What to write for the reflection after

your teaching in the classroom

 What is Reflection?

Reflection is a metacognitive
strategy that helps teachers
think critically upon their
experiences, actions and
decisions during their teaching
practices.
 Why do we need to reflect?

Reflective practice helps teachers to have

a deeper understanding of their own
teaching styles, teaching beliefs and
teaching identities.
As you reflect, you will better understand
your roles as teachers!
• If a lesson went well we can describe it
and think about why it was successful.
• If the students didn't understand a
language point we introduced we need
to think about what we did and why it
may have been unclear.
• If students are misbehaving - what were
they doing, when and why?
 Lesson objectives
• Did the students understand what we did in the lesson?

• Was what we did too easy or too difficult?

• What problems did the students have (if any)?

• Was there a clear outcome for the students?

• What did they learn or practise in the lesson? Was it useful

for them?
 Activities and materials
• What different materials and activities did we
use?
• Did the materials and activities keep the
students interested?
• Could I have done any parts of the lesson
differently?
 Students
• Were all the students on task (i.e. doing what
they were supposed to be doing)?
• If not, when was that and why did it happen?
• Which parts of the lesson did the students
seem to enjoy most? And least?
• How much English did the students use?
 Classroom management
• Did activities last the right length of time?
• Was the pace of the lesson right?
• Did I use whole class work, groupwork, pairwork or
individual work?
• What did I use it for? Did it work?
• Did the students understand what to do in the lesson?
• Were my instructions clear?
• Did I provide opportunities for all the students to
participate?
• Was I aware of how all of the students were progressing?
 Example.
• In this lesson my students were to define synonyms and
antonyms and to demonstrate the differences between the two.
• Unfortunately, I spent so much time on the presentation stage of
the lesson that we had to rush through the other activities. I
think I took too much time teaching because I didn’t know what
my students did or did not know about synonyms and
antonyms.  I feel like I talked too much. I wish I had included
more communicative activities involving the students. That way
they would get more of the practice they need and I would have
a better understanding of what they know or don’t know.
Improving my pacing will improve student engagement and
provide more opportunities for me to assess.
• Students were able to participate, although
minimally, in conversations with their pees regarding
the information presented.
• Students are still talking about day and night and the
earth. Although it is hard for them to convey their
knowledge in a way that is meaningful to those
around them, I can tell that some of them took some
knowledge away from the lessons because they will
randomly bring the topics to attention. This tells me
that they are still processing the information.
 Examples
• The way I presented the questions was
confusing. I need to be sure that if I use a fill in
the blank format that the blank is at the end
of the sentence. I also need to be clear what I
am assessing for each student.
• All of my students struggle with comprehension
but most of them can be met in some way.
Some students use written words as cues, while
others use verbal or visual cues, but none of
these strategies seem to work for Akmal. I
personally helped him with this assessment but
shortof telling him the answers, I could not find
a way to help him be successful. I will have to
continue to work on this with him.
 Example of one strength related to the teacher’s choice of material &
method:

• “I think using a slide show to model ineffective and effective

adverb choices was a strength today. I pulled some of the
examples they saw on the screen from literature the
students had read and discussed previously, like The Hunger
Games. So when we changed the effective adverbs to less
effective ones and read them aloud together, the difference
was very noticeable. The Power Point slides helped make
this more concrete since the students could see the
sentences clearly and focus on the differences between the
effective and ineffective choices when hearing those read
aloud. The assessment at the end of the lesson confirmed
that students could find the ineffective adverbs and change
them to stronger more effective adverbs.”
 Example of one weakness:

• “A weakness today was the activity where students were

to find effective adverbs in their own books. I thought
that this activity would help me assess their individual
understanding of effective adverbs and better prepare
them for writing their own effective adverbs. However,
most of the students struggled to find an adverb, and
some of the examples that were shared aloud were
actually adjectives. They weren’t ready for the level of
difficulty of this activity, and I should have prepared
passages in advance that I was certain contained
examples of effective adverbs.”
 Suggestion / Reccomendation
• When I teach this lesson again or in future lessons, I will
limit the time I spend in presentation stage.  I will use
more of the 10 minute mini lesson approach and move
into student activity sooner.  If I give students more time
on task I will have a better idea of which students will
master the learning outcomes and which will need
additional assistance.  I liked the materials I used in the
preview so I will need to find alternate uses for them.
The two children’s books could be placed in a learning
station or exhibited for independent reading after the
lesson.