Science sometimes is hard to understand. Classes are often a series of experiments or investigations followed by lists of “facts” pulled from reading a dry textbook or classroom presentation. Students miss the bigger picture, how do all of these separate things connect, what is the meaning of it?
Your daily reflections assignment is a way you can stop and try to make sense out of what you are learning. Everyday you are to write a reflection in your binder. It is an ongoing journal or diary of your learning. From time to time I’ll read through your reflections to help me better understand how you are doing, where you are struggling, and questions you may have. We’ll also use it as part of your portfolio of learning (more on that later).
I revised the presentation you saw in class and inserted it into this post to give you one more look at what reflective writing is about.
I understand the point of the reflection, but I, personally, never can find the time to do a really good job on it or even do it sometimes. Does anybody else feel the same way as me?
I do agree with Lauren. I have bunch of other homework to do besides the refelction. I don’t have the time to go back and check my reflection and make sure its good. I also don’t believe we need a daily reflection just because we won’t need it to help us succeed in the future. In my opinion, no offense Mr. Grant….
Me too. We have way to much homework on a daily basis that we have no time at all to even get most of our homework. I think that reflections should be extra credit instead of being a part of our actual grade.
I agree with peter’s comment.
What is the quiz going to be on.
Ok i agree with Breanne i do not think it is nessary to do that because i have wayyy to mutch homework to begin with and by the way i feel the science lab we had to do is soo mutch harder then last year I do not like it at all im just sayen no offence Mr.Grant (sorry for the bad spelling!!)
So how much time do you spend on your reflections?
By the time I finish math, history projects, studying I am worn out I would only spend about 2 minutes on it and I wouldn’t even be able to tell if I did it right or not. I think that it probably isn’t that the reflection is hard or anything but we have to much OTHER work. I completly understand the point of a reflection and I think its great but how is it going to help me in the fututre? As for the lab write up i like it its something i get to do at home and on the computer but i can see kats point of view. Last year our version of a lab write up was something we had to do in class. I think the reflection should be done on this website and we all just post a comment. We would be able to hear other peoples opinion about class and be able to ask questions. I’m sorry my response was soooo long but I really enjoying talking about this. Again no offense to Mr. Grant =)
I agree with Peter from period 3 that the reflections should be extra credit. But I believe that you should only be allowed to turn it in every week and only if you have a 85% or less in progress book. That way we learn and understand the work that we do in class. As well as, we can’t just go on the interenet and coby and paste things onto a sheet of paper.
I disagree with Breanne, though. I like the new way to do the write ups because I can make them pretty and I can think about them and make them good. So I think we should keep them.
So I think reflections should be extra credit for people with 85% or less in gradebook and only turned in once a week from that person. As well as, we should keep the write ups.
Hmmmm, interesting conversation. I like how you are beginning to offer possible solutions and expressing alternative views while doing it all respectfully. Maybe this is a learning experience and something like a reflection (on reflections).
I understand your concerns about too much homework, but it sounds like its other classes not science. We have class 3 times per week so that’s 3 reflections per week (and 2 out of 3 days you have more than 1 day to complete them).
It makes me wonder if it’s really the amount of time you have to do it or that you just don’t think there is sufficient value in doing it. If you thought this was very important would you find the time?
In my opinion I don’t believe the reflection is necessary. It’s not a grade? So why are we doing it. How does it help our future? How is it helping me learn? If I could get the answers to these questions then yes maybe I would take more time out of my day to make sure I do a good job on it.
no offense
I am going to be truthful, I don’t find the reflections very important so I don’t make time for them. I still think they should be extra credit. (only for people with an 85% or less)
I also agree i feel its pointless i dont see why it is a grade? and how does it help us in the future? i feel its a wast of my time. maby if it was extra credet because nowadays i need extra credet or i will sink in science if it werent to extracredet i would have sunk last year anyway im getting off topic i dont see the point!
I made a mistake saying they are not a grade. Sorry. Still in my opinion the reflections are something saying what we did that day and questions we still have. My issue is not that I don’t have time , it’s that I don’t think it’s worth a lot of time. It’s not helping me learn. It’s not a lesson in my opinion. I don’t see how we learn from it, I know how to write about my day but I shouldn’t be forced to do that. My reflections would have many questions, opinions and debates (something I can share during class time). I highly think the reflections are not worth time. I’m sorry but that’s my opinion and I feel as if you are not taking this to consideration. This is all my opinion
i agree i think the reflections are not that important, but i have a feeling that we might have to keep doing them so i suggest that maybe we take 5-6 minutes out of class to do them and i guarantee that people will have a better focus in class and that more people will do them. but i don’t think that this should be a grade because if you want to know how well we are learning in class, we have tests and quizzes for that. i think it should just be a thing so Mr.grant can see what we are getting out of class and if we miss something important in class that we didn’t write about maybe he could help us out with it so we don’t fall behind. but…i still think the reflections are a pointless thing to but i do see the value in them now that i just read what i wrote but if we missed something i think we would find out sooner or later because if it really is something important we would know about it because you explain it many times and make sure we all know it and if we still miss it we could just ask someone about it and they will definitely tell you. well this comment is really long and stuff so im gonna go now buh bye =D
So let’s assume (yes I know what they say about the word assume) that you just want to please me and you are willing to give the reflections a try. What are you going to write? Where do you start? Can you help each other out with some suggestions?
