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Blogging as a Tool for Reflection and Learning

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Blogging as a Tool for Reflection and Learning

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The Gut Level Teacher Reflection from Cult of Pedagogy blog

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The Gut Level Teacher Reflection from Cult of Pedagogy blog

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1. Look around your classroom (or picture it in your mind). What parts of the room make you feel tense, anxious, or exhausted? What parts make you feel calm, happy or proud?

2. Open up your plan book and just start browsing, paying attention to how you're feeling as your eyes meet certain events. What days and weeks give you a lift when you see them, a feeling of pride or satisfaction? Which ones make you feel disappointed, irritated or embarrassed?

3. Take a look at your student roster. What do you feel when you look at each name? Which names make you feel relaxed, satisfied and proud, which ones make your chest tighten with regret, and which ones make your stomach tense?

4. Mentally travel from classroom to classroom, picturing each teacher in the building. What are your feelings as you approach each one? Which co-workers give you a generally positive feeling, which ones are neutral, and which ones make you feel nervous, angry, or annoyed?

5. Look at the professional practice “buzzwords” in the left-hand column. As you read each one, do you have a positive, negative, or mixed feeling? Two blank spaces have been left for you to add your own “buzzwords” or terms that have impacted your work.

from http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/

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teachhub

The questions that will get you started in your personal reflection are…
1)    Did I accomplish what I wanted to today?

2)    Was I adequately prepared today to ensure maximum learning/understanding/effectiveness?

3)    What have I done well and what made it so effective?

4)    What can I do better and what do I need to do to accomplish that?

5)    What was the most important information/skill that I wanted my students to learn today, this week and is there credible evidence that they learned it?

6)    What did I learn from my students today, this week?

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from Amplify podcast by Mutharis and Ziemke

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from Amplify podcast by Mutharis and Ziemke

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Could call my project something with Chief Learner in it, if it needs a title, ala Don Graves’ notion that teachers are the chief learners in the classroom.  (just learned how to insert links into text body, and how to bold)

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...even if I don't teach PE

A pro of something like this is that it could cover each subject (might be too long) or am/pm.

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End your day with "I Wonder"
W.  - Wow factor: what went well? Start positive.
O. - Oh, No! Be honest. Anything happen you weren't prepared for?
N.  - Next Time. Turn oh no into Oh Yes! How can I fix, improve, anticipate or adjust?
D. - Discuss - reach out to your tribe
E. - Explore. How did the day fit into the bigger picture of your teaching? Notice any patterns?
R. - Record all this. How will you do it?
Quick Video Description

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TEN REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK AT THE END OF CLASS

1. Reflect on your thinking, learning, and work today. What were you most proud of?

2. Where did you encounter struggle today, and what did you do to deal with it?

3. What about your thinking, learning, or work today brought you the most satisfaction? Why?

4. What is frustrating you? How do you plan to deal with that frustration?

5. What lessons were learned from failure today?

6. Where did you meet success, and who might benefit most from what you’ve learned along the way? How can you share this with them?

7. What are your next steps? Which of those steps will come easiest? Where will the terrain become rocky? What can you do now to navigate the road ahead with the most success?

8. What made you curious today?

9. How did I help you today? How did I hinder you? What can I do tomorrow to help you more?

10. How did you help the class today? How did you hinder the class today? What can you do tomorrow to help other learners more?

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How deep is your commitment to reflective practice?

Do you maintain a reflective journal? Do you blog? Do you capture and archive your reflections in a different space?

Do you consistently reserve a bit of time for your own reflective work? Do you help the learners you serve do the same?

I began creating dedicated time and space for reflection toward the end of my classroom teaching career, and the practice has followed me through my work at the WNY Young Writer's Studio. I've found that it can take very little time and yet, the return on our investment has always been significant.

Reflection makes all of us self-aware. It challenges us to think deeply about how we learn and why and why not.

Reflection deepens ownership. When we reflect, we become sensitive to the personal connection that exists between ourselves, our learning, and our work. The more we consider these connections, the deeper they seem to become. Reflection makes things matter more.

Reflection helps us get comfortable with uncomfortable. It also helps us fail forward. It's through reflection that we've discovered our greatest power as a writing community: our collective expertise and our willingness to encourage and celebrate risk-taking.

Reflection helps us know ourselves better. It helps us sharpen our vision, so we can align our actions to it. Reflection also helps us notice when we're getting off track.

Perhaps most importantly, reflection helps us advocate for ourselves and support others. Taking the time to reflect enables us to identify what we want, what we need, and what we must do to help ourselves. It also helps us realize how our gifts and strengths might be used in service to others.

I find that often, we struggle to find time to support reflective practice. Deadlines drive instruction far too much than they should, forcing learners and teachers to value perfection, products, and grades more than the development of softer and perhaps, more significant skills. Devoting a few moments at the end of class can make a real difference though, particularly when you pitch a few powerful prompts at learners. These are the ten questions that elicit the most powerful responses from the students I work with.

Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class

1. Reflect on your thinking, learning, and work today. What were you most proud of?

2. Where did you encounter struggle today, and what did you do to deal with it?

3. What about your thinking, learning, or work today brought you the most satisfaction? Why?

4. What is frustrating you? How do you plan to deal with that frustration?

5. What lessons were learned from failure today?

6. Where did you meet success, and who might benefit most from what you've learned along the way? How can you share this with them?

7. What are your next steps? Which of those steps will come easiest? Where will the terrain become rocky? What can you do now to navigate the road ahead with the most success?

8. What made you curious today?

9. How did I help you today? How did I hinder you? What can I do tomorrow to help you more?

10. How did you help the class today? How did you hinder the class today? What can you do tomorrow to help other learners more?

The learners I serve typically capture these reflections in a special section of their notebooks. These entries grow in number over the course of time, and eventually, they revisit them to prepare for conferences.

The influence that asking reflective questions has on the quality of our conferences is incredible. In fact, I hesitate to confer with kids unless they've had a chance to pursue purposeful reflection first.

Try it yourself. See how it makes a difference for your students. You can find a set of printable reflective prompts here.

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About The Author

angelastockman

A former English teacher, Angela Stockman is the founder of the WNY Young Writer's Studio, a community of writers and teachers of writing in Buffalo, New York. She is also an education consultant with expertise in curriculum design, instructional coaching, and assessment. Read more from Angela at Angelastockman.com.

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Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class

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How deep is your commitment to reflective practice? Do you maintain a reflective journal? Do you blog? Do you capture and archive your reflections in a different space? Do you consistently reserve a bit of time for your own reflective work? Do you help the learners you serve do the same?

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How did my preparation impact this lesson?

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1. Was the instructional objective met? How do I know students learned what was intended?

2. Were the students productively engaged? How do I know?

3. Did I alter my instructional plan as I taught the lesson? Why?

4. What additional assistance, support, and/or resources would have further enhanced this lesson?

5. If I had the opportunity to teach the lesson again to the same group of students, would I do anything differently? What? Why?

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Teacher Tip: Teacher Reflection Questions | Scholastic

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Periodic self-evaluations can help you to decide whether you're teaching as effectively as possible.

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Modeling Reflection – Questions to Ask With Students

1.Was this activity successful….why or why not?

2.If we do this again, what can I do differently to help you learn more?

3.Did this activity help you learn more than others we’ve done? Why?

Classroom Culture – Questions to Ask About Your Rules & Relationships

4.Are the relationships that I have with my students helping or hindering their ability to learn?

6.Was my demeanor and attitude towards my class today effective for student learning?

Curriculum and Instruction – Reflection on Assessment and Grading Practices

14.What evidence do I have my students are learning?

15.What new strategies have I tried lately that might benefit a student I am struggling with?

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A lot of college level teacher training programs talk about the importance of developing a "reflective practitioner" but what exactly does this mean for the classroom teacher? If you haven't yet accepted responsibility for student learning than it doesn't mean much at all. You'll have some success as a teacher and some failures which you'll most certainly blame on any number of factors. If however you believe that all students can learn at a high level and that your performance as a teacher has a direct impact on student learning, than reflection should be an integral part of what you do.

Below you will find a list of 30 Questions Teachers should be regularly asking themselves to ensure they're classroom is as focused on learning as they would like it to be. Feel free to beg, borrow, steal and share however you see fit.

Modeling Reflection - Questions to Ask With Students

1.Was this activity successful....why or why not?

2.If we do this again, what can I do differently to help you learn more?

3.Did this activity help you learn more than others we've done? Why?

Classroom Culture - Questions to Ask About Your Rules & Relationships

4.Are the relationships that I have with my students helping or hindering their ability to learn?

5.Could the problems I have in my classroom be solved by pre-teaching my expectations or developing rules/procedures to deal with these issues?

6.Was my demeanor and attitude towards my class today effective for student learning?

7.Am I excited to go to work today?

8.Are my students excited to come to my class today? (How much does #6 impact #7?)

9.What choices have I given my students lately?

10.Can I explain at least SOMETHING about each of my student's personal lives?

Curriculum and Instruction - Reflection on Assessment and Grading Practices

11.Does my gradebook accurately reflect student learning?

12.Do my assessments really reflect learning, or merely task completion or memorization skills?

13.Why did I REALLY choose this particular lesson to cover this objective?

14.What evidence do I have my students are learning?

15.What new strategies have I tried lately that might benefit a student I am struggling with?

16.In what ways am I challenging students who are clearly being successful in my classroom?

17.What do I do when students aren't learning in my classroom?

18.Which students benefited from this activity?

19.Which students did not benefit from this activity?

Collaboration - Questions to Ask Ourselves About Our Place in a Professional Learning Community

20.In what areas can I still improve professionally?

21.What's stopping me from improving in these areas?

22.In what ways can I support my colleagues in their student's learning?

23.Do my actions as a teacher show my belief that all students can learn at a high level?

24.Do my actions as a teacher show that I take pride in my work?

25.Are the relationships I have with my colleagues conducive to creating a collaborative culture focused on learning?

