Self-Reported Grades, i.e. the Mirror Moment by Ralph Lagana
I don’t know too many people who aren't consumers of television shows and movies.
Good or bad, we seem able to find time in our lives to watch a story presented for
us on a screen. And, because of our common appetite for watching stories on screens,
I feel supremely confident you’ll know what I mean when I write about the Mirror
Moment.
The Mirror Moment is what I call the point in a dramatic TV show or movie when a
character must finally take stock of himself. Almost always, this happens before a
mirror. A rogue cop, a dishonest friend, even a self-deluded killer will at some point
look into a reflecting glass and be forced to “see” himself for who he really is. It’s a
decisive moment in many cases because we learn which path the character has chosen.
That’s the Mirror Moment.
We've seen the Mirror Moment portrayed on screen so many times that it borders on pathetic. What holds it
back from that precipice is that it rarely rings falsely to us. Without becoming too dramatic myself, I’ll merely
note that we've all experienced the Mirror Moment, taken stock of our day, or behaviors, or acts. The Mirror
Moment is a powerful experience as it can quite literally change how you act or think. I sometimes think it’s
what keeps one from running amok.
Knowing that taking a true measure of oneself can be so effective, it would seem to make great sense to
bring that into the classroom in some way. For myself, this means seriously considering if I've done enough by
the end of each week or day. It can even be boiled down to individual periods. Was my lesson this period
effective? This is something most teachers do. Anyone who observes a teacher doing a lesson several times a
day will see it transform rather distinctly from start to finish. I digress…
If holding a mirror to oneself is good for the teacher, could it not also be good for the student? In other
words: Would students benefit from holding the metaphorical mirror to themselves at the end of a class period?
It certainly seems like it should. And, more importantly, there is research to support this.
John Hattie’s book, Visible Learning for Teachers, aims to make plain which visible efforts by schools and
teachers have the greatest impact on students. Hattie has studied research on whether or not homework
has a high, positive, effect on students. Does student choice have a large effect? Peer relations? Home life?
Simulations and Gaming? Disruptive behaviors? And so forth. It’s a long list. One you can review here:
Actually, it’s one I highly recommend you examine.
BUT
But, before you do, would you care to guess which visible behavior ranks the highest as having a positive effect
on students and teachers in the classroom? Yeppers, that’d be the Mirror Moment, or as professionals like Hattie
call it: “self-reported grades”.
Of course, educational research is not flawless. It can be and
often is subjective. But, the data Hattie has compiled is compelling,
enough that I’m going to give it a whirl this school year. Below
is an image of a self-reporting grade card, I plan to present to
students. Once a week, if my addled brain can remember to
follow through on this, I will ask my students to stop for 3-4
minutes and reflect on their efforts in my classroom. I’ll ask
them to look into the mirror and decide for themselves if they
were attentive, managed to maintain good effort, and honestly
attempted to complete classwork to the best of their abilities.
Kids are usually pretty honest about these things -sometimes
too honest, scoring themselves lower than I might. We shall see.
We shall also see if Hattie’s data and my years of watching Mirror Moments hold up in the real world.
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