Student Reflection at Detroit Prep

If you are a student at Detroit Prep, you probably know how to write a Habit of Character reflection with your eyes closed. If you are a staff member at Detroit Prep, you gleefully pull a hand heart to your chest during Appreciations and sing your shine tune (whatever that might be). But, at Detroit Prep, reflection is much more than the weekly three sentences or daily compassion given to a friend playing at recess. Reflection is a process of accountability within our Crew for both adults and students. Our Habits of Character (HOCs); Compassion, Cooperation, Integrity, Responsibility, Perseverance, and Curiosity & Creativity; are values we as a Crew of both adults and students live within each day. The process of reflection on those HOCs may involve more tangible products, such as our weekly HOC reflection. However, the reflection piece can be as fleeting as a quick thumb-o-meter before moving to the next chapter in learning. Detroit Prep values both students and staff’s assessment of their learning and their behavior to create progress and mastery. It is something that is hidden but constant within our community of learners (and we consider both students and staff among those learners!). 

In Kindergarten, students learn two different debrief protocols to reflect on their learning: Turn & Talk and Four Corners. During a Four Corners debrief,  students think deeply about the criteria for success within their learning target. The criteria for success has been unpacked throughout the lesson, so students know exactly what they need to be able to say and do in order to master the target. During the protocol, Crew leaders will label each corner of the room with a number (1, 2, 3, 4). Each number represents how much of the criteria they’ve met: 1 (none or a small amount) to 4 (mastered the criteria and can show additional understanding). In April, this protocol was used with a small group of 11 kindergarteners in a reading group. Their learning target was, “I can accurately read and answer questions about a level F text (Fountas & Pinell).” After 10 minutes of reading, they closed their books and thought about what they just read. Then, they completed a Turn & Talk to share: Who was the character in your story, and what problem did they face? After the Turn & Talk,  students were asked to reflect on how well they were able to decode words accurately and comprehend what they read using a 1 (I struggled to read the words and couldn’t remember what I read), 2 (I was able to read most of the words accurately but didn’t remember what I read), 3 (I read most of the words accurately and could answer both comprehension questions), or 4 (I read all of the words correctly, answered the comprehension questions, and could provide more details from the story). After students chose their corner, they shared why they chose that corner and what their next step was to move from a 2 to a 3 or 3 to a 4. Crew leaders will use this data to determine next instructional steps for  students. In this case, the reflections from students would determine who is ready to be assessed at the next reading level. 

In fifth grade, we’ve been known to cluster  students into inner and outer circle groups of 8 for culminating Fishbowl discussions. In the inner circle, or fishbowl,  students begin the discussion.  students in the outer circle listen to the perspectives and evidence of their classmates. Then, from the outside, they can tap in, replace, and build onto the time-stamped discussions. At the end of our WWII: Internment Camps module,  students used this protocol to answer one of our open-ended guiding questions: How can we learn from history to apply the lessons of Japanese internment to our own community and lives? Evidence was used to back up opinions and inner circle members summarized and built off the group’s talking points. I took notice when I heard, “If Michigan Roundtable was around when the Japanese Americans were interned because of their race, then they would have worked to stop this injustice. After internment, no one wanted to hire Japanese Americans. They faced discrimination in their communities and workplace. No organization stood up for them, not even our own government.” Another built on, “ I think we need to overcome discrimination and racism. Honor our ancestors, celebrate diversity of race, religion, and cultures.” After building background knowledge, listening to an expert, reading novels, researching, and producing high quality final products;  students were prepared to have this kind of open ended discussion. It solidified their learning and the debrief which followed came to highlight strengths of the discussion and segwayed into making suggestions on ways to engage each other more meaningfully leading up to our Celebration of Learning presentation on the same topic. 

By seventh grade,  students are regularly asked to reflect on their learning progress. After summative assessments, they are given a chance to receive teacher feedback and to self-identify specific questions that align to learning targets that they have mastered or that they need to continue working on. As  students become more skilled in this area, they are also able to set specific learning goals for themselves and reflect on what support they might need to reach those next goals. For example, in a recent Mid Unit Assessment Reflection, a seventh grade student was able to name a learning target he is still struggling with in Expedition (I can analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of characters and narrators in a literary text).  students then give and receive feedback on their reflection. For this student, a peer helped him identify the question that best showed how he struggled with this specific target (“... Question 1 where I was confused and I couldn’t convey the contrast between the characters”). Then, at his Student Led Conference that same month, he was able to ask his teachers and family for support in this area by making a connection to a goal he had for skills (determining the meaning of words and phrases in a text). This arc of reflection has helped our oldest  students internalize their progress so that they can set goals that are individualized, ambitious and feasible.

Reflection is a priority here at Detroit Prep. However, we see that it makes a huge difference within the behavioral and academic progress of our students. After reviewing our data, we see a direct correlation between the commitment  students have for their reflections and their self awareness. Further, our Crew leaders see improvements within their own instructional practices by using reflection practices. By quickly monitoring for progress, and trusting the integrity of those students’ reflections, Crew leaders can easily adjust lessons to the needs of their Crews. The constant reflection on daily and weekly data within our instructional teams also holds us accountable for the learning of our students. Although reflection protocols take time to create, we believe the forced practice eventually morphs into a natural reflex for our Crew, and it is certainly a key ingredient to our entire Crew’s success.