The Reflective Teacher

As I listened to  Dylan Wiliam, I was suddenly shocked when he said, "Every teacher fails on a daily basis." Immediately, my defense mechanism kicked in just as he continued, "Every teacher has difficulties. Every teacher fails on a daily basis. If you're not failing on a daily basis, you're just not paying attention." And he is right. We must pay attention in the form of reflecting because to reflect on your teaching is to grow from within. So, what does it mean to reflect and how do we reflect? Well, I will define reflect in the context of a mental activity as the action of seriously thinking, critically examining, and coming to a judgement of our previous actions (e.g. practices). 

He continues by saying, "Every one of us needs to accept the commitment to carry on improving our practice until we retire or die." Well, we strive to do just that. With every staff development we participate in, we embrace the idea that we are lifelong learners and that we must continually change, modify, and adapt if we aim to improve.  Now, we may not agree with everything he says but regardless of his ideas, is the idea of reflecting to achieve improvement that I want to expand on.  

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Reflecting may or may not seem as an easy task. So, how do we do it? Fortunately for us, there are models we could follow such as the Reflective Practice Process by Robert Marzano and the one from Peter Pappas based on Bloom's Taxonomy, which is included here with an attached link that will provide you with more insight on how to apply it. Marzano numbers the process beginning with self-audit which is based on strengths and weaknesses, although, instead of weaknesses I prefer the terms, areas of improvement or growth. The second step is to set growth goals; specific and attainable ones that we will work on. The third one is to use a specific measurement scale in terms of what level we want to achieve and how long will it take us to get there. And finally, create an action plan, a very concrete way to accomplish your goals. ​To do this, we must be intentional, we must be committed, and we must take responsibility for our students' outcomes. 

Some areas we could reflect on are classroom management, differentiation, integration of technology, use of data, and rigorous instruction to mention a few. I believe we must be specific to a situation, a day, or maybe a week rather than asking ourselves how effective was our classroom management last school year. 

When we are able to conduct those internal conversations, our level of awareness raises and ​​we become more receptive to feedback. Now, it takes both courage and humility to reflect because you will have to recognize failure, but as challenging as it may be, we need to look back to be able to move forward for our teaching to match our level of commitment.

So I invite you to think about your thinking and I end with a quote to reflect on.
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​"By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter." -Confucius