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Theses teaching strategies will help students to:
- reflect on understandings, skills, attitudes and values
- process and consolidate concepts covered
- reflect on how learning experiences can be applied to their lives
- generalise skills and knowledge to other situations
- monitor and evaluate a decision-making process
- understand and manage emotions
- generate ideas.
Reflective questions
- Use these 4 questions to reflect on learnings:
- Description: What did I do?
- Objective: What did I learn?
- Values: Why did I feel like that?
- Application: How will I use the skill or information?
- Questions can be answered verbally or in a journal.
- These can be displayed permanently for reference.
Thought shapes
- Shapes relate to different question prompts:
- Triangle = The most important thing I have learnt is....
- Square = What I have 'all squared away' in my head is... OR The thing I have really understood well is...
- Star = What I enjoyed/What I was really good at...
- Heart = How I feel about using the skills and ideas I have learnt is...OR The thing I enjoyed most is...
- Circle = The thoughts still going around in my head are...
- Display shapes and questions in classroom to refer to.
- Students can volunteer to share one answer verbally.
- A set of cards can be made and picked randomly (or given out selectively by the teacher).
- Students write down their answers next to each of the shapes on paper or in a journal.
3-2-1 Reflect
- Number relate to 3 prompts:
- 3 recalls: Three facts I can recall from (the video/website/book/fact sheet/etc)
- 2 so what's: Two reasons why this is relevant to me.
- 1 question: Why is it that...? In the future, what will...? How does this affect...?
- Can be completed verbally with a partner.
- Can be written down in a journal or workbook.
Sentence stems...
- Sentence stems for writing:
- I learnt that...
- I was surprised that...
- I felt today was.... because...
- I intend to...
- I think it is important to...
- I still want to know...
- Can be written on board or displayed in room and answered individually or in pairs.
- Can be written on pop sticks and students select one randomly to answer.
Q & A
Students can answer the following questions given by the teacher or write questions for other students to answers:
- What is the best way to (e.g. get consent)?
- What have you learnt about (e.g. condoms)?
- What are the most important facts that people need to know about (e.g. preventing pregnancy)?
- What messages did you get from this activity on how to (e.g. seek help)?
Sharing circle
- Form a small group or whole class circle.
- Use any of the reflection teaching strategies to generate discussion/reflection.
- Reinforce the 'right to pass'.
Rather than going around in a circle, use a ball or soft toy for students to pass to the next volunteer.
Bowl of spaghetti
- In a circle, pass a ball of wool around by holding on to the wool before throwing the ball of wool to the next person so that it creates a web of wool (that looks like a bowl of spaghetti).
- This strategy can be used for retelling a story, video, scenario or creating a new story as a class.
Journal writing
- As many of the RSE lessons involve discussions and hands-on learning activities, journals can be a way to record lessons at the end of each session.
- Use any of the reflection teaching strategies as stimuli for journal writing.
- Journals can be a special book that is decorated and individualised by the students.
- Pictures and writing can be used to capture ideas - the focus does not need to be on literacy and grammar.