Reflective practice is an approach to
teaching that involves critical evaluation of your actions, to better
understand your strengths and areas for development as a teacher.
In other words, you look back at what
you’ve done, consider carefully whether it worked or not, and if so, why. This
helps you to pinpoint and develop successful practices, as well as identifying
your professional development needs and finding solutions for problems.
You may be familiar with Kolb’s
experiential learning cycle – reflective practice is based on this:
1. You have an experience
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e.g. you teach a lesson
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2. You reflect on the experience
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You think about what went well, or not so well
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3. You critically analyse the experience
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You identify what it was that made the lesson go
well or not so well – the activity? Your
instructions? Your knowledge of the subject/topic? Etc.
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4. You plan future actions based on what you have
learnt
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e.g. you try the same speaking activity with another
class because it worked well, or you research language so that you know the
language point better for next time, etc.
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Most teachers reflect mainly on lessons,
but you could reflect on other things too: a course, an interaction with a
learner/parent/co-worker, an interview or conference presentation, for example.
Ways to reflect
- Keep a learning
diary of what went well or not so well in a lesson
- Ask
your learners for feedback on a lesson or activity
- Make
notes in your coursebook after each lesson
- Talk
through your lessons with another teacher
- Ask a
colleague to sit in and observe your lesson
- Record
yourself teaching (and then watch it!)
- Use an
online journal to keep your reflective practices in one place - notes,
videos, documents, links
