In the beginning of my career,  I was not in the mode of formally reflecting on my practices. I realised what worked for me then was reflecting on how I liked to be taught and what information I retained since I was pursuing graduate degrees myself at that time In that way, I noticed what worked in the classroom and how students were able to grasp concepts. This allowed me to really fine tune my approaches based on their feedback. In this way, with no formal training, I employed the model by Schön (1991), where I generally reflected quickly on what happened in the moment (student questions and difficulties, methods that did/did not work) and then mused on what sorts of changed I could make based on researching new content or advice from my mentor (my graduate supervisor who previously taught the course). This approach was very helpful at the start of my career, and I have retained it in my overall reflective process after all these years. 

As I taught more classes and read the Student Course Evaluations which gave end-of-semester feedback, my approaches in the classroom also evolved. I was overjoyed by the encouraging feedback students gave but I also took into account areas for improvement, such as the need for more tutorial questions and examples. I can say now that my reflections were more so aligned with the model by Rolfe, Freshwater, & Jasper (2001). The ‘What’ model with those three key questions of What? So What? Now What? were influential in my analysis. 

"I felt like I was always very aware of the "What did not work in this lesson today?" more than the parts which worked first and foremost." 

At that time, a level of perfectionism was at play in my own self-awareness to ensure that I lived up to the standards of a true academic and I would spend time reflecting on how long it took to explain the topic, what parts students were unable to grasp and how I could approach it different next time. Honestly, this felt intimidating at first, but I was up for the challenge. 

However, as I grew more self-aware as both an individual and an academic, my past experiences allowed me to expand more in my levels of thinking. I developed a more constructivist approach in the classroom. I implored my students to ask me questions and be critical of the work being taught. I wanted to learn more from them rather than trying to forcefully feed them information in the hopes they would understand. My focus became more centralised on interactive learning and student-centeredness to allow my dear students to construct their own knowledge. This in itself elevated my reflection process. In collaboration with the previous approach using Rolfe, Freshwater, & Jasper (2001), I now added a combination of the Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning (1984) to use my semester experiences aligned with educational research to improve my teaching abilities in the classroom. 

In this way I developed a newfound sense of my identity as an educator and started to advance more into the Gibb's model (1998). This model is really central to who I am currently as a person. My levels of emotional intelligence have allowed me to really use the reflective 6-step process to create an action plan for what I would do differently in the future. For me this is key, and I have enjoyed deriving new ways to approach classroom techniques to engage students, using collaborative methods and technology (YouTube, screencasts, games etc.) for reinforcement. 

At present, I have started to engage more in a cyclical process of some semblance of what I now know to be Brookfield's model (1995).  In the CUTL programme I have been quite fascinated by these four lenses for critical reflection: the autobiographical: the students' eyes, my colleagues' experiences, and the theoretical literature. It made me realise that I needed to source not only my own feedback, as well as students' but also those of colleagues in the department (and even other departments as well).  I appreciate the CUTL courses which have provided me with a means to also engage more in peer observation and scholarship of teaching. I feel like it has enhanced my level of critical thinking and ability to provide more meaningful feedback in the classroom.