Reflect to Increase Teacher Capacity
I don't know about you but every time I'm evaluated-I'm asked to reflect on my lesson and practice. Trust me, all I want to do right NOW with 10 days left is think about the beach. But as the school year draws to a close, it is an important time to stop and reflect on this past year, a year filled with a range of both expected and unexpected challenges and opportunities for many students, families, teachers, and administrators. Is just as important now as it is during the year. It’s also an opportunity to take a deep breath and think about how to best direct your energies in the coming year.
Self-reflection by teachers at the end of each school year is a vitally important part of their ongoing
professional development. It is a way it will to improvement teaching and learning. It allows us to fine-tune our craft by improving or eliminating what doesn't work in our teaching. It gives us a chance to start over at the beginning of each new school year. I should point out, we can do meaningful self-reflection at any time of the school year in order to improve the teaching and learning experience. A thorough analysis of what worked, what failed, and why, in both cases, conduces to future success.
Reflect on what every student should know and be able to do. Curriculum and instruction decisions are built around the question “What should every student know and be able to do?” Standards are designed to support student understanding. As teachers, we may focus on activities rather than teaching for understanding. This type of reflection should be ongoing throughout the school year. Traditional planning focuses on what we know and be able to do with each group of students. Through conversations with coworkers, teachers will develop an intentional focus on desired learning outcomes and student engagement.
Reflect on the learning space. One thing that is often overlooked in education is the learning space. Learning space is determined by adults in most schools. The way learning space is organized highlights what the adults in the school value. If we take the time to reflect on the importance of design, purpose, and space, we may find that the old structure is a barrier to student achievement. As I design my space in the beginning of the year I ask myself but I review this question as the year moves on: “Does this learning space support the type of learning opportunities we are designing for students?” All students deserve a learning space, not just a classroom.
Reflect on student voice, choice, and contribution. When I reflect on student understanding, I often reflect on student achievement or test scores, student growth, student engagement, or gaps in student understanding. This is a list that focuses on the right things. However, a focus on student understanding and student growth may not tell us if student voice, choice, and contribution were present throughout the unit. For me this is huge as voice and choice are BIG parts of my Teacher Rubric. Reflecting back on what skills to determine whether or not a recent lesson or unit helped students acquire or improve one or more of the skills. It’s easy to look at data points from tests, it’s harder and more important to begin reflecting on whether students had the opportunity for student voice, choice, and contribution!
Reflect on the understood curriculum. The danger in never-ending planning, using the all important of curriculum maps, units, vertical alignment, course blueprints, pacing guides, and support documents. But not reflecting on the understood curriculum can result in prematurely moving to the next topic because a certain unit needs to be finished by the end of the month. Without this how can we ensure that the learned curriculum is maximized?
Reflect on the whole child. In my Resource Room practice, I make decisions based on the whole child. Always reflecting on the data and asking “What does the whole child need to be successful, access, or be independent in the classroom?” “How can I support the whole child?” Ask most classroom teachers if they have a “whole child” classroom and they struggle to intentionally plan to support the whole child.
Reflection is critically important, yet it is so difficult to squeeze into our weekly schedule. It really wasn’t until I work to achieve National Boards I found a true purpose for reflecting on my practice. It’s hard. It’s hard to be honest with yourself, your practice or your team about what needs to change or what went will. But to grow as a teacher--you have to find the three minutes to look back on the lesson, the IEP meeting, or your class set-up to be better tomorrow. It's not uncommon for the lesson I did three days ago to circle back in my mind while in the shower or buying milk. I have learned I’m a processor. I give myself that time to reflect back on how things went. My end of the year reflecting will most likely happen closer to the 4th of July than the last day of school.
Take your time reflecting on your year. Process and reflect using my Free End of Year Teacher Reflection Workbook. Until next time,
Self-reflection by teachers at the end of each school year is a vitally important part of their ongoing
professional development. It is a way it will to improvement teaching and learning. It allows us to fine-tune our craft by improving or eliminating what doesn't work in our teaching. It gives us a chance to start over at the beginning of each new school year. I should point out, we can do meaningful self-reflection at any time of the school year in order to improve the teaching and learning experience. A thorough analysis of what worked, what failed, and why, in both cases, conduces to future success.
Reflect on what every student should know and be able to do. Curriculum and instruction decisions are built around the question “What should every student know and be able to do?” Standards are designed to support student understanding. As teachers, we may focus on activities rather than teaching for understanding. This type of reflection should be ongoing throughout the school year. Traditional planning focuses on what we know and be able to do with each group of students. Through conversations with coworkers, teachers will develop an intentional focus on desired learning outcomes and student engagement.
Reflect on the learning space. One thing that is often overlooked in education is the learning space. Learning space is determined by adults in most schools. The way learning space is organized highlights what the adults in the school value. If we take the time to reflect on the importance of design, purpose, and space, we may find that the old structure is a barrier to student achievement. As I design my space in the beginning of the year I ask myself but I review this question as the year moves on: “Does this learning space support the type of learning opportunities we are designing for students?” All students deserve a learning space, not just a classroom.
Reflect on student voice, choice, and contribution. When I reflect on student understanding, I often reflect on student achievement or test scores, student growth, student engagement, or gaps in student understanding. This is a list that focuses on the right things. However, a focus on student understanding and student growth may not tell us if student voice, choice, and contribution were present throughout the unit. For me this is huge as voice and choice are BIG parts of my Teacher Rubric. Reflecting back on what skills to determine whether or not a recent lesson or unit helped students acquire or improve one or more of the skills. It’s easy to look at data points from tests, it’s harder and more important to begin reflecting on whether students had the opportunity for student voice, choice, and contribution!
Reflect on the understood curriculum. The danger in never-ending planning, using the all important of curriculum maps, units, vertical alignment, course blueprints, pacing guides, and support documents. But not reflecting on the understood curriculum can result in prematurely moving to the next topic because a certain unit needs to be finished by the end of the month. Without this how can we ensure that the learned curriculum is maximized?
Reflect on the whole child. In my Resource Room practice, I make decisions based on the whole child. Always reflecting on the data and asking “What does the whole child need to be successful, access, or be independent in the classroom?” “How can I support the whole child?” Ask most classroom teachers if they have a “whole child” classroom and they struggle to intentionally plan to support the whole child.
Reflection is critically important, yet it is so difficult to squeeze into our weekly schedule. It really wasn’t until I work to achieve National Boards I found a true purpose for reflecting on my practice. It’s hard. It’s hard to be honest with yourself, your practice or your team about what needs to change or what went will. But to grow as a teacher--you have to find the three minutes to look back on the lesson, the IEP meeting, or your class set-up to be better tomorrow. It's not uncommon for the lesson I did three days ago to circle back in my mind while in the shower or buying milk. I have learned I’m a processor. I give myself that time to reflect back on how things went. My end of the year reflecting will most likely happen closer to the 4th of July than the last day of school.
Take your time reflecting on your year. Process and reflect using my Free End of Year Teacher Reflection Workbook. Until next time,
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