Principles for
Reflective Practice
taken from Reflective Practice to
Improve Schools pg 157
· Everyone needs professional growth
opportunities.
· All professionals want to improve.
· All professionals can learn.
· All professionals are capable of
assuming responsibility for their own professional growth and development.
· People need and want information
about their performance.
· Collaboration enriches professional
development.
GUIDE TO ADDING YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS BOOK STUDY BLOG:
Chapter
One: How do I define Reflective Practice? page 8
Chapter
Two: What makes Reflective Practice Meaningful? Page 55
Chapter
Three: What Question Did I Ask Today? (Individual
Reflective Practice) Page 96
Chapter
Four: Reflective Practice with Partners; Purpose of?
Focus of? Page 110
Chapter
Five: Reflective Practice in Small Groups and Teams.
What are the Group-Member Roles? The Facilitator? Pages 154-157
Chapter
Six: Leadership Shared by Principals and Teachers Page
213-214
Chapter
Seven: Theory of Action for Reflective Practice Page 247
Share your insights
regarding the existing practice in your school. What can you do differently or do better?
What
questions did you formulate during your reflective readings and dialogue with other
colleagues?
What is your Action Plan?
Add your comments and insights from each chapter as you read and dialogue with other colleagues. |
29 comments:
Reflective Practice To Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators.
By York-Barr, Jennifer; Sommers, William A.; Ghere, Gail S.; Montie, Jo
This great book is written to help educators master the art of reflective practice. Reflection is an art. When we reflect as educators either as individuals, with partners, in small groups or even school wide, we paint a tapestry of collective ideas and discoveries. We unmask assumptions and look deeply at our beliefs and practices. Reflection helps us improve upon our pedagogy. It becomes a beautiful painting of many pathways to improvement both for the individual and the organization. Discover the art of reflective practice as you read Reflective Practice To Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators by York-Barr, Jennifer; Sommers, William A.; Ghere, Gail S.; Montie, Jo
At the end of each chapter is a page for your own personal reflections on the big ideas, targeted insights, questions raised, and strategic plans for action. Guidance is offered for the educators’ collective efforts to create schools in which students gain a love for a life time of learning.
Review written by:
Shelia F. Burlock, M.Ed
"Inspiring adults to become agents of change, hope, and influence in the lives of children."©
What Question Did You Ask Today?
“Questions emerge from our need for information, as well as from our curiosity to understand commonalities, discrepancies, surprises, and relationships among ideas and perspectives. Pausing to craft a question sharpens our thinking about what we already understand, do not understand, and want to understand. When we choose to ask question of others, the potential exists not only to learn, but to create conditions that open up conversations for others to reflect and learn.” ~Chapter 3, Individual Reflective Practice, page 96~
The Question Reflection process is so true and necessary not only for the growth and deepening of understanding of pedagogy for the teachers I work with but for my personal growth as an educator as well. During our March Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings, I had the opportunity to ask teachers reflective questions about student work. The results were corrective/reteach lessons developed by the teachers to help struggling learners.
Asking these questions also helped me grow in my understanding of how to help teachers interpret better not only the critical mass of error the mid and low student were making in the student work but to also use questioning to help them drill down to the conceptual understanding or to delineate the concepts that the mid and/or low students did understand. Being able to point out what the student does understand helps us to find out what they don’t understand.
Here is a copy of our DATA MEETING questions:
IMSA GRADE __ DATA MEETING
PRESENT: DATE:
Prepare
Before the Meeting Prepare – Before the Meeting
• Teacher does Pre-Work expectations: such as collect student work H, M, L and write out standards.
See It
18 mins See Past Success, See the Exemplar, and See and Analyze the Gap. See the Success: (1 min)
• Looking at prerequisite standards, what are some successes to celebrate?
See the Standard:
Today we will focus on standards:
• Let’s unpack the standard
• Let’s rewrite the standard
• How does the student work address the standards?
• How do the assessment questions address the standards?
See the Exemplar (7-10 min)
• Let’s look at the student exemplar-the high student: are there any gaps or differences in the student work and the teachers work?
• What does that tell you about student understanding?
See and Analyze the Gap: (5-7 min)
• What are the gaps that we see between our students that did not fully address the standard/s correctly and those that did?
• What is the biggest misconception to fix?
• What does the data or student work tell you is the biggest misconception to fix?
Name it
2 mins
State the Error and Conceptual Misunderstanding
Name the Error and Conceptual Understanding:
Focal Point:
• Critical mass of error:
• Conceptual understanding evident in that error:
Used with permission from UnCommon Schools.
Do It
Rest of meeting
12 mins Plan, the Reteach, Practice, and Follow Up
Plan the Reteach (8-10 mins):
• Let’s plan the reteach. Should this be a guided discourse or a model?
