Reflective Practice

No matter how many times you teach a course, whether it’s your first time or your fifteenth, there are always things you would like to change. But keeping track of those brilliant ideas for changes during a busy semester can be a challenge.  

After each lesson, it’s a good idea to take notes on your lesson plan, including 

    • What worked/didn’t work 
    • Questions that students asked that you need to follow up on 
    • An example that you would like to remember to use next time 
    • Additional resources you would have liked to have with you 
    • Etc. 

The cycle of reflective practice invites you to reflect and make notes on your course on a daily, weekly, and semesterly basis. 

What is reflective practice?

The process of reflection is a cycle which needs to be repeated: 

    • Teach; 
    • Self-assess the effect your teaching had on learning; 
    • Consider new ways of teaching which can improve the quality of learning; 
    • Try these ideas in practice; then 
    • Repeat the process. 

Image of reflective practice cycle: teach, self-assess, consider, and then practice.

 

 

 

 

 

Resources/Further Reading

  • For more about reflective practice, see Getting Started with Reflective Practice from the Cambridge International Education Teaching Team. 
  • Educator Erika Romero shares 23 reflective questions for a college instructor for your consideration.
  • In “Better Teaching? You Can Write on It”, Patrick Culbert shares his approach to writing as a form of reflection, saying “writing about one’s teaching is fundamentally a process of reflection… Such reflection has helped me identify what I truly value in teaching and has motivated me to continually revise and improve how I work with students.”  Whether you want to blog, like Culbert does, or keep your reflection to yourself, as Culbert writes, “your students will be the ultimate beneficiaries.” 
  • As educators, sometimes we encounter student behaviour that’s puzzling or troubling. The article Add Trauma Glasses to Your Teacher Toolkit from Faculty Focus encourages us to take some time to reflect before responding. Could this behaviour be related to trauma? Some common trauma-related effects include excessive absenteeism/tardiness, decreased attention, missed deadlines, and excessive sleepiness, among others. “Putting on trauma glasses is a way to stop, think, reflect, and ask yourself: What am I really seeing? What is this student really in need of? Do I see a way that I can support this student?” 
  • Navigating the Emotional Costs of Teaching with a Resilient Mindset, Grit, and Stress Management explores the topics of resiliency, stress management, wellbeing, and grit and their implications for our teaching practices and daily lives.