Unit 8 Discussion Assignment

According Cambridge Assessment International Education (n.d.), reflection is a methodical

reviewing process that allows all teachers to link from one experience to the next, to make sure

their students make maximum progress. Reflection is a process and repeated cycle such as

Teaching, self-assessing the effect your teaching had on learning, considering new ways of

teaching which will help improve the quality of learning, trying these ideas in practice and

repeating the same process. (Cambridge Assessment International Education (n.d.). Reflection

aims at making sure that one is aware of his/her own professional knowledge and action by

testing assumptions of every practice and also critically evaluating the practitioners’ own

responses to practice situations. (Finlay, 2008).

Reflective practice is ‘learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self

and practice.’ (Finlay, 2008). Reflective practice helps teachers to develop the ability to solve

problems, create confident in students, have confidence in the classroom since they are able to

find the best way to teach their students, encourages engagement and innovation.

Critical reflection is a “meaning-making process” that enables in setting goals, employ what we

have learned in the past to reflect our future action and also judge the real-life implications of our

thinking. (Center for Teaching Excellence, n.d.). According to Dewey (2016), critical reflection

is “the link between thinking and doing, and at its best, it can be transformative”. Critical

reflection, therefore, helps in articulating questions, confronting bias, examining causality,

contrasting theory with practice and identifying systematic issues which help in encouraging

critical evaluation and transfer of knowledge. (Ash & Clayton, 2009). Thus, critical thinking is a

skill that can be learned through practice and feedback. (Rodgers, 2002).
Unit 8 Discussion Assignment

There are many principles or methods employed for implementing critical reflection in the

classroom as a teacher. Some of them include peer observation, team teaching and written

accounts of experiences.

The first is through peer observation. This is seen as a supportive and developmental process for

teachers to improve on the quality of teaching because they learn new strategies and also develop

confidence to try these strategies in their own teaching. This is the case where a teacher invites a

colleague teacher to come to his/her class to collect information about his/her lessons and offer

feedback through note-taking. Through peer observation, teachers can view each other where

they can learn from each other. In this case, they are exposed to different teaching styles which

help them to critically reflect on their own teaching. Peer observation also helps teachers to

receive a more reliable assessment of their skills, and receive more feedback and use it. (Loesing,

2021).

Another principle or method of critical reflection is by written accounts of experiences. This can

be done by the following approaches: self-reports, journal writing or recording lessons. (Serra,

2015).

Self-reports include completing inventory or check list whereby the teacher can indicate which

the teaching practice that was used within a lesson or specified period of time and the way it was

employed. (Loesing as cited in Pak, 1985). This self-reporting helps teachers to make regular

assessment of what they do in classroom and also know whether the assumptions of their

teaching reflect their actual teaching practice.

Journal writing helps in fostering creative interaction. It gives participant the opportunity to

express, in a personal dynamic way, their self-development.

Unit 8 Discussion Assignment

Recording lessons help in capturing the moment to moment processes of teaching. This can be

done either by audio or video recording. Since the teacher cannot notice or observe and recall all

classroom events, he/she can record his/her lessons.

The incident I can relate to about systematic reflective process is when I was teaching in a

specialist school and all students had individual learning plans with individualized goals. One of

my colleague teachers, Cindy Assmann, in a neighboring classroom was asked to observe my

instructional practice with focus on differentiated teaching in relation to my students’ learning

tasks. I, therefore, referenced my school’s strategic planning documents (SSPD) and the high

impact teaching strategies (HITS) to identify an area of my practice I was interested in

developing further. I was to be observed with specific measure of evidence about each student’s

individual task. During the observation, Cindy was able to make detailed notes about what my

students were doing during the classroom observation. Using differentiated teaching, I taught my

students in small groups. At the end of the reflection by observation method and audio recording,

I noted down the following to improve my teaching.

Firstly, I always have to find out what my students need to learn and the resources that will help

them. Secondly, I should be checking on the activities that will help my students make sense of

what they learn. Thirdly, I have to always find ways for my students to show what they know.

Finally, I always have to note how my classroom feels and how the students work together when

during teaching and learning.

Unit 8 Discussion Assignment

References

Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Generating, deepening, and demonstrating learning: The

power of critical reflecting in applied learning. Journal of Applied Learning in

Higher Education, 1(1), 25-48.

Cambridge Assessment International Education (n.d.). Getting started with reflective practice.

Retrieved August 6, 2021 from

https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswrp/

index.html

Center for Teaching Excellence (n.d.). Critical Reflection. Retrieved August 6, 2021 from

https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-

tips/planning-courses-and-assignments/course-design/critical-reflection

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education.

Retrieved August 7, 2021 from

https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/190319/2a5836b93124f200790476e0

8ecc4232.pdf

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. Retrieved August 6, 2021 from

https://myreflectivepracticewordpresscom.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/reflecting-

on-reflective-practice-by-lynda-finlay-2008/

Loesing, C. (2021, February 24). How peer observation can help your school. Retrieved August

7, 2021 from https://neeadvantage.com/blog/how-peer-observation-can-help-your-

school/
Unit 8 Discussion Assignment

Rodgers, C. (2009). Defining reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking.

The Teachers College Record, 104(4), 842-866.

Serra, R. (2015). What is reflective teaching and why is it important. Retrieved August 7, 2021

from https://www.richmondshare.com.br/what-is-reflective-teaching-and-why-is-it-

important/