• “Based on what we discussed today, what do you think your action step should be?”
• “What are the keys to closing this gap?”
Practice the Action Step:
Modeling Steps: (I DO, AND YOU WATCH)
(CRITICAL VOCABULARY)
(THINK ALOUDS)
Guided Discourse Questions:
Follow-up: (final 2 minutes)
When will you deliver this re-teach lesson?
Do you need to revise/make any additional documents for the reteach lesson?
Used with permission from UnCommon Schools.
Chapter One: How do I define Reflective Practice?
"Deliberate thinking about action, with a view to its improvement."
This is the definition that I resonated with. To me, this simply means making mindful decisions each day about my teaching, with the goal of enhancing student learning. I do believe that the foundation of this practice is in place in our school, however I think there are opportunities for growth. How can we implement this practice into our daily lessons? I know that I can learn to use reflective practice after each lesson to examine if the student task truly enhanced learning or if there are opportunities for me to be open to other ways of approaching the material. I will make a more conscious effort to collaborate with coworkers in the hopes of learning from them. and expanding my knowledge as an educator.
To me, reflective practice is when I take a lesson I did and try to figure out what went wrong, what went right, and what I can do to make the lesson better. It goes for all teaching in general, to become better teachers, you must be willing to take time to reflect on what you have been doing and see if there is a better way. I reflect with my team on things we have tried in our classroom while we are planning for the upcoming week. If it is something that has been successful, we will share with each other and implement it in our classrooms. If it is something that didn’t work well, we will work together to come up with a different way to approach it and see if that will be successful the next time we are teaching. In my own experience, reflective practice has guided me trough several classroom management plans and styles of teaching, each class is different and responds differently to different things. I feel to reflect on your teaching you have to be willing to change and be willing to work with your peers to be the best teacher. Reflective practice means to look at what you are doing in the classroom and thinking about why you did it. It also means to think about if what you did works or doesn’t work. I also believe that reflective practice works best if you have a good team to support you.
Miss Allen
Reflective practice is something that I think many forget to do. Often times its thought of a point the finger or "blame-game". Ex: The kids did not want to learn; the students just didn't care". We have to step back and think what could I have done better? If I were a student in my class would I be motivated to learn? How can I keep the students engaged and still have rigor? Most of all we have to pinpoint the pros!
In the beginning of my teaching career, I rarely self-reflected. I didn't realize how important it was to self-reflect. I did not realize my time management skills were an issue; rarely did I go back and look up different strategies to teach lessons. I needed to find my strengths and continue to build on them. I needed to set goals for improvement and build on them.
As educators, I believe its important to self-evaluate every now and then as well as set goals for ourselves. We need to make sure we are looking for growth within ourselves.
Ms. R, Ms. Allen and Ms. Jones, I like all of your comments. You are authentic in your explanations of reflective practice. The personal applications you each have made to become more intentional and determined in your reflective practice will not only benefit your growth as a professional practitioner but improve our entire learning community as well.
Thank you for your comments.
Nice! Deliberate practice is the key!
Very good. Much research has been done about collaboration vs working alone, and as you probably know, collaboration always wins out, from teacher improvement to teacher retention.
Like your thinking. As a former National Board Certified Teacher, the driving question for us in that program was how could I have done this better. That thinking provides for continuous improvement which drives excellence, not perfection.
How I define Reflective Practice is very similar to the book's "Theory of Action for Reflective Practice" with emphasis on the "pause" and the "openness". I feel that it is essential to pause and reflect on the material covered or what questions will arise from the material covered. The pause is explained as a purposeful slowing down to create a space in which presence and openness can emerge. For me, this is demonstrated periodically throughout the day during our "reflect/turn/talk" time. This time gives the students an opportunity to think about what they have read and turn and talk about it with a partner. I feel that it is imperative to have that moment of thought to produce a successful outcome.
The book also talked about "openness". Openness was described as an open perspective and an open heart. In other words, being open to multiple viewpoints. I feel that this allows students the freedom to express themselves without fear of failure. Plus it allows them to reflect on others viewpoints.
Chapter 2 What makes reflective practice meaningful?
To me it is meaningful because it sparks discussion between colleagues. When I reflect upon what I have done in the classroom, it helps me see where I need to grow. I can then bring these things up to my colleagues and they can give me suggestions and ideas on what I can do to better help my practice. This also works the other way around for my colleagues to come to me with their reflections. We will then grow as a team.
Chapter 2 - What makes reflective practice meaningful?
I believe what makes reflective practice meaningful is the focus it places on the student. It allows teachers to really observe student strengths and weaknesses and adjust lessons accordingly. It also gives educators the opportunity to assess curriculum for effectiveness and by reflecting on the material, the ones who truly benefit from this practice are the students.
