Reflective practice

Professional educators seek to improve their skills and competencies systematically. They notice things about their teaching that they would like to improve, address one or two items on that list for development, and, once resolved, move onto another. They analyze both their practice and gaps in their knowledge as they go along, thinking consciously about what happens in their classrooms, and look to improve continually. Those needs and improvements may come from reading, action research, peer observation, observation or student feedback, or other sources, such as training sessions, but they must involve both input and experimentation in the classroom. This systematization of Professional Development (PD) is the essence of Reflective Practice: simply put, trying new things and accepting or rejecting them.

However useful training may be, it is often too random for the individualized development - primarily focused on input or workshops identified for a large faculty or determined by system needs: in other words, it may be useful to you, but if organized by institutions does not purposefully address your particular needs as a teacher: you may find useful ideas, but perhaps only by coincidence. Furthermore, there is not usually a formal requirement to try these practices out in your classes. To bridge the gap between theoretical input and classroom output, then, and to assist in your development as a Reflective Practitioner, we are asking you to keep track of personalized Action Points (APs) and integrate them into your classroom teaching during the year - a nudge to try out new ideas in response to gaps you've noticed yourself.

This document thus creates a virtue circle that links input to output, and to reflection, in a cycle that generates ongoing improvements in your teaching, as represented below:

PHASES OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Reflective practices should be divided into two main phases.

Phase One: Reflections on Your Teaching - What You Want to Develop First, identify an issue that you want to resolve. It may help to think of answers for these questions: What aspects of your teaching do you want to improve? Why? What have you noticed about the reactions of your students in class, or their results, that dissatisfies you? In your work, what makes you feel uncomfortable or worries you? In previous professional evaluations you've had (a course or work appraisal), where did you score less well? Which of these issues would you put first? Which is the most urgent? For what reason? Once you have a few ideas, put them in the boxes in section one. Try to put them in priority order. Be prepared to explain your rationale and thinking to your line manager. You should be as specific as possible, to demonstrate systematic thinking. Look at these examples: Example One – here is an example of an idea which is not very helpful: ‘I don't feel confident when teaching online.’ Example Two – here is an example of an idea expressed more concretely: ‘I want to learn how to keep more learners engaged in online interactions. I've noticed that it's difficult to keep large groups of students contributing meaningfully when teaching online. This makes me uncomfortable, because I feel as though I'm not doing my job very well, but I also worry about their grades and lack of progress if it continues. This will have negative consequences for them and for me!’

Phase Two: Action Planning In this phase, you will: record what specifically you want to try out to resolve your issue, and with which class; See the following examples to get an idea of what is expected. Be as specific as possible with your ideas, and refer explicitly to your current classes, to demonstrate systematic thinking. Example One – here is an example of an AP that is below the expected standard: ‘I will start recycling vocabulary more often.’ Example Two – here is an example of an AP that would be more helpful: ‘I will use ‘Backs to the Board’ with my Stage 4 class to make recycling vocabulary more engaging and communicative, and to gauge the learners' accuracy of oral production of targeted lexis from the previous phase or lesson. For me, this is useful because I do not recycle vocabulary very often and often don't know how well the students can reproduce what was learnt in a prior lesson, in terms of accuracy of meaning or pronunciation. This doesn't usually come out with dry matching activities or gap fills that I set as checks for homework. This game gives students a chance to describe the lexis and listen to each other in a fun game, so it integrates oral skills with the language review.’ Ideas for action plans can, of course, be taken from any other source: colleagues may suggest specific activities in staffroom conversation; you may get ideas from web research, peer observation, or reading; a manager may give you a solution in feedback to observation.

Phase 3: Evaluation Now, try the idea out in class. In this phase, you log your thoughts after you tried the idea out with your class. Did it help? Think about what was good and/or bad about it: are their solutions or extensions? Have you been fair and balanced? Let's look again at some examples: Example One – these are reviews of an AP that do not assist understanding: ‘When I tried the game, it got very noisy. I don't know if was useful or not.’ 'The game was really good and did exactly what I needed. I'll use it again!' Example Two – here is a review that better exemplifies a higher standard of reflection: ‘I used ‘Backs to the Board’ with my Stage 4 class last Monday - a fun way to start the week and review previous lexis. It got very noisy with several teams shouting at once. This made it hard to identify who knew the vocabulary and who didn't. It was definitely communicative, and everyone enjoyed it - lots of oral production and a fun way into reviewing target lexis. However, I need to find a way to differentiate a bit more, so that the stronger students aren't dominating and shouting loudest. This could be done by grouping learners differently, giving clue cards to less able students, or getting teams to take turns - with easier words for the less advanced to describe. Nevertheless, I will definitely use it again, because there was a lot of speaking - I just need to guide the production better.’ Once you have evaluated this attempt to resolve one of your issues, reflect on whether you are satisfied with the result. Ask yourself these questions to help: Do you now feel comfortable with this area of your teaching? Are your students noticeably more engaged or responsive through this activity? Did you get better feedback from a peer or manager? If the answer to such questions is 'not yet', then you may want to source another potential solution and try again to resolve the issue at hand. If the answer is 'yes', though, then you can move on to think of another you want to resolve. The practice is therefore cyclical and continuing.

SAMPLE OF REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Teachers are not required to use any compulsory template for their reflective journal and development plan. Below are two among various samples that have been used at Vinschool for your reference.

• Reflective Professional Development Action Plan template (which to be made throughout the school year, after each lesson, each unit or a particular instructional phase)
• Individual Development Plan (IDP) (which to be made at the beginning of the school year and reviewed periodically by teachers and heads of departments)