Teachers as Reflective

Practitioners /PGDT 422/

Reflective Thinking
and Reflective
practice
 UNIT 1

REFLECTIVE THINKING
AND
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

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Brainstorming
Have you ever afraid of
becoming a teacher? Why?
What kind of difficulties you
think you will face by being a
teacher?
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 Learning outcomes
By the end of this module, the students should be able to:
Define the concept of reflective practice;
Understand the meanings of reflection-for-action, reflection-in-
action, and reflection-on-action;
Analyze the relationship between professional knowledge and
reflection in action;
Discuss the crisis of confidence in professional
knowledge
Explain the idea of ‘reflection in action’
Understand professional contexts for reflection-in-action;
Analyze the structure of reflection-in-action;
 Understand the reflection-on-action;

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 Activity

What is reflection?
What is reflective thinking?
How to become a Reflective Thinker?
1. Attempt individually
2. compare your definition
a. in pair/2/
b. in two pairs/4/

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 Section One Reflection

The term "reflection" is

derived from the Latin
term reflectere -- meaning
"to bend back."
A mirror does
precisely(exactly) this, bend
back the light, making
visible what is apparent
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 Reflection
Reflection is an aspect of thinking,
where thinking is a skill. ‘Like any other
skill’ the skill for reflection can only
develop when the learners directly
involve in it.
How can you define reflection in your
own words?

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 Reflection

Reflection is an everyday
process. We reflect on a
range of everyday
problems and situations
all the time:
 What went well?
 What didn’t? Why?
 How do I feel about it?

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 Reflection involves…
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 Reflective Teaching (RT)
is a self-assessment of
teaching, wherein an
instructor examines
His/Her Pedagogy
articulates reasons and
strengths for their
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When teachers practice reflective
teaching, they look back at their
teaching,
student responses, student success and
student behavior.
They evaluate the lesson and how the
students received it.
They become more aware of not only
what they teach but also why and how
they teach it.

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 Reflection
Reflection is the key that opens the door
to understanding ourselves in relation to
core ethical values”
Ultimately, the outcome of reflection is
learning (Meziros, 1981).
•It widens our perspective on a problem
(broadens knowledge)
•It helps us develop strategies for
dealing with it (develop skills)
•It helps us acquire new insights into our
behaviour (changes attitudes)

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 Cont’d
Reflective—Searching for information
and solutions to problems that arise in
the classroom;
identifying the strengths and needs of
individual students.
This can be done in the midst (the middle
or central part of something)of an
activity or as an activity in itself.
The key to reflection is learning how to
take perspective on one’s own actions
and experience—in other words, to
examine that experience rather than just
living it.
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 Cont’d
Dewey,1933) defined reflection as the
active, persistent and careful
consideration of any belief or supposed
form of knowledge in the light of the
grounds that support it and the further
conclusions to which it tends.
Reflection is ‘An activity in which people
recapture /recall/ their experience, think about
it, mull /think over/ consider/ it over and
evaluate it.’

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Reflection means thinking about what
one is doing.
It entails a process of contemplation
(filling or attitud) with openness to being
changed, a willingness to learn, and a
sense of responsibility for doing one’s
best. ( Jay, 2003)

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 Cont’d
The term reflection may be used to refer
to deliberate thinking about something
that has already taken place.
A thinking process begins with a
dilemma that suggests alternatives, and
so thinking is evoked by confusion.
Reflection involves working toward a
better understanding of the problem and
ways of solving it.

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 Why We Reflect?

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 Why We Reflect?
Reflection can help us to feel more aware of
and confident in ourselves generally, and in
our teaching role.
It can help us to:
Make the best use of the knowledge
available.
Be conscious of our potential for bias &
discrimination.
Challenge & develop the existing
professional knowledge base
Maximize our own opportunities for learning.
Recognize what we do well so that we can
apply these skills in other situations

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 Cont’d
Improve professional judgment
Learn from successes and mistakes to enhance
development
Plan for future situations and therefore respond
more positively to change
In general "Reflection leads to growth of the
individual –
 morally,
personally,
 psychologically, and
 emotionally, as well as cognitively".

