My Reflective Practice

My Reflective Practice

I have always found it very difficult to make time to scribe my reflections, even as a studying teacher-to-be. I struggled to express my thoughts and feelings in a written form. I've tried having a hard copy journal, you know the pretty looking ones you buy from kmart or the warehouse every single year in the hopes that this will finally be the year you'll actually put pen to paper and it won't just sit on your drawers as decoration. I've even tried having an online blog that I've designed and spent hours setting up. Still no. Nothing sticks.


Then, you sign up to MindLab and reflections is part of your programme and you're required, again, to post weekly reflections. So, here we go.

Following the reflective model provided by Jay & Johnson (2002), I have attempted to critically reflect on my reflective practice as a teaching professional. At the moment, my reflective practice consists of three of the five levels of reflection outlined by Zeichner and Liston (as cited in Finlay, 2008, p.4):

• rapid reflection,
• repair, and 
• review.

I'm having daily conversations with colleagues and teaching professionals about students, and reflecting on previous behaviours and identifying next steps. Discussions are very informal, however they give me chance to think out loud and process what has happened and what my next actions are - with some input from those around me. 

I'm constantly making decisions to alter my behaviour - this might be during a maths lesson where I've noticed I should've done something differently; it could be after a writing lesson where I recognise that wasn't the right approach with a particular student; it could even be thinking about what went right and how I'll use that strategy for another student or situation in the future. I am doing this daily - I may not write it down in my fancy kmart journal, but I am constantly thinking about my teaching and the cue's of my students.

When I plan, I'm clearly thinking about my teaching practice. What are my DATs? What am I focusing on this week? Who am I targeting and how am I going to do that? How can I reach this child? I am always thinking about my teaching practice.

Now, this sounds amazing, but I'm sure we all do these types of reflections as teachers. Where I lack, is with the next steps of research and retheorizing (Finlay, 2008). While I'm constantly getting feedforward of how to approach a certain situation, I rarely get feedback from others. As a beginning teacher, I would like to be observed more often (being observed used to freak me out and now I'm like, hey can you come and observe me so I know where I need to be improving - personal development) as a guideline of my practice within my own classroom. Getting the insight and perspective of others is very valuable and I know that is something I need to change.

At my school we have a school-wide question that guides our teaching as inquiry, which is based on our school-wide targets - this year it's shifting 50% of 'below' students to either 'at' or 'above' in both maths and writing. As part of my inquiry, I make weekly noticing or 'reflections' into my professional document that shows I am thinking about my practice, over time. However, I feel that I am doing this because it is a requirement, not because I am invested in it.

Therefore, this space will be made up of deliberate reflections to help me work towards being a more effective teacher, and making conscious decisions to move my reflective practice towards the last two of the five levels of reflection outlined by Zeichner and Liston (as cited in Finlay, 2008, p.4):

• research, and
• re-theorising.