Reflective Practice

To demonstrate exemplary reflective practice, a teacher candidate must "regularly reflect on the effectiveness of lessons, units, and interactions with students, both individually and with colleagues; and use and share with colleagues, insights gained to improve practice and student learning".

Reflective practice is key to the success of any teacher, but especially so for a teacher candidate. Reflection is built into the CAP process with the three-way meetings and closely aligned work between the teacher candidate and supervising practitioner. Internally reflecting at the end of each class period is important for preparing for the next. Reflective practices go hand in hand with adjustments to practice becuause after reflecting on how a lesson or assessment went, a teacher should adjust and adapt to make improvements on their lesson and/or assessment. The first time a lesson is taught will most likely not be the best time the lesson is taught; it takes time, practice, and reflection to work out all of the kinks in a lesson.

Teachers should not only personally reflect, but they should also share reflections with colleagues to improve practice and student learning. As a teacher candidate, reflecting with a supervising practitioner is crucial to success in the classroom. The supervising practitioner is the one who observes the teacher candidate the most, so feedback from the supervising practitioner is very helpful. Discussing successes and improvements in the classroom with a supervising practitioner is a key reflective practice that can lead to a lot of improvements in the classroom. It's also important to remember that students see multiple different teachers a day, so talking to the other teachers on the team could bring up helpful insights. Every teacher has a different teaching style, so discussing with other teachers on the team can lead to new methods and practices that one may want to try implementing.

Below is a compilation of my weekly reflections.

Above are some examples of my weekly reflections that I completed. I consistently reflected with these reflections, but I also reflected daily with my SP. Based on these reflections, I adjusted my teaching practices and methods. These daily reflections with my SP were what really helped me be so successful in the classroom.

I would personally set goals for myself. I would identify the specific instances that I thought were good or bad and my SP and I would make a goal based off of that discussion. For example, at the beginning of my practicum, I struggled with projecting my voice and being energetic in front of the classroom, so that was my goal for a while. By reflecting daily with my SP and weekly for seminar, I saw huge improvements in my teaching over a short period of time because I was constantly thinking about what went well and what didn't.