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Reflection can help us to:

better understand our

strengths and
weaknesses
identify and question our
underlying values and
beliefs
acknowledge and challenge possible
assumptions on which we base our21
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 Cont’d
recognize areas of potential bias or
discrimination
acknowledge our fears, and
identify possible inadequacies or areas for
improvement.
Learning Through Reflection
We learn by experiences that allow us to
Absorb (read, hear, feel)
Do (activity)
Interact (socialize)

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 Activity

What is Reflective thinking?

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 What is Reflective thinking?

Theorists and
researchers from
different fields maintain
different perspectives on
the meaning of reflection;
however, the notion
usually refers to the
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 Cont’d
Reflective thinking is a
series of logical rational
steps based on the
scientific method of
defining, analyzing, and
solving a problem.
There must be resources
that are already active in
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 Cont’d

There is a natural
resource that ‘activates’
the mind.
We may recapitulate by
saying that the origin of
thinking is some
perplexity (lack of
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Thinking is not a case of
spontaneous combustion
(the process of burrning);
it does not occur just on
“general principles."
There is something
specific which occasions
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 Cont’d
Critical thinking and reflective thinking
are often used synonymously.
Critical thinking is used to describe "...
the use of those cognitive skills or
strategies that increase the probability
of a desirable outcome...
thinking that is
purposeful,
reasoned and goal directed

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 Cont’d

the kind of thinking

involved in
solving problems,
formulating inferences,
calculating likelihoods, and
making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are
thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of
thinking task.

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 Cont’d
Critical thinking is sometimes called
directed thinking because it focuses
on a desired outcome.
Critical thinking, in general, refers to
higher-order thinking that questions
assumptions. Critical thinking is
“thinking about thinking.”
It is a way of deciding whether a
claim is true, false or sometimes true
and sometimes false, or partly true
and partly false.

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 Cont’d
The list of core critical thinking skills
includes
observation,
 interpretation,
analysis,
inference,
evaluation,
explanation, and
meta-cognition.

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Critical thinking employs not only logic but
broad intellectual criteria such as
 clarity,
credibility,
accuracy,
precision,
relevance,
depth,
breadth,
significance, and fairness.

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 Critical thinking calls for the ability to:

Recognize problems, to find workable

means for meeting those problems
Understanding the importance of
prioritization and order of precedence in
problem solving
Gather pertinent(relevant) information
Recognize unstated assumptions and
values
Comprehend and use language with
accuracy, clarity, and discernment

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 Cont’d
Interpret data, to appraise evidence and
evaluate arguments
Draw warranted conclusions and
generalizations
Put to test the conclusions and
generalizations at which one arrives
Reconstruct one’s patterns of beliefs on
the basis of wider experience
Render accurate judgments about specific
things and qualities in everyday life.

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“Reflective thinking is the process of creating
and clarifying the meaning of experience (past
or present) in terms of self (self in relation to
self and self in relation to the world.)”
Reflective thinking is a part of the critical
thinking process referring specifically to the
processes of
analyzing,
evaluating, and
making judgments about what has happened.

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 Cont’d

Reflective thinking is an
active, persistent, and careful
consideration of a belief or supposed
form of knowledge, of the grounds that
support that knowledge, and the further
conclusions to which that knowledge
leads.

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Reflective thinking, on the other hand, is a part of the
critical thinking process referring specifically to the
processes of analyzing and making judgments about
what has happened.
In summary, critical thinking involves a wide range of
thinking skills leading toward desirable outcomes and
reflective thinking focuses on the process of making
judgments about what has happened.

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 Cont’d
Learners are aware of and control their
learning by actively participating in
reflective thinking –
assessing
what they know,
 what they need to know, and
 how they bridge that gap – during
learning situations.

