At Spark! we define reflective for children as, “I think about what I have learned, what I am good at and what I can I mprove the next time. I take the time to think about my actions and their impacts. I give and take feedback from others.”

We want to help develop students who can say, “A strength of mine is…” or, “I’m proud of how I…” or, “A goal I have is…” or, “I’m working to…” or “I want to know more about…” or, “Something I’m learning to do is…”

As parents, you can help us develop the concept of being reflective:

·       After any experience you’ve have with your children (a picnic, play, game, concert, movie, etc.), talk about the experience with them by asking open-ended questions.  How could the play/movie have been better?  How could you improve your piece of art/throwing in a game?  What went well/wrong with the picnic?  What new things did you learn at school today?  What questions did you have at school today? What are you good at, and how do you know?  What (and why) did you enjoy the most about the day?

·       Considering goals that your child could set. Make a list not only of the goals but also of specific actions that can be taken to achieve these goals. You might want to list action that your child will take independently as well as action parents will take to support them. For example, if one of the goals you and your child set is to improve count 20, your child’s action might be to practice counting each day.  As a parent, you have to help with creating dot-cards and providing practice with feedback three times a week.

·       Parents can help with reflection by making it a weekly routine to reflect on the week with your child.  As you talk through the events, discuss the test questions, how the student answered the questions, what the test was like, how they felt about taking the test, the scoring rubric, and so on. The main point here, is to give your children a chance to “hold up a mirror” in order to reflect, improve, and celebrate.

·       When talking to children, interpret and expand on what children do and say.  Attach sentences and more words to what they say.  Introduce and expand on what children say by introducing new vocabulary words.  As you see them playing, comment on what you see them doing, i.e. “I saw you…”

·       Encourage play that carries over across days.  Encourage children to hold a task as a work-in-progress to finish another day (i.e. building a structure, a craft project, making a fort, etc.). Doing this will help them add details, make it more complex, and signal that not all work worth doing is finished in one session.  When starting up the next day, have them talk about and reflect on their work from yesterday so they can make a plan for the new work.