Student Reflections via Haiku Deck

Sometimes we stumble upon things serendipitously, and it turns out to be a great time to share.
Last year, for our schoolwide end of the year, "Celebration of Learning," my 4th graders put together incredible presentations based on some key discoveries they had made throughout the year. They chose projects that helped them learn most and created presentations to share with the school and with family members. I can't share those slideshows due to school rules, but I can share these reflections.
After the big day of our presentations, the students created reflections of the entire experience on Haiku Deck, posted below (which can be a bit tricky to view depending on your device) or on this wall (easier to navigate!)  They wrote about both our group performance of music videos we created at the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco, as well as their own individual presentations.

Created with Padlet

What's your favorite way to share student reflections? 

When was the last time your work was edited?

Every time I write something that isn't for my eyes only, I fret. I write, procrastinate, read aloud, write a bit more, procrastinate a lot more, write, edit, and revise until I make myself a bit (more) nutty.

On this blog, though, I have freed myself from the need to be 100% comprehensible, because sometimes I think it helps to share my thinking journey with the help of my wonderful network of learners. The learning/thinking process is often murky, tiring, and sometimes frankly overwhelming.

Recently, I had an "aha" as I attempted to extinguish the anxiety of submitting my work for an editor. Every time I've gone through the editing/revision process with an editor, whether it's the ASCD Arias book I just completed or for my occasional pieces for EdSurge, I've gained a greater appreciation and deepened empathy for my students.

When they put their thoughts into words, and receive our "helpful" feedback, students are in such a vulnerable space. I wonder how often we ponder this as we take our colored pens and proceed to write on top of their work. I wonder how what we say,  even down to the tone of our words, impacts the future of our writers. This brings me to my question:

Have you had a recent experience of sharing your work and going through the writing process with someone who had some sort of authority or power over it?

Maybe we don't need to have others edit our work to remember this feeling. But it can't hurt to try it out. Next time you write that blog post, poem, or short story, why not send it to a friend who will be brutally honest? Or even better, why not take the plunge and submit your work to your favorite website or publication?

Your students will thank you.