Importance Of Reflection On High School Students

These last few weeks of class discussion have passed so quickly in my mind. Granted, the first week was completed online. Over the course of these last few weeks we have examined activities that were designed for high school students. As has been stated, these activities could easily be modified and made to be appropriate for middle school, as well as elementary, classrooms. In order to reflect upon the high school grade band, I would like to address the ideas of teachers using the background knowledge of students to teach new content, the continued importance of developing the spatial visualization skills of students, and how students and teachers alike should be avid reflectors, as these ideas should also be considered at the elementary level.

The article by Prummer, Armador, and Wallin (2016) told of how, “The teachers recognized that many students engaged in a metacognitive process, which led to understanding why prior attempts had been unsuccessful” (p. 477). Reflection while completing mathematical tasks has continually been incorporated into our discussions on the Geometric Habits of Mind. When working on a task, students must think about what they have accomplished and noticed thus far to inform themselves about the steps they need to take next. For example, as I worked to complete the sliding diagonals homework, I thought back to how the square’s diagonal bisected its corners as I tried to determine how diagonals worked within a rectangle. I ended up determining that a rectangle’s diagonal does not bisect its corners, and therefore, the newly formed rectangles did not look similar. I had to think of another way one might be able to prove that the newly formed rectangles were in fact covering the same amount of area. When students are able to reflect upon their work and what they are learning as a whole, they are better able to notice accomplishments and growth. I think this could be very motivating for students. This could be especially true for students who are consistently not reaching grade level proficiency, but are still making significant gains. These students should be encouraged to recognize their learning and that learning should be