Reflection Feeds Teaching
Butler: self-regulation and instruction are a loop. Use what students notice about their own errors to decide what you reteach, so their reflection shapes the next lesson.
The strategy, as published
Exactly as it appears on the card
Part of Self-Reflection & Evaluation in 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.
Why you might use it
The problem it may help with
Reflection is usually treated as the pupil's business: they notice their errors, they act on them. Butler's insight is that self-regulation and instruction are a loop, and the teacher is inside it. What pupils notice about their own errors is evidence you can plan from.
It also changes how pupils treat reflection. When Monday's lesson visibly begins from what they reported on Friday, reporting honestly starts to have a point.
What it might look like
One version of it, in a classroom
At the end of the lesson, an exit poll asks each pupil to name the error they made most, or the step they felt least sure of. The teacher tallies the responses, and the next lesson opens by reteaching the most common one, saying so out loud: most of you said the same thing, so we start there.
Try it
A way to begin
One exit question this week: "which part are you least sure of?" Then act on the tally where the class can see you doing it.
What to notice
Reading what happens
- Whether what pupils report matches the errors actually in their work. When it does not, that mismatch is your next teaching point about self-monitoring.
- Whether self-diagnosis gets sharper once pupils see their reports being used. Consequences tend to improve the reporting.
Things to think about
Before and while you use it
- The visible acting-on is what makes this work; collected reflections that vanish teach pupils that reflection is paperwork.
- Where reports and work disagree, the reflection is still useful, just differently: it tells you the monitoring needs teaching, not only the content.
The wider thinking
Where the evidence sits
Butler frames instruction and self-regulation as a single loop rather than parallel tracks; this strategy is that loop run deliberately, with the teacher's next move as its output. The card’s attribution stands as published: Butler.
The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Metacognition & Self-Regulation.
Keep exploring
Where next?
Back to this strategy in 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation, across to what you're trying to improve, or into all 144 at once.
Want to take this further?
Support is available
Pedagogy First gives you a starting point. If you want support exploring how approaches like this can work across your school, trust or professional learning programme, that work is available.