In my previous post, I wrote about self-reflection, student agency, and the importance of helping children focus on their own progress rather than constantly comparing themselves with others.
But this is not just a theoretical idea. In fact, a few years ago, when I was working as a homeroom teacher in an IB school in Madrid, I had the opportunity to use an approach inspired by the [Better Me Project] with my students.
Looking back at that experience today, I can see many connections with ideas that are central to the PYP: learner agency, self-awareness, personal goals, reflection, and action.
We used a simple tool, a booklet in which each student could write down their strengths, the areas they wanted to improve, and the strategies they could use to move forward.
Together, we could look at the different sections of the booklet:
- What am I already doing well?
- What would I like to improve?
- What could help me?
- What strategies could I try?
- How am I doing now?
- Do I need to change something?
This made the conversation much more concrete. The child was not simply receiving feedback from adults; they were becoming part of the conversation about their own learning and development.
We could ask questions such as:
- What were you trying to improve?
- What have you noticed?
- What seems to be working?
- What is still difficult?
- Is there something you could try differently?
- How can the adults around you help?
And this is perhaps what I find most interesting when I look back at this experience through my PYP lens today: the fact that this reflection tool was not simply a way of assessing progress, but a way of making the child visible as an active participant in the process.
So... 🎁 here's a little present for you today: My Better Me Reflection Tool
An adaptation based on my classroom experience.
The funny thing was that, the more I talked about it, the more details I could remember. The power of meaningful learning! 😄
Because this experience happened some time ago, I recently tried to recreate the reflection tool I remember using in my classroom. The result is the PDF you can find here.
Of course, it is not an official Better Me Project resource. It is my own reconstruction, based on my memories of how I used an approach inspired by the project when I was teaching in Madrid, and possibly also on how I might have improved or adapted it over time.
For each topic — AT HOME / WITH MY CLASSMATES & FRIENDS / AT SCHOOL — students were invited to reflect on three main areas:
- What am I good at?
- What would I like to improve?
- What strategies could help me reach my goals?
In this way, the child is not simply receiving a list of things that an adult thinks they should work on. Instead, they are beginning to identify their own goals.
The following section was about monitoring progress:
How am I doing?
🟩 I’m doing well
🟨 I can improve
🟥 I need to work harder
The simplicity of this system made it accessible to children, but, more importantly, it created an opportunity to stop and ask:
Is my strategy actually helping me?
If the answer was yes, the child could continue.
If the answer was no, there was another step:
What could I change?
The final section of the tool therefore focused on modifying the initial strategies, making the process much more interesting because it was no longer just about setting a goal. It became:
I set a goal → I choose a strategy → I try it → I check my progress → I adjust my strategy.
That is a cycle.
And this is what I find particularly interesting about the tool: it helps make progress more visible. It gives children a simple way to stop, look back, and think about what is working, what is not, and what they could try next.