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 Good reflective thinking is a process
where an individual:

Determines what information is needed

for understanding the issue at hand
Accesses and gathers the available
information.
Gathers the opinions of reliable sources
in related fields
Synthesizes /produce/ the information
and opinions

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 Cont’d

Considers the synthesis

from all perspectives and
frames of reference
Finally, creates some
reasonable temporary
meaning that maybe
reconsidered and
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 Reflective thinking

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 General features of reflective thinking

Perplexity/puzzle, confusion, doubt.

The teacher has to provide a problem or
scenario
Conjectural anticipation/guessing the
reasons behind.
The teacher provides many opportunities
to engage students in gathering
information to look for possible causes
and solutions.

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 Careful survey
(examination ,inspection,
exploration, analysis)
The teacher will give
activity sheets to help
students evaluate the
evidence they gather and
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 Consequent elaboration of the tentative
hypothesis/suggest solutions.
The teacher will prepare questions and
activities that prompt students to draw
conclusions from the evidence they
gathered and pose solutions

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Taking one stand upon
the projected hypothesis
as a plan of action,
doing something overtly to bring about the
anticipated result and thereby testing the

/
hypothesis

evaluate and monitor the

implementation of the
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 What is reflective
practice?

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 A ‘reflective practitioner’
is someone who, at
regular intervals, looks
back at the work they do,
and
the work process, and
considers how they can
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 You need to learn from the experiences, and
mistakes of others, you need to look at what
you are doing and how others are doing the
same thing;
can anything be improved?
Can anything be done better?

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Reflective practice
A process that helps teachers think
about
what happened,
why it happened, and
what else could have been done
to reach their goals (Cruickshank & Applegate,
1981).

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Reflective practice is the
ability to reflect on one's
actions so as to engage
in a process of
continuous learning
Your engagement with
reflective practice is an
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Reflective practice can
be an important tool in
practice-based profession
al learning

settings where people learn from their

own professional experiences, rather
than from
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formal learning or 51
The practice of analyzing one’s
actions,
decisions, or
 products by focusing on one’s process
for achieving them (Killion&Todnem, 1991).

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 Reflective practice can
help you – as a new
practitioner –
to identify how to review and improve your
own teaching.
As an experienced
practitioner, you may use
reflective practice as an aid
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 Cont’d
A practice for reflection can vary
in terms of how often,
how much, and
why reflection gets done.
Reflective practice involves learning
from experience.

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 Cont’d
It is important to remember that
reflection is not the same as reflective
practice.
Reflective practice is an extension of
reflection:
while reflection may lead to thinking
about an event in great detail and
gaining new knowledge,

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 Reflective practice is…

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 Process of reflection
Reflection engages in the process of carrying back and
forth between thinking and action.
However, the process may appear differently in different
situations.
One useful way to understand this complexity is to
consider when it takes place.
There are two categories that simplify
the concept:
Reflection-in-action (thinking on your feet)
Reflection-on-action (retrospective thinking//thinking back).

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Reflection-in-action is
defined as the ability of
professionals to ‘think
what they are doing while
they are doing it’.
It is the ability to think on
your feet, and apply
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 Cont’d
Reflection-on-action is a reflection after the
event consciously undertaken, and often
documented. 
Reflection-on-action is defined as a process in
which individuals reflect on actions and
thoughts after they have taken place.

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 Reflection process

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 Cont’d
Reflective in action is that process that
allows us to reshape what we are
working on, while we are working on it.
It is that on-going experimentation that
helps us find a viable solution.
In this, we do not use a “trial-and-error”
method.
Rather, our actions are much more
reasoned and purposeful than that.

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 Level of Reflection
There are three major levels of reflective
practice .They are:
An initial level focused on teaching
functions, actions or skills, generally
considering teaching episodes (one part
of story) as isolated events.
A more advanced level considering the
theory and rationale for current practice.

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A higher order
where teachers examine the ethical,
social and political consequences of
their teaching, grappling with the
ultimate purposes of schooling.
to foster consistency between
supported theory
(what they say they do and believe) and
theory-in-use (what they actually do in
the classroom).
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 Technical Reflection
At the first level, teachers’ reflections
focus on strategies and methods used to
reach predetermined goals.
It is the lowest level of reflection.

