{"id":717,"date":"2024-11-15T12:05:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T12:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/?p=717"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:50:07","slug":"reading-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/uncategorized\/reading-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

I, like most everyone else teaching in higher ed, have had to grapple with the shifting engagement patterns of our students over the last few years. To be clear \u2013 it\u2019s not that I think students are disengaged; it\u2019s simply that they\u2019re often engaged in things other than schoolwork. They need money; they\u2019re caregivers; they are worried about the environment; they are acutely aware of international and domestic politics, and all of these things are pressing and immediate, as opposed to abstract in the way that so much learning can (unfortunately) be.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I don\u2019t grade or take attendance in my classes, and I don\u2019t have participation points, primarily because it\u2019s so tricky to enforce the latter in ways that are accessible to all my students. But I do want students to co-create their learning environment, and find a way to take ownership of the things we cover.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, I put in place reading reflections after every piece of homework. The reading reflections are hosted as a Google form, and they are required, even as they\u2019re ungraded. (Students have not, in the several years I\u2019ve been doing this, opted out of this process, but in fact complete it diligently. And if someone doesn\u2019t answer the reflections for a couple of times in a row, I know there\u2019s something I need to follow-up on with that student.)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The reading reflections ask the same questions every time. I first have a question about how much reading the students did \u2013 they indicate the amount through bubbles like \u201c25-50%\u201d or \u201call of the reading.\u201d I make it abundantly clear in word and action that I don\u2019t ask this question to be punitive, but to make it possible for me to prepare to teach on days when most of the class got 50% of the reading done.\u00a0 I then ask:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
  1. What new things did you learn from the reading?<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  2. What do you think it\u2019s important we talk about today?<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  3. What left you confused? What questions do you have?<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  4. Is there anything else you want to share?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Here\u2019s a screenshot of the reflection page:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

     <\/p>\r\n

    \"A<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n

     <\/p>\r\n\r\n

    \"A<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Here\u2019s what\u2019s key: I schedule the reading reflections to be due with enough time for me to review them and use them to shape my lesson plans for each day. (I do not grade them or offer comments on them.) That establishes a feedback loop: my students see that their questions and ideas shape each class period, and they get answers to the things that sparked their curiosity. I also get the opportunity to see how deeply they\u2019re probing the readings, and where they may need help thinking more critically about texts. The reflections are also retrieval practice, which means that the information the students recall will stick with them much more easily.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    I don\u2019t dictate the form in which people answer the questions, except to say that one or two lines is insufficient.\u00a0 People write whole paragraphs, or have bullet-point lists. Some students even take notes directly into the form. What\u2019s key is that they\u2019re thinking ahead, and we all come to class with a series of the important issues we want to discuss.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    At the end of each week, I also have students do a \u2018look back\u2019 at the week before they start the homework for the next one. It\u2019s based on the same principles, but simply asks for the three most important things they learned from class in the past week. It\u2019s a good recall tool for them, and it\u2019s a great way for me to track if they\u2019re understanding the concepts and ideas I want them to get.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

     <\/p>\r\n\r\n

    \"A<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n

     <\/p>\r\n\r\n

    \"A<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Feel free to borrow the questions I use and, of course, to come up with questions better suited to your discipline \/ institution \/ class sizes!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I, like most everyone else teaching in higher ed, have had to grapple with the shifting engagement patterns of our students over the last few years. To be clear \u2013 it\u2019s not that I think students are disengaged; it\u2019s simply that they\u2019re often engaged in things other than schoolwork. They need money; they\u2019re caregivers; they are worried about the environment; they are acutely aware of international and domestic politics, and all of these things are pressing and immediate, as opposed…<\/p>\n

    Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinedenial.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}