Reflective Practice is meaningful to me when it is relevant to my professional and personal needs. The relevancy makes it powerfully effective because it hits home to where I am. Depending on the topic, my type of reflection can be technical, practical or critical. “A technical focus of reflection examines methods or technique; a practical focus examines both goals and methods of practice; and a critical focus examines not only goals and methods but also outcomes from a moral, ethical, and social perspective."~Page 56-Reflective Practice to Improve Schools~
Overall, whether I do relevant technical, practical or critical reflection, it always leads to opportunities to strengthen relationships and opportunities to learn. That’s the beauty of it.
Chapter 3 - What questions did you ask today?
For me, this idea was a valuable reminder to hold myself accountable in my teaching by asking myself questions. I believe this practice can be especially useful when it comes to analyzing student work. If I can deepen my own understanding through questioning the results of student work, it will allow the opportunity to bridge the gap among different levels of students.
Chapter 4 - Reflective practice with partners
Although all teachers within a school have the common goal of student learning, each individual achieves those results in a unique way. This chapter was a great reminder that my peers have strengths in areas I may not, and that collaboration with coworkers can give me new ideas and techniques I may not have thought of. Reflective practice with a partner is an underused resource that all educators could benefit from.
What Question Did You Ask Today?
When I choose to ask questions of others, the potential is there for me to learn as well and to create conditions that open up dialogue for others to reflect and learn. We teach students through inquiry based learning to ask questions and to do research. However, the questioning process first begins with us as educators and leads toward personal reflections that can be enriching. Some questions listed on page 102 of Chapter 3 on Individual Reflective Practice are:( What is it that I want to do with my most precious thing: my life? Is my self-worth stronger thay my self-critic, and how do I know? How do I use my gifts and talents to foster caring, commitment and interdependence in my work? Who have been the most important mentors in my life?)
Being reflective brings balance to my life because it creates space for me to think about who I am and why I am.
Thank you Ms.R for your comments. I especially like your comments on "Reflective Practice with Partners".
"We're all in this together", is our Elementary School slogan this year.
We need a cohort of reflective practitioners to talk with, bounce ideas off with, get meaningful feedback and constructive crticism from. I know that I need this.
Let me know what I am doing that really helps you and adds to you professionally?
I appreciate the reflective practice of partners in education.
Chapter 5 - Reflective Practice in Small Groups and Teams
When engaging in group reflective practice, the roles are participant, facilitator, recorder, timekeeper, and observer. "The most important role is that of engaged participant." I found this quote to be a wonderful reminder that in order for any group activity to be successful, all members of the group must be actively engaged. This is true for myself as well as my students. If full participation is not there then very little can be accomplished. I can use this reminder for self reflection during PD or PLC, as well as a reminder to be aware of my student's engagement during groups or centers.
Chapter 3
What question did I ask today?
For me, I do this regularly. I am constantly asking myself what worked and what did not work about the lesson. I also use this to help myself with what questions I ask the children in my class. I have to think about how I word questions to make sure that it makes sense and is not too leading. It helps me to better see the gaps in their understanding when I ask a question they should be able to answer.
Chapter 4
Reflective practice with partners
I feel like reflective practice with partners and your teammates is crucial to development as a professional. Not only does talking things over with them generate new and sometimes better ideas, it also helps to tweak ideas you are currently having and help to make it so that all students are learning. Right now, first grade utilizes reflective practice each week while we lesson plan and discuss things we will be doing and trying the next week and things we have tried and will try again after adding new ideas to it.
Chapter 5
Reflective Practice in small groups and teams
I feel like this is very similar to what I discussed in Chapter 4. Gathering ideas from other teachers is a great way to encourage each other. I feel like the roles can work well in some cases, while in others it may not be necessary. These roles can be useful when creating stations when there is need for a group leader. Clarifying the job they have to do is extremely important for the success or failure of a group.
Reflective Practice with Partners; Purpose of? Focus of?
Reflecting with a partner fosters trust and builds an avenue of safety for revealing one’s thinking, concerns, comments, or questions. A partner can assist in “suspension thinking”-thinking that suspends fixed assumptions or judgments in order to learn to listen. Thus, the purpose of partner reflection is to expand thinking and understanding about educational practice or pedagogy to increase effective stamina and build upon a culture of achievement for the educator and the student. The focus of partner reflection can be about the person, the position, the practice, the procedure or the perspective. Whatever the focus, partner reflection always leads toward productivity and nothing ever stays stagnant when you do partner reflection.
Reflective Practice in Small Groups and Teams. What are the Group-Member Roles? The Facilitator?
