"I thought that was your job!"
My students do not know how to self reflect. In their defense there are a lot of social and cultural barriers that have been set up to discourage reflection.
Culture - reflection is tically seen as a tool to overcome failure. You didn't succeed, so let's figure out why.
First of all - no one gets everything right the first time. We might as well stop pretending otherwise.
Second - we often do get things right and we need to reflect on those moments just as much as our failures. How else will we be able to duplicate them?
Social - my teachers, and bosses in the future will reflect for me. Not only that, but their reflections will be the ones that will matter.
Extrinsic motivators will only get us to do things well enough to keep the teachers/bosses impressed enough to keep paying us/give us our A's. Yes, some people will exceed those expectations. But, why can't we all?
Students need to reflect on their own successes and failures to see how they can meet and even exceed their own goals and overcome their failures. They need more to live for than the almighty "A".
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