If I were to give the reflections a chance, I would write something about the new info I learned that day, my reaction to the class, the new experiences and questions I still might have. I would start with thinking about the lesson I learned in science and then go on and write about what I learned and my reaction to it.
I still don’t believe the reflections are neccessary to do at all.
My opinion
I’d enjoy reading a reflection like that.
if I were to write one it would be like one sentence one because if i dont find it nessary then i dont really care but it would be something like ” today in class we did________.” thats it
Well you need to start someplace. You see information from class is easily lost if you don’t do something with it. Sometimes you might forget it the moment you get out of class. But if you go home and write about it, well then you have to recall the information. You might also have to look at your notes to remember or even visit this website. So you see you are now doing 3 things with the information: 1st getting it in class, 2nd remembering it at home, and 3rd writing it down. It should then be easier to recall it later on when you need it.
ok ill give it a shot hopefully that will bring up my grade because i am going to flunk the SPF lab, but i agree with breanne mine might have questions in my reflections.
What if you have extremly bad memory, like I do. I highly doubt writing down what I did in class will help me with my memory. It might help me remeber questions I have, but how am I to be able to remeber those questions the next class? I think reflections should be something done in class. Lately I have not had time to do stuff between Heltons 2 projects, math homework, studying, Mrs. Adams stories, drum class,reading and family events. I know that reflections take 5 minutes but that’s extra time I could put towards something else. I have been doing all my reflections but I don’t put a lot of effort because I don’t believe it helps. I’m the type or person who cares about what I learn and how it helps my future. I don’t believe the reflections are necessary as HOMEWORK. Maybe make it class work or extra credit or part of a test? I really hope you are not just listening to why I say but also taking some of it into consideration?
i agree breanne! but i havent done all my reflections but she makes a good point and i do hope you take that into conciteration
In my opinion, Reflections are helpful, but it seems a bit excessive to have to do them after every class period. I think that it would be better to heve one maybe once a week. On alot of days we don’t do anything that challenging in class. So far, what we have been learning is a review so I cant really write a paragraph about it. For example, the water cycle is pretty basic and we have been learning about it since 1st grade. I, and probably many students understand this and dont have any questions. Therefore, all you can write as a reflection is, “Today in class we learned about the water cycle. I understand it and dont have any question.” Writeing this may only take a few minutes, but afterwards I spend at least 10 additional minutes thinking about if there is anything else I can add because I want to get a better grade. I dont understand the importance of knowing that I learned about the water cycle. I can understand how a reflection would be helpful after learning a challenging, new lesson but that isnt every day, and on the other days the reflection is a waste of time that we could have used on other homework, or extracurricular activities. When i student finds something hard to understand, thats a good time to write a reflection, but when the material is basic to a student and they dont have any questions I feel a reflection is not helpful.
I disagree with jeni. I don’t see how they help me still? What’s the point of writing what I learned it’s like a diary? I do agree that some stuff is review and we don’t have questions what do we do then? I understand that reviewing is helpful for fcat and tests but yet if we learn about something we already know, we might get more confused? Don’t you agree. Reflections are not something I put a bunch of effort into. For example, today after school I had to give a friend a ride to a game and stayed at the game to support friends. I had to come home to a history study guide, history studying, a final draft of an essay, math homework, Spanish studies, and reflection. It’s 10 o clock and I’m still not done. I do believe we have too much history homework but that’s her way of preparing us. I do spend a lot of my time on her homework because I see how they help me an I understand it very clearly. With reflections, I understand them but how do they help me? I believe it’s something to do during class. With all this homework I didn’t get a chance to do anything I truely wanted that doesn’t seem fair. I’m by blaming Mr. Grant for alllll this homework but with all of my time spent on homework I don’t want to do something I don’t find a point in like reflections.
I also think that, since people like Breanne and I do not feel that reflections are really all that neccessary, we are not putting the effort to do one actually good. We are just doing what we need to do to do good on the assignment, but we don’t, or at least I don’t, put forth a lot of effort to do good on them. I’m not really even thinking about what I’m writing, I just write whatever comes to head even if its not all true.
Reflecting is thinking. Re-read what you wrote above but change the word “reflections” to “thinking”.
I 100% agree with Jeni, now. I don’t put a great amount of effort towards the daily reflections/thinking? Therefore, I don’t find them at all that mandatory. I see your point of view thats it is re-thinking about what we have learned and making sure we understand it, but shouldn’t that be something we do in class? If it was in class I would put my mind more towards it and be more willing to do it. Plus, I would have the lesson fresh in my mind and be able to share my opinion and ask my questions right then. What if I am doing a reflection and I have a question or somethings confusing to me and I dont have your class the next day? Or in my case I don’t have the best of memory, so I’ll end up forgetting and I’ll go on being confused about what I learned. What about that what happens then?
Instead of having them everyday, why can’t we get them the last day we see you.
I have you on Fridays so we could have reflections on Friday, and turn it in on Tuesday.
Some people have you on Thursdays and could turn it in on Mondays. I bet you’ll have more reflections than you usually got.