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 At the first level, teachers’
reflections focus on strategies and
methods used to reach
predetermined goals.
They are concerned with what
works in the classroom to keep
students quiet and to maintain
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 Typical questions the teacher asks at the level
of technical reflection are:

Did I spend too much time on

group work today?
How can I keep students on-task?
Did I have enough (too many)
activities?
How can I get students to pay
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Contextual Reflection
Teachers engaging in Contextual
reflection attempt to understand the
theoretical basis for classroom practice
and to foster consistency between
supported theory
(what they say they do and believe) and
theory-in-use (what they actually do in
the classroom).

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 Teachers reflecting at this level can
determine when there is conflict
between what they practice and
what they preach (e.g., seeing
themselves as humanistic yet
belittling students when they
persist in disobeying rules).
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 Typical questions the teacher asks
at the level of pedagogical
reflection are:
How can I improve learning for all
my students?
How can I build in better
accountability for cooperative
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 Critical Reflection
Critical reflectivity is interchangeably used as the
dialectical level.
At this stage, teachers reflect on the moral and ethical
implications and consequences of classroom practices
on students.
Critical reflection is mostly considered as a higher-order
level of reflection. It adds the following dimensions:

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 Typical questions the teacher asks
at the level of critical reflection
are:
Do all students in my class have daily opportunities to
be successful?
Who is being included and who is being excluded in
this classroom practice?
How might the ways I group students affect individual
student’s opportunity for success?
Does this classroom practice promote equity?
Do I have practices that differentially favor particular
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 Reflective level

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Case 1.
Zemen is very intellectual High school
biology teacher. She believed that
education has to equip students not only
with theoretical knowledge but also the life
skills that help them to survive outside of
the school, as result, in most of her lesson,
she manages to prepare examples and
cases accordingly in order to aware
students the current challenges like gender
stereotypes and HIV/AID and their impacts.
1. Which level of reflection Zemen has
practiced? Why?
Answer A higher order

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 Case 2.
Ayele is a teacher in primary
school. After each of his class, he
evaluates his and his students
actual activities against his lesson
plan to know whether he achieved
them or not. Which of level of
reflection Ayele has practice?
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 Discuss the benefits of
reflection for
teacher
and
students?

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 The benefits of reflection for learners
Reflection helps learners to:
understand what they already know (individual).
Students improve their basic academic skills.
identify what they need to know in order to advance
understanding of the subject (contextual).
Students develop a deeper understanding of subject
matter

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 The benefits of reflection for teacher
Reflection enables a teacher to:
Make the best use of the knowledge available.
Avoid past mistakes.
solve a problem or address an issue in the
classroom
Maximise our own opportunities for learning.
It can improve the quality of your work.
It helps you to plan for the future.
It helps you respond more positively to change.
You can learn from the experience of others.

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 Typology of reflection

Three dimensions of
reflective thought:
descriptive, comparative,
and critical.
I. Descriptive reflection
Descriptive reflection, the first
dimension of reflection in our typology,
involves the intellectual process of’
setting
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 Cont’d
Descriptive describe the matter for
reflection
what is happening?
Is this working, and for whom?
For whom is it not working?
How do I know?
How am I feeling?
What am I pleased and/or concerned about?
What do I not understand?
Fundamentally, description involves answering
the question, ‘‘what’s happening?’’

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 II. Comparative reflection
It involves thinking about the matter for
reflection from a number of different frame or
perspectives.
As compared to a technical approach to
teaching, in which a teacher accepts a
problem immediately and sets about
trying to solve it,

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 III. Critical reflection
Critical reflection, the third dimension of
reflection in our typology, describes the result
of carefully considering a problem that has
been set in light of multiple perspectives.
critical reflection is rather the constant
returning to one’s own understanding of the
problem at hand.
This is the process in which, one ‘‘may then find
a way of integrating, or choosing among, the
values at stake in the situation’’.

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 There are three types of nature of
reflection.

