REFLECTION ZONE

"Reflection is at the Heart of Practice"

How will reflection help you to become a master teacher?  

What gets in your way of reflecting?  

What will you do to clear the barriers or get around them?

There is always room for improvement, and reflection plays a vital role in helping teachers to improve. Reflection consists of noting what worked well, what didn't, and then being able to analyze why those things happened.  The next step is to discover the meaning or possible meanings behind the event, and how our choices and actions played a part in the outcome. Lastly, we consider the implications for our practice and how our teaching might or could change. Taking part in this process offers teachers a chance to learn from the experience they just lived and grow so they will be better prepared for similar situations to occur in the future. Reflecting will sharpen our decision making skills and help us make better choices the next time.  I think once we become good at reflecting and using the knowledge generated from the process is when we might become master teachers.

The biggest obstacle for reflecting might be providing yourself with ample time to conduct reflection.  The bell rings and we move on to the next class, and then the next class, and then handle a discipline issue, and then go to coach practice, and then back to the classroom to make sure we are prepared to teach the next day.  We then take papers home to grade and arrive at school the next morning for our scheduled meeting. There is not time in the day devoted for teachers to reflect, so this must be done on our own time. With high demands on teachers, this is something that quickly and easily gets put off.

In order to improve we need to take time to reflect.  While reflection sometimes happens naturally as we socialize with our coworkers and they ask us how things went, we need to set aside time to reflect.  We need to prioritize our day, so we don't forget what is important to our profession.  The more we reflect the more natural a process it will become for us. Reflection should be at the heart of our practice because it is a central piece of teaching and learning.