chapter sixteen becoming a better teacher by becoming a reflective teacher

Chapter Sixteen

Becoming a Better Teacher by Becoming a

Reflective Teacher

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 16-2

Overview

• Improving your teaching and reflection skills

• Using technology for reflection


Improving Your Teaching and Reflection Skills

• Student evaluations & suggestions

• Peer and self- assessment techniques

• Developing a reflective journal


Peer and Self-Assessment Techniques

• Observation schedules

• Audiotaped lessons

• Videotaped lessons

• Reflective lesson plans

• Guided reflection protocol

• Develop a reflective journal

• Create a portfolio


Reflective Lesson Plans

• Divide a sheet of paper in half. Label the left-hand side “Lesson Plan.” Label the right-hand side “Reflective Notes.”

• On the lesson plan side, note relevant identifying information, the objectives of the lesson, the tasks that are to be carried out in chronological order, the materials and equipment that are to be used, and how much time has been allotted for this lesson.

• On the reflective notes sides, write your thoughts about the worthwhileness of the objective that underlies the lesson, the adequacy of the materials, and how well you performed the basic mechanics of teaching as soon as possible after the lesson.

• Make changes to the lesson plan based on your analysis of the reflective notes.


Guided Reflection Protocol

• After choosing one or more teaching episodes that you would like to examine, ask and try to answer the following four questions:– What happened?– Why did it happen?– What might it mean?– What are the implications for my practice?


Purposes of Reflective Journals

• To serve as a repository of instructional ideas and techniques that you have either created from your own experiences or gleaned from other sources

• To give yourself a format for recording your observations and reflections on teaching


A Sample Reflective Journal

Journal Entry: Ways to Teach Comprehension TacticsSources: Information-Processing Theory

Ideas for InstructionNote: All the ideas you list here will pertain to the particular journal entry/instructional goal for this journal page.

•Ideas generated from past experiences as a student.•Ideas provided by professional colleagues•Ideas collected from student-teaching experience

Reflections: Questions and “Restarter” Suggestions for Instruction

Reflective Question (to focus observation of my teaching and my students’ learning):Do my students have difficulty understanding the meaning of what they read . . . ?

(Record your ongoing reflections, observations, and analytic notes about your instruction and your students’ learning of this topic here. If necessary, you may need to “jump-start” or reorient your instruction. One possible idea follows.)

Suggested Action: Schedule a series of sessions on how to study. . .


Portfolio Contents

• A table of contents• A resume• A statement of your

educational philosophy• A statement of your

teaching goals• Official documents• Letters of

recommendation• Teaching evaluations

• Photographs and videotapes

• Samples of college work• Samples of students’ work• Examples of learning

activities• An autobiography• Reflections about how

teaching has impacted you


Ways to Become a Reflective Teacher

• Use the Suggestions for Teaching from each chapter to gather ideas.

• Try the Suggestions out in your teaching.• Use the Journal Entries from each chapter to help

guide observation notes of yourself and your students.

• Analyze the observation notes for strengths and weaknesses.

• After each teaching episode, think about and/or write down an assessment of how you did.


Using Technology for Reflection

• Discussion forums and chat rooms

• Multimedia case-based instruction

chapter sixteen becoming a better teacher by becoming a reflective teacher

Documents