Returning to experience
It refers to recollection / recalling of
memory situations, events and activities
that happened in the past.
description of what you did or plan to do
(and why)
description of how you approached something
or how it worked and how it did not.

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 Connections
Reflective connections are the most frequent
source of influence on teachers’ practical
decision making.
In these moments of reflection, teachers
connect a particular aspect of their teaching
experience with plans for instruction, moving
from experience to reflection to action.
The teacher may back to his/her experience as
student and ask questions to connect his past
experience to his/her presence .
For instance:

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How do I want to be learned in high school the
same subject I am teaching?
What was the feeling back there as a student?
Did you feel good or bad when you think of your
experience as a student? Why?
Which teacher was my favorite? Why?
Am I teaching my students the same way that I
loved to be learned as student?

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 Evaluation
It refers to evaluation of experiences and development of
a teacher.
The subcategories of evaluation are:
giving an opinion
examining what you have learned.
drawing conclusions about your own development
evaluating your knowledge or functioning
investigating whether you have achieved your learning
objective
examining what you found difficult and progressing

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 Reflection as thinking process

The domain of thinking Processes encompasses a range of

cognitive, affective and meta cognitive knowledge, skills
and behaviors.
It is organized in three dimensions:
Reasoning, processing and inquiry
Creativity
Reflection, evaluation and meta cognition.
Means (knowledge about own thinking:
knowledge of your own thoughts and
the factors that influence your thinking

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 Reasoning, processing and inquiry

The Reasoning, processing and inquiry

dimension encompasses the knowledge, skills
and behaviours required to enable teacher
students to find out the world around them, and
to use critical thinking to analyse and evaluate
information they encounter.
Students learn to assemble and question
information and develop opinions based on
informed judgments.
They also develop the capacity to transform
information into coherent knowledge
structures.

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 Creativity

The capacity to think creatively is a central

component of being able to solve problems and
be innovative.
In the Creativity dimension, teacher students
learn to seek innovative alternatives and use
their imagination to generate possibilities.
They learn to take risks with their thinking and
make new connections.

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 Reflection, evaluation and meta cognition

Learning is enhanced when individuals develop the

capacity to reflect on, and improve their existing ideas
and beliefs.
In the Reflection, evaluation and meta cognition
dimension, teacher students learn to reflect on what they
know and develop awareness that there is more to know.
They learn to question their perspectives and those of
others.
They evaluate the validity of their own and others’ ideas.
They also develop their meta cognitive skills in planning,
monitoring and evaluating their own thinking processes
and strategies.

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 Some strategies to help with daily
reflection
Daily reflections have five major roles. 
They:act as a record or diary of things
that were done each day
a. give program leaders and assistants
feedback about the relative success of
an activity is
b. give participants an opportunity to
practice their writing skills

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 C. give participants an opportunity to ask
questions, seek clarity, express concerns: which
activities did you like and why?  which ones did you not
like and why?  do you have any questions about the
activities?
d. develop and increase meta cognitive
awareness in participants

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Some possible question that can be used during
daily reflections are

•What were my strengths/weaknesses?

How have I improved?
•What can I continue to work on?
•How do I feel about my lesson? Why?
•How effective was the pacing of my lesson?
•How much of a chance did the students have
to speak?
•What did I notice in the class?
•What would I do next time?

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 Unit Two

Reflective Teaching

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 Reflective Teaching
Different scholars define teaching in
different ways. Some of the definitions
are teaching is
“… an interaction process, primarily
involving classroom talk, which takes
place between teacher and students
and occurs during certain definable
activities”
“ … interpersonal activity directed towards
learning by one or more persons “

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Contemporary educators prefer to
describe teaching based on the common
attributes suggested by many authorities
than defining it. Accordingly teaching is
An activity or action. You can see teaching take
place; you need not (and. Some would argue,
should not) infer it from learning.
A process. It involves a series of actions and
decisions of the teacher

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 • An interpersonal activity and/or process. Interpersonal
refers to the fact that teaching involves interactions
between a teacher and one or more students. Most often
the interactions are verbal and two-way.

