Looking Back to Move Forward: Reflecting on the Sachsenhausen Project

Metacognitive Writing Activity

GOAL: The aim of this activity is to encourage our students to reflect critically and personally on their learning journey during the interdisciplinary project on Sachsenhausen, fostering awareness of how they learn, feel, and evaluate both the process and the people involved using their writing skills.

GUIDELINES: Follow the provided instructions:

You are going to write a reflective text (200–300 words) about your experience participating in the Sachsenhausen Cross-curricular project. This is not just a summary: it is a space to think about your own thinking, feelings, learning process, and the impact of the project. Use the guiding questions below to guide your writing. You may follow them in order, or choose the structure that best fits your voice.

Guiding Questions for your essay:

1. What have I learnt? About history, human rights, or myself? Was there anything that surprised me?

2. How have I learned it? Through which activities? What methods helped me understand the topic deeply?

3. What have I felt? How did I react emotionally to the content? Did it change the way I see the world? Why? Why not?

4. How do I evaluate the project? What were its strengths and weaknesses? Was it engaging, meaningful, or memorable? How?

5. What do I think about the teachers’ role? How did the teachers support or inspire me Was the Cross-curricular approach effective?

(Optional) Structure: Paragraph Plan

Introduction: Briefly describe the project and your involvement.
What you learnt and how you learnt it.
Emotional response and personal growth.
Evaluation of the project and the role of the teachers.
Conclusion: Final thoughts and suggestions for future projects.

Useful Language and connectors:

To express learning:

I discovered that...
One of the most powerful lessons was...
I realised...

To describe methods:

I learnt through...
The most effective strategy was...
Working with others helped me...

To describe emotions:

I felt shocked by...
It was heartbreaking to see...
I was deeply moved by...

To evaluate:

This project allowed me to...
I believe the teachers...
In my opinion, the project could improve by...

TIPS FOR OPINION ESSAYS (SOURCE: British Council)

Introduce your essay by restating the question in your own words.
If the essay asks you to what extent do you agree?, make your opinion clear throughout. You can either agree, partially agree or disagree with the statement, explaining and justifying your opinion.
The structure should be:
Introduction
The first reason why you agree/disagree
The second reason why you agree/disagree
The third reason why you agree/disagree (if you have one)
Conclusion
Use phrases to organise and link your ideas, e.g. Owing to … , One justification for … , The first thing to consider is … , A further reason … , In conclusion ... .
If you do not have solid evidence for your ideas, use modal verbs such as might, may or could (e.g. they could develop more empathy and care) or other tentative phrases (e.g. it does not appear to be an effective punishment).
Conclude by restating your opinion and summarising your two or three main arguments.