December 2018 – A year in review: Reflections and Goals

[Anne Hendler]

This space is dedicated to sharing our REFLECTIONS from 2018 and GOALS for the future.

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

“Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works – a process of self-observation and self-evaluation.”

Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice

This short, helpful article introduces reflective practice and basic tools to facilitate self-observation, reflection, and evaluation.

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

Professional development: reflective teaching, a short blog article from OneStopEnglish (Macmillan Education) also offers a good starting point for teachers who are new to this area.

[Anne Hendler]

The iTDi blog had a series on reflective practice a couple years ago. Here is a post by Zhenya Polosatova which has what I think is a great summary of the “what”, “why”, and “how” of reflective practice.
In her post she talks about an Experiential Learning Cycle. This was adapted from Kolb (1984). You can find more information about what Kolb was trying to say here.
Finally, about five years ago now, a blogger put out a “reflective practice challenge” that was answered widely and makes for interesting reading.

If anyone is interested, there is a lot LOT more about Reflective Practice, especially work done by Thomas S C Farrell, very accessible articles by Carol Rodgers, very inaccessible writing by John Dewey…

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

Thank you, Anne, for the excellent reply and links!

Zhenya Polosatova’s article is another great starting point for reflective practice, whilst Kolb’s work on the Experiential cycle and learning is always helpful and well worth a (re-)visit. I confess I’d forgotten about Kolb’s four learning styles matrix (diverging, assimilating, converging, and accommodating) and it’s given me food for thought again. Thanks!

And the ‘reflective practice challenge’ bridges a number of beliefs about learning and teaching that connect our teaching & learning philosophies with reflective practice. I didn’t get into the details due to time constraints but would be interested to hear more about how you got involved.

Last but not least, would you be willing to introduce and summarise what you’ve shared here in The Teachers’ Room?

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

Keeping a teaching (& learning) journal is an excellent way to develop reflective practice as it can serve as a tool for self-observation, analysis, reflection, evaluation, and developing new ideas or hypotheses. However, may teachers wonder what they should write about? The article below offers 30 questions that we might helpfully draw upon to consider a range of important points from what goes on in our classrooms and the different people involved to professional development and self-care.

https://www.edunators.com/becoming-the-edunator/step-6-self-care-reflection-for-learning/30-questions-for-teacher-reflection?fbclid=IwAR1xxswcMuanR1Fx3ATClsAe0ksveJyeilf7zMTjEJj7DvHXnVWgClwxtZI

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

Kayapinar’s (20016) article, “A Study on Reflection in In-service Teacher Development: Introducing Reflective Practitioner Development Model“, “… proposes a new EFL reflective practitioner development model (RPDM) for an in-service program that is not only based on the principles of reflection, but that also measures teachers’ reflective and self-efficacy development.”

[Anne Hendler]

I know I said I wouldn’t have time to read this, but I made the time and I’m really glad I did!

Some of the things that really struck me were: the focus-group sessions before and after workshops – not just the difference between the two sessions, but also the session themselves where colleagues got together and discussed shared puzzles and challenges in a more rigorous manner than just “complaining”; the peer observations – because I know how valuable it is to have another set of eyes in my classroom and for them to tell me what they see, a fantastic opportunity; and the feedback about teacher efficacy – that teachers felt like a team and seemed to recognize that they could all make a difference by working together.

This experiment reminded me of some of the reflective communities I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of (including the online one I shared before). It also sets me to wondering how I can become part of something like this in my current context.

Looking forward to hearing everyone else’s thoughts on the article this Friday!

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

I’ve just read the first few pages for now but I really liked how their own Reflective Practitioner Development Model (RPDM) was mapped onto Kolb’s reflective cycle (Kayapinar, 2016, p. 1674) and offers, at a glance, a well-integrated approach tailored to their context, and notably, “All teachers selected taught the same foundation course using the same material, course syllabus, and pacing schedule.” (p. 1675)

(Whilst it’s good to focus on early career teachers with 1-5 years’ experience, I’d also be interested to see what would happen with more experienced teachers. Like, Anne, I’m also reminded of reflective communities I’ve been fortunate to be a part of, although none were specifically set up as reflective communities.)

Anne – feel free put our heads together on how you might become part of something like this in your current context. Perhaps, if you can start by sharing some of the possible goals and teachers who you’d most like to appeal to, we could go from there …

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

As we reach the end of 2018, many of us find and seek time for reflection on the year gone by and look to changes we might make for the year ahead. In Malu Sciamarelli’s eye-opening and insightful article from the #iTDiBlog archives lies a pearl of wisdom, reminding us to dream!

Before I Have Goals, I Dream!

[Anne Hendler]

Thanks for sharing that. I love it. It’s a great reminder to do something bigger than damage control when making goals and resolutions for the new year. The only year I wrote down my goals and printed them out and hung them by my desk where I could see them every day is also the only year that I accomplished most of them – including finally leaving Korea and beginning the process that led me to where I am right now. At the time I thought they were just dreams, so it was like magic watching them come true.

[Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)]

Now THAT is awesome! Here’s to making and watching more dreams come true in 2019 and beyond!!

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