26.Are the relationships I have with my student's parents conducive to improving learning?

Mental Health - Questions to Help Teachers Maintain a Healthy Outlook

27.What new ideas have I tried in my classroom lately to keep myself energized about teaching?

28.What have I done lately to relieve stress and focus on my own mental health, to ensure I remain an effective teacher?

29.What things am I currently doing that I could realistically make less of a priority in my profession?

30.How much time have I spent with my friends and family in the last two weeks?
All through with this piece? Consider checking out...35 Questions for Student Reflection The Importance of Reflection in Education Using Reflection to Help Students Learn One Way to Handle Defiant Students

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30 Questions For Teacher Reflection - Edunators

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Edunators is a website dedicated to helping teachers overcome the obstacles that prevent them from focusing on learning in the classroom. We take pride in oversimplifying the complex and discussing some of Education's biggest ideas in a more conversational tone.

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What is going well (today)? What isn't going so well?

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How do I implement student voice and choice in my decision making for learning?

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Every educator teaches for different reasons, although there is surely overlap.

Perhaps they want to change the world or help young people grow into good citizens, but at the heart of it, each educator remains in the teaching profession for a variety of reasons that usually has something to do with being a positive change agent.

Early in my career I promised myself that if I ever stopped loving what I do, that I would stop teaching.

No student wants to be taught by a person who is counting down the minutes to retirement and doing so, is a great disservice to the profession; they deserve better.

So here are 5 questions, every educator should ask themselves every day in order to ensure they are in it for the "right" reasons.
5 Questions

1. Am I excited about going to school today? Rather than call my job, work, I look forward to the endless possibility of learning every day. This is not to say there are days where I don't feel well and that bad feelings make it challenging to get up. I am a human being and therefore bad days happen. However, if a bad day turns into many and for whatever reason it becomes a chore instead of a labor of love, it is time for me to seriously consider a shift in my career. Firmly, I believe that to be a highly effective and motivating teacher, we must invest ourselves completely and with a whole and open heart or else it will read on our faces and students will sense our hesitation. This can have a devastating effect on our own abilities to impact our students. Congruency in what we teach is essential and therefore what we say must match what we do.

2. Do I still believe that I can learn new stuff about my content? After 13 years of teaching English and Journalism, I'm still excited to learn new things about my content. To me, learning through my students' experiences and perspectives makes every day full of possibility and learning. This is the journey and it is very exciting. My students offer context that I could have never noticed and in doing so help me to see things differently and together we collaborate to develop new ideas. In addition to this, I can be listening to NPR or watching a movie or listening to music and I'll get a crazy idea that just may change the way we all see something. Since I've developed amazing relationships with my students when I ask them to trust me through my harebrained ideas, they usually go with me on the journey. Sometimes I don't think my ideas all the way through, but the kids always trust me and we learn together. I take risks. They see me model risk taking and sometimes I fail, but that's okay because that creates more opportunity for me to problem solve and grow.

3. Are my students needs at the front of everything I do? Let's face it, I'm not a teacher for me, I'm a teacher for my students. Having had my time as a high school student, it would be incredibly egotistical to make this experience about me. Instead, students are empowered to make important decisions about their learning and it is my job to listen when they speak and adjust accordingly. They know more about themselves than I know and therefore I need to teach them to trust that inner voice. It starts by allowing myself to trust them when they share. All learning in the space is determined by student need gathered in a number of different ways: one on one conversations and conferences, student reflections, self-assessment surveys and observations throughout our class time.

4. How do I implement student voice and choice in my decision making for learning? Students have great ideas and I must be open to hearing them. For example, I can't ask them to share what they think and then shut them down when I don't like what they say. Once empowered, students will rise to a number of occasions you didn't think possible. Step out of the way of student awesomeness and cheer them along being a great supporter and facilitator of their learning. Their ideas matter and therefore should factor in to everything we do in the class. So project choices must be purposefully planned with their feedback, considering the use of technology and interest with those choices. Students are allowed to write on blogs to develop their own voice, taught to use social media, to reflect on projects and to collaborate with each other to affect positive change in our learning space.

5. What risks can I take today that model the growth mindset? I can't expect students to take risks if I don't take them myself. This means often standing up against the system to try to improve their learning experiences. Each risk I take runs the risk of failure, but that is okay. Mistakes are beginning of growth and change can only come once we realize that must try and try again until we grow adequately to succeed. The tenacity and fortitude developed through this process is invaluable in the learning and reflecting cycle, so we must model what we expect.

Each day is a potential for growth, not just as a teacher but as a learner and this must be evident in all that we do. Questions that propel us in this noble profession should not be driven by time off or pensions, but rather the enormous impact we can have to enact change in our world.

How do you inspire positive change through your work in your school? Please share

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5 Questions Educators Must Ask Themselves Daily

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Every educator teaches for different reasons, although there is surely overlap. Perhaps they want to change the world or help young people grow into good citizens, but at the heart of it, each educator remains in the teaching profession for a variety of reasons that usually has something to do with being a positive change agent.