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 Characteristics of A good teacher

From that consultation,

and from other
professional discussions
in Ethiopia, the following
profile of a Good Teacher
is proposed:
Has a love of the
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Creates a safe and ordered environment in
which all students are able to learn
Plans effectively for student involvement and
learning
Forms excellent working relationships with
colleagues
Cares for the progress and wellbeing of
students

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 Reflective teaching
Reflective teaching means
looking at what you do in the classroom,
thinking about why you do it, and
thinking about if it works - a process of self-
observation and self-evaluation.
By collecting information about what goes on in
our classroom, and by analyzing and evaluating
this information, we identify and explore our
own practices and underlying beliefs.

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This may then lead to
changes and
improvements in our
teaching.
Reflective teaching is
therefore a means of
professional development
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 characteristics of reflective practice

1 Reflective teaching
implies an active concern
with aims and
consequences, as well as
means and technical
efficiency.
2 Reflective teaching is
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3 Reflective teaching requires
competence in methods of evidence ‑
based classroom enquiry, to support the
progressive development of higher
standards of teaching.
4 Reflective teaching requires attitudes
of open ‑ mindedness, responsibility and
wholeheartedness.

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 5. Reflective teaching, professional
learning and personal fulfilment are
enhanced through collaboration and
dialogue with colleagues .
6. Reflective Teaching enables teachers
to creatively mediate externally
developed frameworks for teaching and
learning .

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 The Reflective Teacher

Each level of reflection is structured to parallel

Bloom's taxonomy
Assume that a teacher looked back on a lesson
(or project, unit, course, etc) they have just
taught.
What sample questions might they ask
themselves as they move from lower to higher
order reflection?

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 (Note: it does mean that all
questions are asked after lesson -
feel free to pick a few that work for
you.) 
Remember that each level can be
used to support mastery of the
new Common Core standards.
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 Bloom's Remembering: What did I
do?
Teacher Reflection: What was the
lesson? Did it address all the
content? Was it completed on
time? How did students "score" on
the assessment?
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 Bloom's Understanding: What was important
about what I did? Did I meet my goals?
Teacher Reflection:
Can I explain the major components of the lesson?  
Do I understand how they connect with the previous /
next unit of study?
Where does this unit fit into the curriculum?
What instructional strategies were used?
Did I follow best practices and address the standards?

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 Bloom's Application: When did I
do this before? Where could I use
this again?
Teacher Reflection: Did I build on
content, product or process from
previous lessons? How does this
lesson scaffold the learning for the
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Bloom's Analysis: Do I see any patterns or relationships
in what I did?
Teacher Reflection: What background knowledge and
skills did I assume students were bringing to the
lesson? Were the instructional strategies I used the
right ones for this assignment? Do I see any patterns in
how I approached the lesson - such as pacing,
grouping? Do I see patterns in my teaching style - for
example do I comment after every student reply? What
were the results of the approach I used - was it
effective, or could I have eliminated or reorganized
steps?
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Bloom's Evaluation: How well did I do? What worked?
What do I need to improve?
Teacher Reflection: What are we learning and is it
important? Were my assumptions about student
background knowledge and skills accurate? Were any
elements of the lesson more effective than other
elements? Did some aspects need improvement? Were
the needs of all learners met? What levels of mastery
did students reach?  What have I learned about my
strengths and my areas in need of improvement?  How
am I progressing as a teacher?

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 Bloom's Creation: What should I do next? What's my
plan / design?
Teacher Reflection: How would I incorporate the best
aspects of this lesson in the future? What changes
would I make to correct areas in need of improvement?
How can I best use my strengths to improve? What
steps should I take or resources should I use to meet
my challenges? Is there training or networking that
would help me to meet my professional goals? What
suggestions do I have for our leadership or my peers to
improve our learning environment?

