Expressing Feelings and ReflectionsActivities & Teaching Strategies
Active learning works well for teaching feelings and reflections because students need space to test emotions in a safe way. When they speak before they write, they build confidence and vocabulary that transfers to their recounts. Pair shares and circle activities let students hear how peers express similar feelings, which normalises a range of emotional language.
Learning Objectives
- 1Identify at least three emotion words suitable for concluding a personal recount.
- 2Explain the purpose of sharing feelings at the end of a recount.
- 3Construct a concluding sentence for a personal recount that expresses a specific feeling about the experience.
- 4Differentiate between recounting events and reflecting on personal feelings about those events.
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Pair Share: Reflection Sentences
Pairs recount a shared class event, then take turns adding one feeling sentence to conclude it. Provide emotion word cards for support. Pairs read aloud to another pair for feedback.
Prepare & details
Why is it important to share how you felt when writing about something that happened to you?
Facilitation Tip: During Pair Share: Reflection Sentences, have students first whisper their sentence to their partner before sharing with the class to lower anxiety.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Small Groups: Feelings Circle
In groups of four, students pass a talking stick to share a personal experience and one reflection sentence. Group members suggest stronger emotion words. Record best sentences on chart paper.
Prepare & details
How did you feel at the end of an experience you want to write about? Can you say it in a sentence?
Facilitation Tip: In Feelings Circle, model how to nod and make eye contact when a peer speaks to reinforce active listening.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Whole Class: Emotion Charades
Students act out feelings from word cards while class guesses and creates recount-ending sentences. Teacher models linking action to a sample reflection. Compile into a class feelings wall.
Prepare & details
What words could you use to show that you are happy, surprised, or nervous in your writing?
Facilitation Tip: For Emotion Charades, give each student a turn even if they guess wrong, to build risk-taking in front of peers.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Individual: Reflection Journals
Students draw a recent event, write two reflection sentences using a checklist. Swap journals anonymously for peer stars and wishes. Discuss common feelings as a class.
Prepare & details
Why is it important to share how you felt when writing about something that happened to you?
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Teaching This Topic
Start with oral activities before written work so students practise feeling words without pressure. Avoid teaching a list of emotions; instead, build vocabulary through context and peer examples. Research shows that students need 6-8 exposures to a new word before using it independently, so repeat feeling words across activities. Model your own reflections aloud to show students how to connect events to emotions.
What to Expect
Successful learning looks like students using varied feeling words, not just happy or sad. They should connect feelings to reasons, such as 'I felt proud because my team won the game.' Oral rehearsal leads to written reflections that show insight, not just summary. Students should move from describing what happened to explaining why it mattered to them.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Pair Share: Reflection Sentences, watch for students who skip feelings or use the same word repeatedly.
What to Teach Instead
Prompt them to flip through the feeling word wall together and try one new word each time they share.
Common MisconceptionDuring Feelings Circle, watch for students who only describe events instead of feelings.
What to Teach Instead
Gently interrupt and model by saying, 'I hear you tell us what happened. Now tell us how that made you feel.'
Common MisconceptionDuring Emotion Charades, watch for students who act out the event rather than the feeling.
What to Teach Instead
Hold up the feeling word cards and ask, 'Which feeling does this action show?' before they guess.
Assessment Ideas
After Pair Share: Reflection Sentences, collect one sentence from each student and sort them into 'feeling' and 'event' categories to check accuracy.
During Feelings Circle, listen for students to use a feeling word paired with a reason, such as 'I felt nervous because...' to assess depth of reflection.
After Emotion Charades, ask students to turn to a partner and explain which feeling word matched the charade and why, to check understanding of emotional vocabulary in context.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge early finishers to write two different reflection sentences for the same event, using contrasting feelings.
- Scaffolding for struggling students: Provide sentence strips with feeling words and sentence starters to arrange before writing.
- Deeper exploration: Invite students to draw a timeline of an event and add sticky notes with feelings at each step, then write a paragraph using the notes.
Key Vocabulary
| Reflection | Thinking about something that happened and sharing your thoughts or feelings about it afterwards. |
| Feeling | An emotion you experience, like being happy, sad, excited, or scared. |
| Recount | A story that tells what happened during a specific event or experience. |
| Conclusion | The end part of a story or piece of writing, where you wrap things up. |
Suggested Methodologies
More in The Art of Personal Recounts
Brainstorming Personal Experiences
Generating ideas for personal recounts by recalling significant events and memories.
2 methodologies
Sequencing Events Chronologically
Using transition words to show the order of events in a personal narrative.
2 methodologies
Adding Descriptive Details to Recounts
Incorporating sensory details and adjectives to make personal recounts more engaging.
2 methodologies
Drafting a Personal Recount
Practicing the initial writing phase, focusing on getting ideas down on paper.
2 methodologies
Revising for Clarity and Detail
Learning to review and improve the content and organization of a written recount.
2 methodologies
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