Reflective
Reflective
As a graduate of the Colgate teacher education program, I…
…am a reflective practitioner who creates and manages effective learning environments.
*This section is copied from my college, pre-service teaching portfolio. One day I'll get around to revising.
I believe everyone, not just teachers, need to practice the act of reflection on a more frequent basis. Being Quaker, it is a personal and spiritual responsibility for me to set aside some time each day to reflect on the events that I both witnessed and experienced first-hand. The way to grow as an individual, I believe, is to take ownership for my actions, both good and bad, and use what has happened to me as the impetus for positive change in the future. I found myself in constant reflection during my student teaching semester. Admittedly, it is very easy for me to obsess on things that do not go right but I think this aspect of "perfectionism" that I possess gives me the determination needed to modify my instruction for the better. What went well today? Why were the students unresponsive to today's lesson? If I move Caleb's seat will that be the move he needs to limit external distracters? What can I do tomorrow to enhance Jimmy's interest in math? How can I promote and reinforce the fantastic higher level questioning that Bernadette is demonstrating in the classroom? All of these questions and more I asked myself during my planning period, driving away from the school, and in the evenings while grading papers or taking a moment of silence. The brainstorming that I did for each question was exercise for bettering my teaching, the consequence of which is establishing and maintaining a safe space for learning in the classroom for all students.
Clicking on the link below will take you to a focus paper that I wrote which includes a vignette and is a reflection on the special needs of students and how to address them appropriately as an instructor. I believe it conveys the type of thinking that a reflective teacher experiences, considering the interests of the students in order to ensure a positive learning environment for them.
"Sunil is his own worst critic. He would often blame himself if things did not go the way that he had hoped. During the course of our many discussions, he was mature enough to accept constructive criticism. He often would self-reflect and would come in the next morning and say, 'I've thought about this and...' In my opinion, this is a quality that every good teacher needs to possess." - Jeanmarie McLean, Mentor Teacher
"Sunil had a wide range of class size, behaviors, and age groups to experience some extreme diversity. His first period class of 6 students was incredibly eager and worked exceptionally well as a group or divided into any configuration of small groups, while his third period class of a smaller size and ratio of boys to girls was very inflexible in the effort to work as a whole group or in small groups. Personality clashes made groupings difficult especially if someone was absent and refused to work with others. Sunil's patience and perseverance with these groups made both situations successful for the students. He engaged them all in participating on the board and would talk one on one with students who were adamant in refusing to work with a particular group. He showed respect and patience with the students and in turn they worked successfully for him." - Constance Rasmussen, Mentor Teacher