Chapter Sixteen Becoming a Better Teacher by Becoming a Reflective Teacher

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Overview Improving your teaching and reflection skills Using technology for reflection

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Improving Your Teaching and Reflection Skills Student evaluations & suggestions Peer and self- assessment techniques Developing a reflective journal

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Peer and Self-Assessment Techniques Observation schedules Audiotaped lessons Videotaped lessons Reflective lesson plans Guided reflection protocol Develop a reflective journal Create a portfolio

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved 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.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved 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?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved 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

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved A Sample Reflective Journal Journal Entry: Ways to Teach Comprehension Tactics Sources: Information-Processing Theory Ideas for Instruction Note: 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...

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved 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

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved 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.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved Using Technology for Reflection Discussion forums and chat rooms Multimedia case-based instruction