This year I’m continuing to find that student ownership plays a critical role in the learning process. Students often become more responsible for their own learning when they are given additional opportunities to show their learning. I’m finding that part of the key to increasing student responsibility depends on how it’s communicated by the teacher. Students can’t be expected to own their learning without any guidance. The gradual release of student responsibility can benefit the overal climate and achievement of a classroom. In the past, I’ve used student journaling, plus/delta, surveys, choice boards, self-selected research projects, and other strategies to promote student ownership. This past week I introduced another strategy that involves self-correction. Here are the steps:
1.) Students complete an assignment in collaborative groups or independently.
2.) Students finish the assignment and self-correct using the Teacher’s Manual. This can also be applied to digital progress monitoring tools.
3.) Students independently use markers to indicate wrong/right answers. If needed, students will write in correct answers.
4.) Students utilize their math journals to reflect on the assignment and their feelings about the topic and achievement.
5.) Student turn in their paper and journal to the teacher
6.) Optional: Students use multiple journal entries for individual goal setting
It might seem simple, but I’ve had terrific results from using this strategy. Overall, I feel as though the students benefit from practices like this. The self-correcting / journal process took modeling and practice at first, but the benefits are starting to become apparent.
Educational Aspirations 
I love this! I am totally going to start using this next week!
LikeLike
I always used self-correcting and self-evaluation in my classrooms while teaching in Finland. Even homework was corrected by only taking your math book to the desk where teacher’s book and some erasers were. Already on second grade students knew the drill: you don’t take any pens/pencils when you go to “the correcting station”, you just erase the wrong answers and go back to your desk, and redo the erased incorrect ones. Oh, and this worked very well for other subjects too, not just math.
LikeLike
Since the strategy worked so well, I’ll be utilizing it with second grade next week. I’m glad to hear that the strategy has worked for you in the past. Students often rise to the occasion when expectations are clearly communicated. Thanks for the comment.
LikeLike