Philosophy
Withing Teaching, reflecting critically upon practice is essential to insure professional growth. In any given lesson, a teacher makes hundreds of decisions regarding presentation of content, pacing, student participation, and addressing student behavior. Even the most experienced and gifted teacher will find that each lesson provides innumerable miscues, missed missteps and missed opportunities. These errors, when viewed through the lens of reflective practice, are opportunities to learn from one's mistakes and to improve instruction the next time the material is presented.
Progress Self-Assessment
During the course of instruction, my reflective practice has taken two forms- personal reflection on the successes of failure of lessons, and discussions with peers. After the conclusion of a lesson, I immediately right down qualitative impressions of the lesson. Were students grabbed by certain activities, while others fell flat? Did certain activities require more explanation for the sake of clarity? These impressions are copied in a log attached to the lesson. I review them and consider modifying the lesson when I present the material again. Exit slips provide students with an opportunity to provide subjective feedback kon which aspects of the lesson with successful and which were not.
Exit interviews, quizzes, and exams provide more quantitative data on practice. If the lesson was successful, they provide evidence of skill mastery. When the student's results fall short, they can be an indication of areas where reteaching may be necessary. In Special Education, I have a responsibility to make sure that all students have an ability to access the content. If certain students are consistently falling short of mastery, I often have to modify the modalities in which the content was presented.
Explanation of Artifacts
The Reflective Journal is used to reflect day-to-day on any given lesson. I break down the activities in order to make the determination as to which activities went well, and which fell flat. I also use the the log to reflect on formative assessments and recognize when reteaching may be necessary. The logs are kept in binders with the unit plans so that I may look back on the reflections when I present the content again in subsequent years.
The Reflective Behavior Log is a forum for examining student conduct and which interventions were effective. This is completed in partnership with my classroom Teacher's Assistant. We reflect on behavioral difficulties we had in the previous day and brainstorm interventions for the upcoming day. We also discuss whether appropriate behavior was sufficiently reinforced and built in recognition and rewards for to maintain positive behaviors.
Artifact 1:
Artifact 1:
Reflective Behavior Log
Areas for Future Development
In the upcoming year, I hope to pair reflections to the critical learning standards (CLS). The reflective behavior log would include an indicator as to how well the students performed on CLS formative assessments and indications for how this might shape the subsequent days' instruction.
In the upcoming year, I hope to pair reflections to the critical learning standards (CLS). The reflective behavior log would include an indicator as to how well the students performed on CLS formative assessments and indications for how this might shape the subsequent days' instruction.
