Academic Self-Reflection

 

REFLECTION: ASSESSING BEST STUDY STRATEGIES

Throughout the fall semester, with a special emphasis on remote learning, we’ve focused on providing you and your student with helpful study tips and resources that they can use throughout their academic career. As the semester comes to a close, students should take some time to reflect on the study tools that have worked best for them and identify areas that still need improvement. Doing so will help them appreciate their academic achievements and it’s also an important step as they prepare for the upcoming term.

SELF-AWARENESS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Students are accustomed to receiving feedback from their teachers via grades and evaluations. This type of feedback, although very helpful, does not always provide incentive for changing study habits and behaviors. A student may know they need to make changes after a less-than-ideal grade, but the score may not highlight the specific problems that need to be addressed. This is where self-reflection comes in handy.

By reflecting upon their personal study habits, students can gather a lot of useful information. Here are some basic yet key questions your student should be asking themselves:

  • What is working?

  • What is not working?

  • What are the next steps?

Answering each of the above questions honestly will help identify the following:

  • Strengths: What strategies and approaches are working well and should therefore be maintained?

  • Weaknesses: What strategies and approaches are not working as well and should be reassessed?

  • Skills: What specific skills does your student bring to their studies and how can they be leveraged?

  • External Factors: What extra-academic factors are impacting your student’s learning process (positive or negative)?

Students should engage in academic self-reflection after tests and at the end of semesters. An end-of-semester reflection can offer incentive for your student to approach the new term with a greater degree of determination and focus. Ideally, they should be thinking about the quality of their work on a regular basis throughout the year; this is the surest way to improve. Naturally, the process of academic self-reflection is highly personal, and the information presented so far can be best used to help guide this process, even in areas of life other than academics.

Additional Resources:

REFLECTING ON OCTANT ACADEMICS STUDY STRATEGIES

Below we’ve compiled some important advice from this year’s newsletters:

  • Establish Clear Routines: With or without distance learning, creating a structured schedule for before, during, and after school maximizes efficiency and designates time for all tasks to be completed. Your student should use to-do lists and planners to stay on track.

  • Study As You Learn: Reviewing class notes, annotating texts, and preparing for test early will make the test preparation process less stressful and allow for better comprehension and retention.

  • Use Technology Strategically: Technological resources can make your student’s life easier and provide them with additional support. Some of these resources also have the potential to be distracting, so use them appropriately.

  • Take Time to Decompress: Scheduling breaks between study sessions, getting sufficient sleep and exercise, and enjoying activities outside school all help to make study time more productive.

ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPING SELF-REFLECTION

The process of self-reflection can be honed through consistent practice. Below we’ve compiled some activities to help build self-awareness and associated reflective skills:

  • Journaling: Using a journal to reflect upon events, performance, or personal development is an easy and effective way to ‘relive the moment’ and learn from past experiences. Here are some journaling exercises.

  • Goal Setting: Setting realistic (even if challenging) goals helps students identify ways in which they want to improve, and also create actionable plans to achieve these goals.

  • Personality Tests: Personality tests can help students gain a better understanding of themselves, which in turn can help drive decision making in favor of their strengths. Here is one of the many free personality test resources.

Any activity that requires one to look inward for better understanding helps build self-awareness. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) places great emphasis on self-awareness as a necessary life skill across cultures. Strong self-awareness not only helps drive academic achievement, but it is also important for long-term success and general productivity.

STUDY TIP OF THE WEEK

Focus on your strengths! One should always identify their personal weaknesses such that they can be improved upon. They should also spend the time to fully develop their strengths and leverage them for learning effectively.

 
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