Asking the right questions is at the heart of being a teacher. But when we ask the wrong questions or just lacklustre ones, we’re often disappointed with the answers. Reflection gets easier if the questions engage and challenge students. Here are three areas where you can upgrade your reflection questions.
🎯 Goal Setting
Check out this common question we’ve seen asked at the beginning of the year.
Yes, this is a worthwhile thing to reflect on, but the question itself is a bit lazy. It’s putting all the work on the student to dig deep, reflect hard, and synthesise how they want to grow. So how could we inspire our students a bit more? How about this?
Roleplay decreases the load for students and gives them permission to use their imagination. Play is a valuable way to learn and roleplay can unlock thoughts that your students may not have known they had! Questions like this promote a positive self-image, foster a growth mindset and facilitate visualisation that makes abstract ideas like personal growth more concrete and relatable for young students.
Here are some follow up questions you could use:
- What obstacles did your upgraded version conquer?
- What would you do with these new skills?
😌 SEL
We're all familiar with the ultimate bland SEL question – the one we hear daily in elevators, grocery stores, and from colleagues: "How are you?" It rarely inspires more than a simple "I'm good." So, even though this next example is more specific, it still could be improved.
Again, this question is trying to get at something worthwhile, but it sort of falls flat. How could we engage our students more? How about this?
This question is better because it encourages empathy and perspective-taking. By first asking students to reflect on how inclusion feels for them, it creates a personal connection to the concept. Then, by asking how they could ensure others feel included, it prompts students to apply that understanding to their interactions with peers. This two-part structure promotes both self-awareness and social awareness, key components of social-emotional learning.
Here are some more questions we like:
- How did you prepare yourself to listen carefully in class?
- How do you feel when someone disagrees with your idea?
- How do you think your participation helps our class learn together?
- How do you decide when it's a good time to share your thoughts?
🪞 End of Project Reflection
Finally, let’s look at an example of reflecting on a project. We’ve seen this question in a lot of reflections:
While it might get straight to the point, students end up answering with one word, or something simple about the product created. Instead, try asking how:
This question assumes the project allowed them to express their ideas and interests. By doing so, it gets students thinking about the positive aspects of the project and connects it to their personal relevance. It also focuses on the process and the act of learning instead of preferences.
Here are some more examples of questions that can help students reflect on their learning experiences:
- How did this project challenge you to think differently?
- How did you decide which parts of the project to focus on most?
- How did this project help you understand the subject better?
Let's recap some the techniques we used for crafting more effective reflection questions.
Roleplay 🧙♂️ - By encouraging students to imagine 'upgraded' versions of themselves, we tap into their creativity and make abstract concepts of personal growth more tangible and engaging.
Promote Empathy and Perspective-taking ❤️- Asking students to consider how certain experiences feel, both for themselves and others, fosters emotional intelligence and social awareness.
Focus on Process 🛠️- Instead of simple preference-based questions, we can ask how projects allowed for self-expression or challenged thinking, connecting learning experiences to students' personal interests and growth.
How > What 🤔 - Framing questions with how instead of what encourages students to delve deeper into their experiences and thought processes. How questions prompt more detailed responses, focusing on methods, feelings, and reasoning rather than simple facts or preferences. This approach fosters critical thinking and more comprehensive reflection.
By simply focusing on these strategies, we can transform our reflection questions from mundane to meaningful, inspiring deeper thought and more insightful responses from our students.
How will you change the way you ask questions?
Questioning Inspiration
The power of a good question is invaluable in all areas of life. Check out this assortment of beautiful question card decks.
We were inspired by Chris Balme’s article: On Beautiful Conversations - And how to have more of them with adolescents.
Questions developed by students? The Right Question Institute delves into student developed inquiry questions with the Question Formulation Technique.