This resource contains tips and suggested questions for you to incorporate into a reflection with students, when seeking out their feedback at the end of a residency or workshop.

Why is Final Program Reflection Important?

Engaging students in final program reflections and the assessment process gives them a greater voice in programming. Student input can lead to deeper engagement for future programs.

In addition to the value of student input, having a moment at the end of a program to reflect helps cement the experience and mark the transition, especially if yours was a long residency.

Reflection also supports students with critical thinking and social emotional learning, by helping them identify their own growth and articulate what was beneficial to them.

What Could Your Reflection Look Like?

When planning for your reflection, keep in mind what has worked best for your class in past sessions. A combination of modalities is generally ideal. Depending on the length of the program, it may be helpful to remind students of what you’ve done together. Common ways to do this include asking students to name what they’ve worked on or looking at a slideshow of images from the class together (Ideas for Residency Documentation).

If your class likes to be in motion, consider activities where students could use movement to express their responses.

Examples:

• Create ratings with your students and post them on the walls. Then invite students to rate different elements of the program by moving around to the rating they would give each one.
• Poll students and let them respond with a freeze-frame gesture or dance move.
• Have students discuss and create a tableau or short scene for their experience of the class.

If your class likes to work independently or in small groups, consider what activities could support this.

Examples:

• Post a prompt to kick off a journaling reflection.
• Rotate small groups through a series of reflection questions with a mechanism for a share-back (e.g., sticky notes, butcher paper).

Keep in mind that students may feel shy about giving feedback. Anonymous feedback and feedback shared between students may allow for more open discussion.

Keep reflection questions and prompts short and simple. Layer and scaffold to arrive at more complex takeaways.

How Can You Engage Students in Giving Feedback?

There are many ways to engage students in giving feedback about a program. The questions below could be read aloud as part of your last class, given out as a handout, or signed in ASL. Reflection can also take the form of an activity, such as repeating a favorite ritual or game from the program, journaling, drawing, or having small groups discuss the questions and then share out. If time allows, students could also plan and lead the reflection session. The suggestions below are for reflection at the end of a program, but these methods could be adjusted for use at any point in your residency. For additional strategies in guiding reflections, go to: Ongoing In-Class Reflection Strategies.

Example Wrap-Up Questions for Participants

“What was your favorite part of the program and why?”

• “My favorite part of the program was _____, because _____.”
• “I enjoyed _____ the most, because _____.”

“What did you learn about yourself while participating in the program?”

• “In this program, I learned  that I _____.”

“What was the most challenging activity we did together?”

• “I found  _____ the most challenging.”
• “I had the hardest time when we were working on _____.”

“What can you do now that you were not able to do before?”

• “Now I can  _____.”

“If there was something you could change about an activity or the program as a whole, what would that be?” (Review some of the activities if necessary.)

• “I would like to have spent more time in this program working on  _____.”
• “I would like to have spent less time working on  _____.”

Reflecting on Students’ Responses

• Which reflection questions did students respond to most?
• Were there any commonalities in the responses between students?
• What were some points of improvement, highlights, and favorites expressed by students?