Team Reflection is a good professional practice. Therefore, we hold PLC (Professional Learning Communities). It always helps to identify roles whenever you collaborate as a team so that every angle of the job gets done. We are all valuable and needed. We need everyone to be Participants and to be fully invested, mentally and emotionally in the team. Next, we need a Facilitator to take the helm and guide the task, process and keep us on point. Then we absolutely must have a Recorder so that we can document our accomplishments and conclusions. A Timekeeper is a must because we can become so passionate about the task that we loose track of time for other urgent things. The other roles can be shared by all and that is the Content Authority one who contributes knowledge about the content or task we are tackling. As well as the Observer-one who gives meaningful feedback and reflective comments. Each role is valid and valuable to be productive. As educators, let’s come to the table as full collaborative participants ready to contribute to the team to build upon our culture of achievement!
Chapter 1
What stood out to me the most about chapter one is the thought that in our crazy world of teaching we must, "shift from a culture of doing to a culture of learning and doing(p.3)." I have to admit that this hit home for me the most out of the chapter, in my filled to peak day the concept of slowing down and reflecting on a lesson or day makes me want to roll my eyes and just put it at the bottom of my to-do list. However as I reached the end of this chapter I saw the value in slowing down and making the time. If we allowed for us to make the time to reflect on our day so we could track our own personal classroom data. Then we might be able to identify solutions for classroom behavior or gaps in learning. Reflecting practices allows us to form our own questions so we know what answers we need to be looking for. Then if we need to meet with our grade levels we know what we are looking for more than just frustration of a lesson not working or a student who is frustrating. Is make us more than getting the job done to allowing us to make sure we are doing to the best our our ability and time.
Chapter 1
What stood out to me the most about chapter one is the thought that in our crazy world of teaching we must, "shift from a culture of doing to a culture of learning and doing(p.3)." I have to admit that this hit home for me the most out of the chapter, in my filled to peak day the concept of slowing down and reflecting on a lesson or day makes me want to roll my eyes and just put it at the bottom of my to-do list. However as I reached the end of this chapter I saw the value in slowing down and making the time. If we allowed for us to make the time to reflect on our day so we could track our own personal classroom data. Then we might be able to identify solutions for classroom behavior or gaps in learning. Reflecting practices allows us to form our own questions so we know what answers we need to be looking for. Then if we need to meet with our grade levels we know what we are looking for more than just frustration of a lesson not working or a student who is frustrating. Is make us more than getting the job done to allowing us to make sure we are doing to the best our our ability and time.
The section entitled, Reflective Practice in Small Groups and Teams, from the book, focused on the roles of each group member. After reading this section of the book, I would have to agree that the most important role of the group/member is that of an engaged participant. If the member and/or group is not engaged then the purpose will not be fulfilled. I feel that engagement is absolutely imperative for the student to be successful in the task assigned. In order for the student to be engaged the teacher has to be creative. I use different techniques in my classroom to keep my students engaged. One way I do this, is by playing scary music during a Halloween writing prompt. Another way is having the students stand up while reading. I also have had students act out a character trait of a character from the story that we're reading. As the facilitator, I feel that my main role is to clarify the task, make sure that the participants are engaged, and allow the participants to freely express their opinions on the topic. This helps produce a successful outcome.
Chapter 5 Reflective Practice in Small Groups and Teams
This chapter deals with the why's and how's small groups and teams can enhance the professional learning environment. I feel that small groups and Teams are essential in helping with the improvement of specific teaching skills. Before break we participated in several PD's that were led by our peers. The groups were small and they highlighted the skills that the facilitators had developed as they emerged through the utilization of various online systems. The courses that I selected were very beneficial for me to use to help my student achieve a higher level of learning. According to the chapter, group effectiveness is influenced by the size and configuration of the group. We were allowed to choose which PD we wanted to attend, allowing high interest from each participant. Not only were the tutorials excellent, but they allowed me to develop new skills that I hope will rocket my ability to help my students sore to amazing heights.
Reading Chapter 5 helped shine light on the subject of small groups and teams. The quote " Teamwork is often like the weather--everyone talks about it, but often nobody does anything about it.", hit home with me. I believe it is important to follow through with your group. The ability to work well with teachers will trickle down into your classroom. Setting guidelines (roles) with each team member will help keep the group focused. It is important to know one's intention and choose congruent behaviors.
I love the comments made on Chapter 5 Reflective Practice in Small Groups and Teams. I agree that the ability to work will with fellow teachers as colleagues and professionals does follow a teacher into the classroom and frames how students are taught to work together. There is a lot that goes into reflective practices in small groups and teams. The answer to the question (“What is known about promoting group interactions among educators so that learning and productive outcomes result?”) likewise applies to promoting group interactions among students so that learning and productive outcomes result. The answer lies in the centrality of purpose for Reflection. Educators and students are more likely to engage in reflective group work if the purpose has meaning for them. Hence as educators, when we learn how to engage effectively in group reflective practice, we will naturally begin to teach our students how to engage effectively in reflective practice within groups and teams.
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