What Selfies Can Teach us About Education
But first, let me make a personal reflection.
A selfie is an image that serves as a form of external self-expression. This trend may seem jovial to many of an older generation; however, to educators it should verify that students are bursting at the seams to communicate. If many students are excited to express themselves through pictures, then why limit their opportunities for expression when in school?
While a selfie communicates information about our exterior, there are ways for students to express their internal individualities through other mediums.
Personal reflections speak about our interior and express our truest emotions. When we reflect, we think, write or speak about past experiences and determine what our feelings are about those events. We decide what worked and what did not, develop emotions, brainstorm alternatives, and overall relate to the events that occurred.
These reflections become valuable learning experiences in schools, and become even more powerful when they are shared with others.
These reflections become valuable learning experiences in schools, and become even more powerful when they are shared with others.
This year, I made a large push toward incorporating student reflection as a form of learning. The method that I used is known as Backchanneling. This tactic allows a student conversation to transpire alongside or outside of the traditional classroom instruction. The hope is to build student interest in classroom content by providing them with an informal means to communicate.
In my class, a calendar was created with each student’s name. The day the student’s name appeared, they were asked to moderate a group discussion at home on a secure virtual discussion forum. The student moderator would create conversational questions related to that day’s content. Students were asked to join the conversation, reflect on what they learned, and take class discussions to whatever depths they wanted. This created an avenue for students to speak without a teacher regulating the information. Students were provided with trust, support and confidence. The results What Selfies Can Teach us About Education: