While deep exploration of a subject, topic or question is an essential element of the honors project so too is reflection on the process and experience of learning. We hope that students who engage in these projects come to also understand something of who they are as learners. In this way, the honors project serves not only as enrichment, but as an opportunity to refine strengths and develop skills to better lean into and address challenges.

To that end, students are asked to reflect periodically on their own and with their mentor as they work through the project; they should document this reflection in their blog post or as comments on the post. Students are also asked to synthesize this reflection at the conclusion of the project to bring to light key insights about their work and learning process.

Below is a list of prompts that can be used throughout the course of the project and, where needed, adjusted to fit the particular scope of a given project:

• Describe at least one powerful learning moment that you’ve had while working on this project. What made it powerful? What was the context for this learning? What was comfortable about this context? What if anything pushed you a bit (or maybe a lot) outside of your comfort zone? What lessons can you take from this experience that might help you in other parts of your learning life? If this learning took place in a manner that feels really different from your daily school experience, how might you seek to make your  school learning more like your honors project experience?
• Focus on a moment (or moments) this week when learning connected to your honors project was fun and engaging? Were you working on something independently or with others? What do you think contributed to this positive feeling? How might you use this insight to your advantage in other situations?
• Was there a moment this week when you surprised yourself with some aspect of your learning? What was the context of this surprise? Were others involved? What new insights did you gain?
• Describe an aspect of your recent learning that has revealed an area of challenge or a sense of being stuck? What was the context of the challenge/stuckness (i.e., what was going on before you encountered the problem?) Did you overcome it? If so, how? If not, what is your plan of action for moving forward?
• Describe something from the project experience so far that you’d like to have the chance to do-over, fix or revise? What led you to this conclusion? What can/will you do to actually make the commitment to see this change through? (If you go down this path, it would be great to write a follow up reflection on what you did or didn’t do.)
• Reflecting in a different modality: Do some reflection that tells the story of your recent learning with some other modality rather than exclusively in writing. For example, you might tell the story through photographs, audio or video. You might tell the story through drawing or as a comic. Choose one or several of these to tell the story.
• Redux: Look back over an earlier reflection and provide an update. Where are you now? What is still the same? What has changed? Where are you going? What new insights do you have? Did you identify any expectations for future work or set some goals in that post? If so, how did you do? If not, what are some next steps that you might take at this point?
• Look over all of your reflections to date. Are there any patterns that emerge? Themes that connect the thinking in your various reflections? What the big ideas? Strengths on which you can capitalize? Areas of challenge to address?
• Describe a recent moment that really reinforced for you that you have made improvement in some aspect of your learning? What was it? What do you think contributed to the improvement? What’s next?
• Was there a recent moment that provides evidence of your growth in one of the 4Cs (critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage)? What was going on? What did you do? What did you learn?
• What have you created so far in your project that is beautiful and important? Something that you’d want to hold onto for the rest of your life? What was it? How did you create it? Why is it an important piece of work for you? What does it say about you as a person and as a learner?
• Identify an important goal you have for this project and then break that goal into the behaviors that you can control that if followed will move you closer to your goal. In thinking about the behaviors, think about the obstacles that you’ll encounter and the make sure that you’ve identified the behaviors that will get you around, over, under, or through these obstacles. Maybe there are behaviors that can help you to avoid the obstacle(s) entirely? What might some of these behaviors/navigating tools be?
• A Voice from the Past: Look back over your old reflections and identify a comment from your advisor that really challenged you to think more deeply about the issues/ideas you raised in the reflection. Respond to your advisor’s feedback based on where you are now. As you do this, consider not just where you were in your learning journey when you wrote the original reflection, but where you are now? Explore how this feedback from the past may resonate in new and unexpected ways now.
• Seeking Feedback: Describe an aspect of your recent learning that has revealed an area of challenge or a sense of being stuck? What was the context of the challenge/stuckness (i.e., what was going on before you encountered the problem?) Choose something for which you don’t have any immediate answers and would welcome some feedback from a peer. Find a peer and ask them for some feedback. Reflect on their feedback.
• Taking Stock: What? So What? Now What?
  What? Describe a learning experience; outline what happened that compelled you to choose this learning experience. This may include a description of the context, the conditions or background under which you have learned, the assumptions that you entered the situation with, a description of the experience itself, and the outcomes that occurred through the process. Basically, what did you do?
  So What? Describe what difference it makes; outline what impact or meaning it has for you (or why it should matter to others). This may include relevancies to you as an individual, the degree of importance that this knowledge has to others in the “real world”, how the experience has changed you, and the ways in which this experience relates to you as a learner. Basically, how is this learning important?
  Now What? Describe what’s in store for the future now that you’ve learned from this experience; outline what you are going to do to continue your growth in light of this learning. This may include looking for future learning opportunities related to the one under consideration, mistakes that you are now prepared to avoid, situations that you are now prepared to take advantage of, an assessment of things that you as of yet do NOT know how to do but would like to, etc. Basically, now that you’ve done this, now what would you like to learn?
• Choose something you finished recently on the project that you’ve been working on for some time and that evolved over a series of drafts or attempts? Tell the story of this work. Focus on a number of key moments along the journey. As you look at the journey, try to make sense of what you have learned as a result of going through this process.
• 7 Questions to End Your Week With:

1. What pleasant surprises did I discover this week?
2. What lessons did my work teach me that I could build upon next week?
3. Are my short-term efforts and long-term goals still aligned?
4. What could I have spent more or less time doing?
5. How did fear and uncertainty affect what I did and didn’t do?
6. What mental clutter can I clear?
7. What is the first logical step for next week?For some additional insight into these questions read this. Copy the above questions into a post and answer them.

• Reflecting on the Project: Where I’ve been? Where I am? And Where I’m going?
  For your consideration:
  • What have I learned?
  • When have I learned? In what circumstances? Under what conditions?
  • How have I learned or not, and do I know what kind of learner I am?
  • How does what I have learned fit into a comprehensive, continual plan for learning?
  • What difference has the learning made in my intellectual, personal, and ethical development?
  • In what ways is what I have learned valuable to learn at all?
  • Why did I learn?
• Some additional questions for inspiration: https://minds-in-bloom.com/20-end-of-year-reflection-questions/

NEXT: How Do I Apply?