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Conference on New Ideas for Experienced Teachers

June 9–13, 2001
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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  Description of Teaching Technique: Engaging students in reflecting on their learning

Sophie Sparrow, Franklin Pierce Law Center

I have been struck by how much of the teaching literature talks about students’ need for reflection as a way to enhance learning. Kent Syverud and others have also pointed out how important it is for students to know that their professors care about them and for professors to show their students that they believe those students can become highly competent lawyers. In developing techniques to promote reflection I have found that having students talk and write about their learning helps them learn and allows me to personally connect with and encourage my students to reach their potential.

In my legal skills classes, I have used a range of methods to have students reflect on their learning. This includes:

  • Using in-class quick writing responses. In the final five minutes of a class, I ask students to write about that class, an assignment or a module of classes. I usually give them specific questions to answer, such as What helped you most in learning the material? How would you describe your level of confidence in writing the next assignment? What confuses you most about the process or substantive law? What can I do that would help your learning?
  • Requiring students to complete reflective comments when they turn in an assignment. Students are asked to attach their responses to reflective questions to each formal writing assignment they complete. In these typed responses students identify the strongest areas of their writing and analysis, describe their goals in completing the next assignment, assess how well their writing /organizing/ researching plans worked, and what they learned from completing this assignment that they can apply to their next one.
  • Discussing the students’ learning process in and out of class. During the course, after I have introduced something new, such as having students read each others’ briefs, I take a few minutes at the end of class to ask the students whether the process was effective. I will also chat informally with students outside of class to ask them what they are finding helpful in learning the material, and ask about what else I can do to help them with their learning. A colleague who teaches a class of 138 students has them email her about what they find effective.
When I read these reflective comments, I am struck by the level of self-analysis and insight students show about their own learning and about what they need as learners. Moreover, their personal statements add a dimension to their formal writing assignments and in-class comments. I respond to each with a short note encouraging them, such as, “Insightful comments, Joshua, you’re right that you need to understand how to synthesize cases better, but you can do this -keep working at it!” or “Yes, Se-eun, it is frustrating to have to include so many details, but it helps the reader understand your thought process.” Because I teach small sections (20-25), I can read and respond to my students’ comments fairly quickly, and usually try to get them back to them within a day or two.

In having students reflect on their learning, my goal is to help them learn and instill a practice that will help them continue to learn when they are on their own. By the end of their first year, some show that they are headed in that direction. In writing about her progress at the end of the spring semester, a student who had struggled with writing all year long wrote: “I wrote a brief that was somewhat persuasive. I know that this is an art which is not mastered immediately….My writing has improved, but it does not meet my standards of good legal writing. Writing has never been a strong point for me…I’m better but now it’s time to move to the next level.” This student may struggle, but I believe because she knows what she needs to do, she will get to the next level.

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