The development of these four basic orders of language learning has also become possible through technology.  It is astonishing that not only can we learn the fundamentals of the language here, but also correct ourselves through recording our voice and analyse in comparison with the original pronunciation.  Sentences can be translated into the language of learning and it is automatically corrected, which gives the learner immediate feedback on the learning process.

Art and architecture transcended boundaries even in the era when technology was non-existent.  With a larger platform of social media available for sharing common interests and to review the works performance cannot be outmatched.  Language learning has crossed barriers of culture in the form of ‘motion pictures’.  Characters of ‘Tom and Jerry’, Mickey Mouse, and Doremon are all household names.  These cartoons have also claimed most vocabulary of both local and foreign languages.  The use of such cartoons on an intentional ground can be used to develop language among our children.  Attracted to these snippets, alienating may not be the answer in developing a good notion.  The same has happened to the English speaking land where Chinese and Indian movies have created landmark success.  Today, language is not a barrier but a bridge.

Reality has set in to seek light in the dark and try to convert every failure as an opportunity to success, language which was once the major restricting factor has this innate potential capable of building bridges of human emotions and allowing compassion to flow in directions which was not once thought off.  Dramatizing and giving a creative opportunity for learning is valid even in building equity among its learners.  The language of ‘humanity’ now has the capacity to connect and collaborate in different ways.  Let us build our world together crossing the boundaries of nations.  One language – One world.