Reflection is a skill which we must develop if we are to become better learners. It is important that we pause to think about our journey of learning in terms of where we have been, where we are now and where we will go in the future. I would like you to reflect on your learning in English so far this year by thinking about and responding to the ideas and questions below. You may do this here in this post on the blog or on the lined paper provided.
If you think carefully about what you have learnt and the progress you have made in English, this is about much more than simply considering whether your 'Level' for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening has gone up or not. Simply thinking about this will only lead to momentary happiness, disappointment or prolonged frustration.
Here is an example of some great learning that has happened with regards to the study of 'Short Stories':
- We learnt that many short stories have 6 key ingredients (conventions) in terms of their structure including: the title, character, setting, plot, climax, and conclusion/resolution.
- We learnt that the short story (as a genre of writing) has many different genres within it such as Science Fiction (Barry), Dialogue form (Something to Tell You), 247 word limits (The Dragon).
- We explored our meaning and understanding of ideas, themes, characters, setting and structure.
- We practised developing our own skills in writing a short story within a given word limit, carefully considering form and structure, the significance of the title, creating a sense of enigma and establishing a setting, etc.
- We enjoyed these stories and responded with interest and emotion to them (Isn't this a key part of learning too?)
and so on...
Try to think about each unit of work we have done in this way. What knowledge have you gained in addition to the skills you have been developing? What have you enjoyed and why? What did you find challenging and why?
Below are the questions I wrote on the board in our first lesson on this last week, but I would like you to consider carefully what I have written above.
1. Reflect on the work you have done in your folders so far
- What skill areas have we covered and how? (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening)
- What texts (novels, play, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, etc.) have we studied?
- What have you enjoyed and why?
- What do you feel you have learnt? (skills and knowledge)
2. Look in your white progress booklets at the Level you are working at.
- What pieces of work have you demonstrated these skills in?
- What do you need to think about now to develop and make further progress?
- Set yourself some targets (be specific)
3. How do the feedback/reflection sheets support your learning?
4. What has been the impact of using the blog in your learning?
Please also make any suggestions as to how we could improve our learning further through what we study and how we study it.
I look forward to hearing your responses.
1: - The skills we have covered are reading, writing and some speaking and listening.
ReplyDelete- We have studied poem, short stories, drama, Arthurian Legend, fiction and non-fiction.
- I have enjoyed short stories the most because I can let my creativity flow and not have a 'set' topic on what to write on.
- I have learnt (on top of other things too) how to analyse and discuss texts with details.
2: - I have demonstrated these skills in the Arthurian Legend topic and pieces of work as we have read, written, acted and watched so many different interpretations of the classic myth.
- I need to progress in my reading assessments as I am getting a lower level in this skill than any other. I also struggle a bit with these assessments more than others too.
- I want to reach there targets:
~ To reach a higher level in reading assessments but no specifically a level, just a higher standard.
~ To concentrate on reflections a bit more than usual as I think reflections help.
3: - I think feedback/reflection sheets support our learning by helping us reflect and reassure our learning throughout the piece of work. I like doing reflections because i can concentrate on the feedback and targets given for that piece instead of just reading a teachers comment and level and that is it.
4: - I think the impact of using the blog in our learning has been that we can submit any information and any of our opinions and work and it will always be here for us to look back at if needed. Overall I think the blog is great and makes a positive impact on our learning.
~Isabella Allen ( forgot to name it!)
DeleteFor our reading skills the assessment I liked was father and daughter because it was easy to write about due to the scenes, so it was good to structure my writing. I didn't really enjoy the graphic novel analysis as I think we could have done a bit more of a equal discussion in the class, as I thought that it was always the same people talking.
ReplyDeleteAs for our writing I think that we could have done a range of what the teachers are looking for, as I am not getting the marks that I would be hope to be getting, and not really,fully knowing what to do to improve.
We have only done speaking and listening with Mrs Mulkern, and i think that we could have done more of a group presentation, where you would all take a equal amount to do and, you would work on it together.
With writing some people are slow, and some are fast. I personally don't feel as if that is really recognized. The teachers expect us to write a certain amount in a certain tie and I (as a slow writer) find that quite difficult to reach expectations, because i would rather keep it neat and allow someone to actually read my work, than writing it fast and someone not being able to read it because I have written it quick and it therefore being quite messy.
Sofia
My Reflection
ReplyDelete1. We have studied the main topics of Reading, writing, listing. We have covered them over the tasks of: Barry, Graphic novel, poem, short story, nonfiction, speaking and listening, play, etc.: see my English book.
2. Graphic novel-It was new and interesting and you have more of an idea about the colours and don't have to read so much!
Poem- like Julia said "I agree that the graphic novel was interesting but i personally prefer the written text/poem because it stuck in my head and when i listened to it i got really into it and felt like i was there, like watching a movie in my mind."
Written text- you get to imagine the whole thing and can intemperate it how you want to!
Comic strip- Because you get to see both Illustrations and text!
3. *I did this with my friend Zoe
4. I feel that I have learnt that you ca display text or images in a variety of unique and interesting ways.
5. I feel that I need to do more spelling and punctuation skills.
Sorry this is not my real one, I managed to send myself the wrong one! This is the not developed or finished one, and as soon as I get home I will upload the correct one!
Julia