Reflective Essay

Reflective Essay

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Name, Student No. 1

 Reflective Essay

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3

2.0 Literature Review..................................................................................................................................3

3.0 Critical Analysis....................................................................................................................................4

4.0 Skill Identification.................................................................................................................................4

5.0 Career path............................................................................................................................................5

6.0 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6

7.0 References.............................................................................................................................................7

Name, Student No. 2

 Reflective Essay

Reflective Essay

1.0 Introduction

Every individual in this world is expected to make a career for oneself and achieve what

he dreamt of. During the course of educational career, individual identifies certain aims and

objectives for his/her professional career. These aims and objectives during an individual’s life

are moulded through his/her likes or dislikes. Since a very young age, children start attributing

themselves to certain career paths, which they feel motivated towards (Howard, Castine, and

Flanagan, 2016). Some may choose to become a pilot and some to be a doctor. But there are

certain phases of life where an individual has to choose a particular career path and to excel in it.

From that time starts the professional development of that person. Various principles of

professional development must be ensured and carefully practised to enhance and accrue the

benefits of a profession one chooses.

2.0 Literature Review

Critical reflective teacher refers basically to the sustainability and identification of

accuracy of teaching assumptions. According to a study, there are four basic teacher assumptions

that work their way to determine what would be the effect of teaching on students. These four

teacher assumptions are students’ eye, personal experience, trusted colleagues, available theories

and literature. All these assumptions must be coherent with each other and supportive, if there

are distortions, they must be carried away (Brookfield, S.D., 2017).

Before choosing a career, there are various factors that must be observed to make the

right decision regarding one’s career. The lack of career counselling leads many students on

paths that they only continue to mend deficits. One of the basic building blocks of a good career

Name, Student No. 3

 Reflective Essay

path is to understand individual strengths and weaknesses. Without complete self-awareness,

choosing any career path could lead to dissatisfaction and loss of valuable human capital (Schutt

Jr, 2018).

3.0 Critical Analysis

For myself, I chose the career path to be a Critical reflective teacher. Every teacher when

enters into a professional career wants to be the best and provide best education to its students.

The basic goal of every good teacher is to instil knowledge, curiosity, skillset and intellectual

capability to think critically. One of the major reason for my particular career choice is to

counter a large number of ethnic and racial insensitive teachers at the college education level.

The majority of schools and colleges have white ethnic teachers that are not yet apprised to

counter ethnic or racial differences related to various sensitive topics (Hernandez and Endo,

2017).

Choosing a Critical reflective teacher as a career path will allow me to instil knowledge

and skills among my students to critically evaluate any information that is given to them. This

career path could also help bridge the gap between ethnic and racial sensitivities between the

teachers and students. In order to further understand clearly the benefits of this career path, it’s

necessary to deepen our understanding of this career.

4.0 Skill Identification

As a critically reflective teacher, I would try to minimize the concerns of students that I

might face during my career as a student. There are many examples where students that were,

during their educational lifespan, discredited or undermined regardless of their potential.

Generally, such students upon becoming teachers tend to not repeat the same mistakes. This

Name, Student No. 4

 Reflective Essay

concept of regulating self-assumption provides critical reflective teachers with a chance to

analyse and enhance the skill set of their students based on their strengths.

Without personal anecdotes, a teacher can never become a good moral idol. Teachers that

use personal experiences to reflect about a variety of topics provide students with real-life

examples. Such real-life examples would help them identify loopholes and not to repeat mistakes

made by their tutors. Another important aspect of critical reflection in teaching is to develop the

ability to critically examine and evaluate the available information. Contextual information is

presented in a non-contextual manner by some practitioners. That injures the very reason for

teaching and students become less sensitive to various topics without critical evaluation.

5.0 Career path

In a rapid growth of globalization, academies around the world are enrolling students

from different backgrounds. Students from different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds sit

together under a single roof. In such cases, it becomes quite necessary to ensure that teachers are

promoting a culture of critical thinking rather than disseminating knowledge without allowing

students to reflect on it in their own perspectives. Social sciences are one of the fields that are

coming under scrutiny for being insensitive to critical evaluation. There are certain phenomenon

and concepts that are accepted in different contextual understanding by the different cultural

background of students. Teaching the concepts in a generalised manner would have a negative

effect on the thinking of the students. For example, the concept of third world countries is

understood rather differently by students that belong to the third world as compared to the

students of the developed world.

Name, Student No. 5

 Reflective Essay

So, in that case, it is best to ensure that a teacher must be critically reflective in his or her

teaching methods and assure students of using critical lens when understanding such global

concepts. Being a critically reflective teacher, I will be better able to ensure my students are not

feeling alien while studying with multiple ethnic backgrounds. Critical thinking would also help

me to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of my students and my own loopholes. It

will help me to cater to everyone’s need in the best possible manner.

6.0 Conclusion

After all, teaching is among the noble professions that create future leaders, leaders,

scientists and entrepreneurs. In order to make sure that the upcoming generation of leaders and

thinkers is not a blind follower of superstitions or concepts, it’s very necessary for a teacher to

ensure they acquire the skill set to critically examine and evaluate what they are faced with.

Being a critically reflective teacher, I would not only help my students to be more adaptive and

understanding of the opposing views and ideas of other people. This, in return, would create an

environment of compassion and supportive behaviour towards each other. As a teacher, the same

would enhance my capabilities to provide for society in a better way.

Name, Student No. 6

 Reflective Essay

7.0 References

Brookfield, S.D., 2017. Becoming a critically reflective teacher. John Wiley & Sons.

Howard, K.A., Castine, E. and Flanagan, S., 2016. Supporting the career development of
children: The concepts of career choice and attainment model. In Career Exploration and
Development in Childhood (pp. 62-73). Routledge.

Hernandez, F. and Endo, R., 2017. Developing and supporting critically reflective teachers.
In Developing and supporting critically reflective teachers (pp. 1-16). Brill Sense.

Schutt Jr, D.A., 2018. A Strengths-Based Approach to Career Development Using Appreciative
Inquiry. National Career Development Association. 305 North Beech Circle, Broken
Arrow, OK 74012.

Name, Student No. 7