I didn?t take into account the angst of pre-adolescence! Next time I will give the students a choice to post a picture and/or their names. I will also let them revisit their choice and change their picture one time.
Students in 6th grade still love visual and tactile projects and they learn as they work on them. The students and I would set some ground rules and expectations for ?thinkwork? display on a bulletin board. They would have a greater role in selecting quotes and doing more of the work and design to present their developing ideas, and I would post my thinking on the bulletin board as well.
Next steps
I would expand the options for students and me to show our thinking to include:
? review of written work and self-selection of quotes
? using quotes from conversations as well written work
? adding drawings and fuller explanations
? using post-its to comment to one another
I would also model ?post-it dialogue? by writing comments on post-its to the students more frequently. I would refer to ideas on the bulletin board to show that I value the ongoing thinking and build upon it.
I would like to capitalize on students? interest in learning from each other and from me by using more visual reminders, models and a timeline of learning experiences. Students look to learn (and learn to look). This experience has given me extra incentive to post the questions we want to explore (our understanding goals!), the additional questions we want to pursue, and critical visuals to help us remember and build upon our learning experiences.