How Are You Doing? Using Reflection to Measure Success
“We do not learn from experience . . . we learn from reflecting on experience.” - John Dewey
Rarely do students take time in their busy schedules to reflect on recent performances on exams, writing assignments, or study habits. As Barry Zimmerman notes in his article “Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner,” self-reflection is just as important as planning and performing; all three carry equal weight in the learning process. Reflection isn’t a quick read through a professor’s comments on a graded essay or a fast skimming of a recent exam to see how many questions were missed. Reflection is deep awareness, attending to details and subtle points that can change the outcome of an essay or a test.
For example, Joanna anxiously awaits her Composition I professor to return the argumentative essays, but when she receives her paper, the red “C” glares back at her, and she slides down in her seat, hiding the paper in humiliation. She thought she’d done so much better on this assignment.
When she arrives home, Joanna reads through the professor’s marks and comments, amazed at her discovery. The remarks the professor made about her argument, evidence, and paragraph structure were mostly comments of praise, but Joanna struggles with comma usage in writing assignments. The most common error she makes is the comma splice, which is two complete sentences separated by only a comma and no conjunction (such as and, or, so, for, but). Sentence fragments are the second serious problem in her writing, often just a simple punctuation error as well, adding a period in a string of words where a simple comma is needed instead: Students despised on-demand writing in classes, such as the short-answer or essay questions on exams. When Joanna carefully looks at the red marks and the points she lost for each one, she is shocked to see she lost a full letter-grade on her essay just for these two mistakes that she made over and over again.
Now that Joanna has closely examined her professor’s feedback, she recognizes that if she learned the corrections for comma splices and fragments, her “C” paper would become a “B” paper with just these two pieces of knowledge.
Reflection on feedback from a professor involves close reading and analysis to uncover the problems followed by an action plan to correct the problems before the next assignment. Dale Carnegie expresses it perfectly when he argues, “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” A low grade on an essay in the beginning of the semester provides students with an opportunity to find mistakes and do whatever it takes to correct them for future assignments, a skill used constantly by strong students who want to master new techniques and strategies in college.
Course in Reflection
Open the document listed below and complete the exercise.
Instructions: Read through the following excercise posted below, then access it as a word document at the bottom of this box.
Take the Reflection Test
How well do you use processes in school that enhance learning and performance? Reflect on your semester performance concerning the techniques you are learning in this course: taking notes in lecture courses, planning weekly schedules, blocking time for homework, studying for exams, reading and marking assignments.
Self-Assessment Checklist for Student Success:
Are You Applying New Techniques to Your Study Habits?
1. Have you filled out your daily planner, marking priority projects, study-time and assignment details, test dates and assignment deadlines, errands and chores, and important appointments on your calendar every week for the past 4 weeks?
2. Do you spend at least 20 minutes a week planning your schedule for the next week? _____
Do you include exact times you will study specific homework assignments? ______
Do you list specific short term goals you want to work on that week, such as exercise goals, budgeting goals, etc.? ______
3. When you have a hectic day, do you make a to-do list that shows the priority of the projects and the order in which they are to be completed? ___________
4. Have you been taking at least 1-4 pages of notes in every class since we learned note-taking techniques? _______ Have you taken at least 15 pages of notes in this class? _______
5. Have you tried any of the new note-taking methods we learned? ________ If not, why not?
6. Are you using the Cornell Method (Recall Method) of note-taking, so you can use it as a study aid and quiz yourself over the major topics covered in each class? _______
7. Are you highlighting your books, marking the definitions and the examples in the margins, and making summary notes in the margins (or taking chapter notes instead)? ___________
8. Are you using the SQ3R method of reading? Do you first survey your assignment, checking the major headings? ____
Do you then form questions about the readings before you begin to read? ____
Do you read to find the answers? _____
Do you recite the information aloud after you’ve finished reading? _____
Do you review the reading assignments right before class? _____
Do you use any of these reading strategies? _____
9. When you arrive in class, do you take time to review the notes or homework so that when class begins, you are already focused on today’s topic? ____________
10. Do you say at least three positive comments to yourself each day? _______ Remember, you can’t stop thinking negatively, but you can replace a negative thought with a positive one. Successful students first believe that they will be successful.
11. Do you complete study guides for your exams in this class and other classes? ______
If you aren’t given a guide, do you try to predict test questions for exams in other classes and create your own study guide? _______
12. When you don’t know the answer to a test in your other classes, do you go back over the exam and use information on the test itself to help you answer the question? _____
13. Before you turn in your exam, do you reread to be sure you haven’t missed a question? ____
14. After receiving feedback from a professor suggesting that you modify study habits or learn a specific skill, do you try to change old behavior patterns, or do you simply fall into your old routine each day? ____________________
15. Do you consciously process through problem-solving techniques when you make decisions, being sure to consider long-term consequences (such as choosing not to study for an exam)? ______ If not, why not?
16. Are you behind in any classes this semester? ______
Have you spoken with your professor about it? ______
If you missed an exam, did you call instructor to schedule a make-up?____
Have you gone to a tutor for help in your weakest area of study (writing/math)? _______
17. Are you transferring the skills learned in this course and using them in your other courses? (Example: note taking techniques, marking and highlighting chapters, organizing a notebook, scheduling multiple review sessions for tests, beginning long projects early, prioritizing projects?)
18. What are three things you felt were most beneficial from this class so far?
Which exercises, activities, or programs have not helped you at all?
Reread this self-assessment. Describe specific details you want to change in your study and behavior patterns beginning today and write them in your day planner for next week.
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