Abstract:

When asking students what they have learned or how they felt during the lesson, it is often clear that their impression of the lesson is quite different from the teacher's perception. And yet, teachers rarely ask for various reasons: for fear of being criticised, losing their authority or simply because they do not realise that students’ feedback is worthy and can be beneficial. The primary objective of this study is to determine the importance of building a dialogue between teachers and students on their perception of what happens in class: progress achieved, mutual feelings and insights. The secondary objective is to reflect on possible problems, challenges, and issues that might arise without this dialogue, including lack of motivation in students and lack of awareness of which teaching methods worked in teachers.

The speaker has analysed a variety of techniques applied to help students reflect on results of their work, including exit slips, reflective diaries for teachers and students, one-minute papers and surveys, since all the above allow to gain understanding of what students have achieved. The outcome of this analysis has become an extensive collection of practical metacognitive activities aiming to get feedback from students not only on the progress they made, but also on things they improved and feelings they experienced during the lesson. Since 2019 the speaker has experimented with and added to this collection a wide range of metacognitive activities which proved to be highly adaptable to fit different teaching contexts.

The undertaken work has shown that through these activities students are able to get better insight into their learning progress. As a result, they start to appreciate their own role and the role of the teacher in the learning process. Meanwhile, teachers gain better insight into their own strengths and weaknesses, becoming more committed to teaching and their willingness to develop professionally is highly valued by students. These findings demonstrate that the mentioned activities help teachers build a relationship of trust with their students and help them get candid feedback to make more informed decisions on the learning process.

Keywords:

Metacognition, feedback, supportive environment in the classroom, reflection as a tool of progress, motivation, keeping students motivated.