Knowing what you know and what you can do is important in deciding what you still need to know. If you are asked what you need to learn in order to be able to speak Italian on your next holiday, you would have to stop and think about what, if any, Italian you already know.
From eating Italian food you will know some words like 'espresso' or 'pizza', and from watching television you might know how to say 'hello' to a friend or how to say 'thank you'. A quick review of your existing knowledge is not difficult. You probably do this very often without even being conscious of what you are doing. Having done this, you are in a better position to identify what new vocabulary you want to acquire prior to your visit.
Small children are very able to reflect on what they have achieved, particularly where they are with adults who show a genuine interest in what they are doing.
Here are some examples of children reflecting on what they can do, sometimes in conversation and sometimes using what Vygotsky called 'inner speech', to give us, through these monologues, an insight into what they understand.
Josh, playing with cars on a ramp and talking out loud to himself, says, 'Down they go. Ooops! That one was REALLY fast. Again. It was fast again.
I'll try this one. (Picks up a bigger car.) Even faster! I'll do two together. (Puts both cars at the top of the ramp.) The yellow one wins.
That's because it's so fast!'
If you read this carefully you can see just how much Josh reveals, through this monologue, about the learning processes he is going through. He is actually describing each action he takes and telling us what he has noticed and what conclusions he has come to. In this example he has realised that the yellow car is the fastest.
The skilled educator will try to provide opportunities for children to reflect on what they have learned and on what they already know and can do.
This is often done by informal exchanges where the educator, interested in what the children have been doing, engages in conversation with them.
Here is an example of this: The nursery nurse notices that a child has made a very complex model using many different resources. She sits down next to the child and starts a conversation.
'I love your model. You have used so many different things - egg boxes, toilet roll holders, lids and shiny things. Oh, and look, some buttons.'
The child, noticing that the adult is really interested and not just asking questions, joins in, saying, 'It took me a long time, you know'. The adult responds, 'Yes, I noticed that you were busy doing it all morning, I wonder if that was because it was so difficult to fix some of the bits together.'
The child replies, 'I used this strong glue and also some Sellotape and Joshua (another child) gave me these ... these... 'lastic bands, and I used those.' The adult continues, 'Well, you have made a really exciting model with some bits that move. Are you going to take it home?'
You will notice that in this exchange the adult did not ask the child, 'What did you make?' The reason for this is that she was interested not in what the child made, but in how the child made it. In other words, she was interested in the process of making something rather than in the object made. Getting an insight into what the child did helps the adult understand what problems the child encountered and how she solved them. This sensitive and astute nursery nurse has engaged in a genuine discussion with the child and in the process of really paying attention to what the child was saying, managed to help the child reflect on the process for herself. She also helped the child to be aware of her own achievement.
In High Scope settings, the staff introduce a system of self-reflection known as 'plan-do-review'. In this system children are asked to plan what they are going to do, then do it and then think back over what they have done. This thinking back or reflection is aimed at getting children to assess their own achievements. This method can work effectively when adults are sensitive to the fact that children's plans can change.
It is important also to recognise that for some children - particularly younger children or those with little English - this can be a daunting experience and one in which they can become tongue-tied and silent.
Another common forum for self-reflection is in the 'plenary' session built into many lessons. Here, after the lesson or the session, the adult leads the group in a session where they reflect on what they have achieved, usually against a learning outcome. Plenary sessions are held in some reception classes and even in some nursery classes, but it is worth thinking carefully about how these are structured. Many young children find the formal format very daunting.
Teachers of older children sometimes draw up a list of the sorts of questions they might use to help children really think about what they have learned and achieved. Here are some drawn from Unlocking Formative Assessment: Practical strategies for enhancing pupils' learning in the primary classroom by Shirley Clarke (Hodder and Stoughton, 2001):
* What did you find difficult while you were...?
* What helped you when you got stuck? Was it a friend, the teacher, a book, your own thinking?
* What do you think you need more help with?
* What are you most pleased about?
* Have you learned anything new? What was it?
* Have you got any questions?
You can see how sensitive questioning, based on careful and interested observation of what they have been doing, helps young children come up with fascinating insights into their own learning. Here are some examples of comments collected from very young children reflecting on their own learning: 'When we were writing the register for our game we copied all the children's names from their trays.'
Here the child has indicated that the children could not write all the names on their own. She has also shown that they have developed a strategy for dealing with this. They are well on the way to being independent learners.
'Miss, there aren't enough cups for the dolls. Can I go and get some from the other class?'
In play the child has noticed that there are not enough cups to give one to each doll - and again found a solution.
Two children building a wonderful tower explained how they had done it.
When it came to the complex task of balancing one block on another at the top of the structure, one child explained to the adult, 'You need another person: someone to hold it while you balance the block on top.'
Again, they show an awareness of the complexity of the task and an understanding that it was something that could not be achieved alone.
Finally, a child in the reception class, just starting to write, wrote a message to the teacher which he 'read' back: 'I like writing but I can't do it so my mum can read it.'
You decide what this child has understood about his own learning.
Here we have explored the importance of careful, sensitive and targeted feedback and seen how even very young children can be helped to start reflecting on what they have been doing, what they have enjoyed, and what they may have struggled with.
Cathy Nutbrown writes, 'To extend learning opportunities, to challenge children to think, to question, to discover and to evaluate their learning, teachers must work interactively in partnership with children' (1994: 149).
She reminds us that teachers need to be involved in the activities alongside children so that they can give proper feedback on what is happening. She uses a phrase you might find helpful: 'For children to learn effectively, their teachers must "feed back" to them in order that there can be a "feed forward" in learning'. NW Reference
* Nutbrown C (1994) Threads of Thinking: Young Children Learning and the Role of Early Education. London: Paul Chapman
More information
* Observing, Assessing and Planning for Children in the Early Years by Sandra Smidt is part of the Nursery World/Routledge series 'Essential Guides for Early Years Practitioners' (13.99). To order, call 0870 444 8633.
* Just published is Identifying Additional Learning Needs by Christine MacIntyre and forthcoming titles in the series are Circle Time for Young Children by Jenny Mosley and Helping with Behaviour by Sue Roffey.
