One of the benefits of working with high school students is all the laugh I get from them. I absolutely adore my students for making me laugh all the time. I hope you can appreciate what I mean.
I have always believed in having them reflect daily because I feel it’s something that they can really learn to do. Each year I find something interesting when I read their reflections. Surprisingly they are very honest about what I am doing in class, and I learn a lot by reading them.
And they are often hilarious as well. This year, I told one of the students to become engaged in a “dialogue” with himself. So he began writing in his reflection as such. He had the following characters set up.
Student 1 = My normal self
Student 2 = My wise self
Student 3 = My angry self
Student 4 = My critical self
And the following is an example of his reflection.
Student 1 = I told you I would get it under control
Student 4 = What about your “xyz” application?
Student 1 = Uh…darn it.
Student 2 = I’ll be fair. You have finished the rest. That is good.
Student 1 = Of course, I take my responsibilities seriously.
Student 3 = If that’s true, why did you do so poorly last quarter?
Student 1 = I’ll accept my responsibilities there; I just find this “reflection” becoming cumbersome. I understand she wants us to record our thoughts, but honestly, journals are useless to me. What purpose does this serve? I could using this time finishing more important work.
Student 2 = Technically, this is “important” work. It brought down the grade when you didn’t do it.
Student 1 = ….
Student 4 = [Sigh] Imbecile!
Mind you, I never asked him to make his reflections so complicated. I know I am being bad for laughing, but seriously, these students crack me up!!!!! And I love them.
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