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 Reflective teaching therefore
implies a more systematic process
of collecting, recording and
analyzing our thoughts and
observations, as well as those of
our students, and then going on to
making changes.
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 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?
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 Beginning the process of reflection

You may begin a process of

reflection in response to a
particular problem that has arisen
with one or your classes, or simply
as a way of finding out more about
your teaching.
You may decide to focus on a
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 The first step is to gather
information about what happens in
the class. Here are some different
ways of doing this.
Teacher diary 
This is the easiest way to begin a
process of reflection since it is
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 You may also describe your own
reactions and feelings and those
you observed on the part of the
students.
You are likely to begin to pose
questions about what you have
observed.
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 Peer observation
Invite a colleague to come into your class to collect
information about your lesson.
This may be with a simple observation task or through
note taking.
This will relate back to the area you have identified to
reflect upon.
For example, you might ask your colleague to focus on
which students contribute most in the lesson, what
different patterns of interaction occur or how you deal
with errors.

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 Recording lessons
Video or audio recordings of
lessons can provide very useful
information for reflection. You may
do things in class you are not
aware of or there may be things
happening in the class that as the
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 Video recordings can be useful in
showing you aspects of your own
behaviour.
Where do you stand?
Who do you speak to?
How do you come across to the students?

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 Student feedback
You can also ask your students
what they think about what goes
on in the classroom.
Their opinions and perceptions can
add a different and valuable
perspective.
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 What to do next
Once you have some information
recorded about what goes on in
your classroom, what do you do?

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 Audio recordings can be useful for
considering aspects of teacher talk.
How much do you talk?
What about?
Are instructions and explanations clear?
How much time do you allocate to student talk?
How do you respond to student talk?

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 Think
You may have noticed patterns
occurring in your teaching through
your observation.
You may also have noticed things
that you were previously unaware
of.
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 Talk
Just by talking about what you
have discovered - to a supportive
colleague or even a friend - you
may be able to come up with some
ideas for how to do things
differently.
If you have
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tool, you can meet to discuss issues. Discussion can be based around scenarios from
 • Using a list of statements about teaching beliefs (for example, pairwork is a
valuable activity in the language class or lexis is more important than
grammar) you can discuss which ones you agree or disagree with, and which
ones are reflected in your own teaching giving evidence from your self-
observation.

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 Read

You may decide that you need to

find out more about a certain area.
There are plenty of websites for
teachers of English now where you
can find useful teaching ideas, or
more academic articles.
There are also magazines for
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Or if you have access to a library or
bookshop, there are plenty of
books for English language
teachers.
Ask
Pose questions to websites or
magazines to get ideas from other
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 Conclusion

Reflective teaching is a cyclical

process, because once you start to
implement changes, then the
reflective and evaluative cycle
begins again.
What are you doing?
Why are you doing it?
How effective is it?
How are the students responding?
How can you do it better?
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 As a result of your reflection you
may decide to do something in a
different way, or you may just
decide that what you are doing is
the best way. And that is what
professional development is all
about.
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 How to become a Reflective Thinker?
Good reflective thinking is a process where an individual:
determines what information is needed for understanding the
issue at hand
accesses and gathers the available information
gathers the opinions of reliable sources in related fields
synthesizes the information and opinions
considers the synthesis from all perspectives and frames of
reference
finally, creates some plausible temporary meaning that may be
reconsidered and modified as one learns more relevant
information and opinions
Cynthia Mazow: Learning, Design, and Technology Stamford University

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 Reflective Thinking Dimensions
The most complete listing of reflective skills is found in Weast (1996) and
were arragned and modified in a way to help us reflect:
Identify the reasons and the evidence
Identify the author's conclusion
Identify vague and ambiguous language
Identify value assumptions and value conflicts
Identify descriptive assumptions
Evaluate statistical reasoning
Evaluate sampling and measurements
Identify omitted information
Gathers available information of reliable sources
Evaluate logical reasoning
Synthesizes the information and opinions from all perspectives and fremes of
reference
Makes appropriate judgements
Articulate one's own values in thoughtful, fair-minded way (objective, well balanced,
and suffient complex)

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