Reflective Teaching

As many of us might be reflecting on the past academic term while considering the next term, this week I would like to share a resource on reflective teaching by the Cambridge Assessment International Education. The authors showcase Finlays (2018) operational definition of reflective teaching, which shares that “Reflective practice is learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and practice”.  The process of reflection is a cycle which is repeated: Teach - Self-assess the effect - Consider new ways of teaching which can improve the quality of learning - Try these ideas in practice - Repeat the process.

The article shares several aspects of reflective teaching including benefits that:

• helps create confident teachers;

• makes sure you are responsible for yourself and your students;

• encourages innovation; and

• encourages engagement. 

There is also significant research that supports a reflective practice approach including work from Kolb (1984); Gibbs (1998); and Schön (1991). The paper further suggests principles that will help us get the most out of reflections − reacting, recording, reviewing, revising, reworking and reassessing. Finally, the paper shares the following reflective questions:

• What went well in this lesson? Why?

• What problems did I experience? Why?

• How engaged and active were the students?

• How much learning took place? How do I know?

• What could I have done differently?

• What did I learn from this experience that will help me in future lessons?

Additional prompts that you might consider from USF include:

1. What aspects of your lesson were implemented differently than you planned? Why did that happen?

2. If you were going to teach this lesson to the same group of students, what would you do differently? Why? What would you do the same? Why?

3. What surprised you in your lesson? 

4. Describe an instance or particular encounter that comes to mind. Why did you pick that instance? What is so perplexing about that particular moment? 

5. What connections can you make to your lesson today from your coursework, the literature, and any previous lessons or experiences?

References

Finlay, L. (2018). Reflecting on 'Reflective practice'. Practice-based Professional Learning Paper 52, The Open University.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods.

Schon, D. A. (1991). The reflective practitioner. Ashgate Publishing.