What+is+Reflective+Practice?



Everyday that I teach to a class, I am thinking about what my students are getting out of it. I go home at night thinking about how I can get an idea across to the students. What type of hook can I use to engage the students in learning? I think of different ways to explain the process of a Math skill. I wonder why a student needs to know the different chemical symbols for elements. I look at my basketball coaching philosophy and how it matches to the beliefs and skills of the players. All of my questions, perspectives, and ideas that I have about the learning environment are all reflective practice. Brookfield challenges teachers to reflect critically on assumptions about our teaching practices by “looking at what we do from unfamiliar angles.” In order to do so, we must stand outside ourselves and view our teaching from four distinct lenses. As I read through Brookfield, I thought about how I use the 4 critically reflective lenses to analyze my teaching practice. My Autobiography as a teacher focuses on some of my failures with my students. I question why I ask my students to come in after school for help. Certain students are struggling and I expect that they should spend more time after school to improve their work. Brookfield discusses how teachers tend to fall back on our own memories to find any answer to our problems. I ask my students to come to peer tutoring because I did this when I stumbled on a roadblock in when I was in school. But, this may not be the ideal solution for every student. My autobiography as a learner lays the foundation for my teaching values. For example, I tend to avoid assigning group projects because I hated doing all of the work while my group members did not complete their end of the bargain. I also tend to procrastinate causing late nights approaching due dates for projects. Therefore, I encourage students not to do the same. I like the idea of keeping a teaching log although time constraints prevent one from happening. I think I’m fairly honest and realistic about how students feel about my teaching. I may not like some of their opinions, but you cannot please everybody. Reflecting on my teaching by viewing through our students’ eyes is difficult. I often ask the students how they feel about experiences in class. But you do not always get the true feelings of the students. As Brookfield reminds us, we are the ones who are evaluating the students. As a result, students are “reluctant to be honest with us” if what they say might cause the teacher to look negatively on them and influence their grades. I have considered having the students evaluate me at the end of a semester as some of my other colleagues have done. An anonymous survey given to the students would give my more insight into practices that work and others that I might be worthy of change. I want the students to feel safe talking to me about their learning experiences with me so that we can all learn how to create a more positive environment. At Guildford Park Secondary, a collaborative culture exists that provides me with many different teachers from different backgrounds whom I can discuss with and reflect on my teaching strategies. Brookfield calls these teachers “critical mirrors” because these teachers may very well be facing similar problems with students in classes. However, they may be able to provide different methods of alleviating the problems. I rely heavily on my colleagues to become critically reflective of my teaching practice. Every Thursday of the week, I meet with the members of our grade 8 SESM department to plan and organize learning opportunities for our students. It is at these meetings that we have a chance to discuss how to manage students’ negative experiences. Professional Development is another way in which I have a chance to mingle with other teachers in similar teaching subject areas and learn new ways to educate them about curriculum. There is no doubt that I am least concerned with searching out theoretical literature about my teaching practice. This is not to say that I have never read books or journal articles about teaching. Our own in-school professional development often makes reference to development of teachers. Guildford Park, in particular, has recently been focussing on how to educate students who live in impoverished situations. Studies have been conducted about the impact of poverty on student learning. Each of the departments in the school has received a book that I one day would like to read as I teach in an inner city school.
 * What is Reflective Practice? **
 * My own Reflective Practice **