ABSTRACT
One use of the I Learned statement is diagnostic. The aggregate of the I Learned responses from a class of students is one of the best indicators of the success in achieving the objective in a lesson. Like any technique, the I Learned statement can be overused. Try having the students write or draw an I Learned statement cooperatively. As students practice writing statements, particularly in the case of older students, their reflections will begin to take on greater depth, but all this comes with time. Wendy Harrison's second grade class has just finished a two-week unit in which the students studied nursery rhymes. At several points along the way, Wendy would ask her students to take five minutes at the end of a lesson or activity and write an I Learned statement. Jean Piaget defined teaching as the creation of an environment in which students can grow intellectually, socially, and morally.
