Why reflect on learning

The problem here is that the teacher and observer may not agree on what they saw or experienced, causing confusion and conflict. A video also acts as an additional set of eyes to catch disruptive behavior that they may not have spotted at the time. Try IRIS Connect Film Club , a ready-made free CPD programme that provides you with great video examples of real teaching practice and encourages meaningful developmental conversations using a proven reflective model.

How can we get more eyes into the class? John Hattie. Once a teacher has gathered information on their lesson the next step in reflecting on their teaching is to analyse it. But what should they be looking for? Here are some suggested reflection activities. Video brings a new level of depth and awareness to teacher reflection; a firsthand sense of self rather than the hearsay of others, making it a highly effective tool for teacher CPD. Having led the adoption of lesson capture software in a number of settings, I know that these platforms are not for anyone to judge lessons.

I have found filming my lessons a valuable opportunity that provides me with the space I need to more objectively look back at my lessons, away from the hustle and bustle of the lesson itself. It is an opportunity to identify strengths and areas of improvement. IRIS Connect enables teachers to easily video their lessons and capture an objective record of teaching and learning. Using the IRIS Connect mobile app, teachers record their lessons which are automatically uploaded to a web platform.

Once there they can privately view the videos and annotate their teaching practice using time-linked notes and analytical tools. For example, a journal, notebook or form provided by your school or institution. When will I log this? Will your reflections be logged straight after the lesson, during or before the lesson?

How often will you record these reflections? Reviewing understanding your current teaching methods What worked well and how do I know this? Consider what the students really understood and enjoyed about the lesson, and why. How do you know improvements have been made?

What did not work as planned? Consider what the students did not get involved with or find challenging, and why. What could I try next time? How could you adapt the activity? Some practical ideas include introducing a different task, clearer instructions, time-based activities and activities which appeal to different learning styles. Revising adapting your teaching by trying new strategies What will I change or adapt?

This could be a whole task or something specific about a task. Some practical ideas include changing the task from independent work to paired work, adding a scaffold to a challenging task, providing instructions step by step, and making activities time based.

Reworking action plan of how you can put these ideas in place in a practical way How will I put this in place? Consider what will you need to do before and during the lesson to make sure your changes happen. What will the students be doing differently to make sure they make progress? What materials do I need? What things will you need to put your revised ideas into practice? Some practical examples include coloured pens, larger paper, handouts, cut-up activities, specialised equipment.

Reassessing understanding how these new strategies affected learning How successful were the new strategies? Once you have redelivered the lesson, consider how engaged the students were. How well did they understand this time?

What changed? Consider the following areas of potential change: delivery, planning and assessment. Here are some activities to help you to further explore reflective practice. Learning journal What is it? A learning journal is a collection of notes, observations, thoughts and other relevant materials built up over a period of time and recorded together.

What happens? After each lesson you record your thoughts and feelings regarding the lesson. Use the five Rs in the Checklist section to help focus your journal. Lesson evaluations What are they? Evaluations require you to think back on the lesson, assessing its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for development. How do I know? Once you have taught your lesson, record your reflections on the lesson as soon as possible. Observations What are they? Observations are when someone assesses your practice through watching it in action.

These observations should have a very specific focus, for example the quality of questioning or the quality of student-led activities. This focus can then be specific, measured, reflected upon and revised to make sure your students make progress. Once you have set the specific focus or target area, a colleague will watch you deliver the lesson and give feedback on the strengths of your practice or some possible ideas for development.

These observations could also be carried out over a block of lessons to show progression. Student dialogue What is it? This is where you make sure students play an active part in their learning.

Ask a student to keep a learning journal of their lessons. This journal could include what they enjoyed, how they felt in the lesson, what they understood and engaged with, what they still need more help with, what they liked about the lesson and things they thought could have been better.

Shared planning What is it? Shared planning is where you draw on support from colleagues to plan lessons together. The shared-planning process should encourage talking and co-operation. You should draw on support from colleagues to help develop practice and share ideas. Want to know more? Here is a printable list of interesting books, articles and websites on the topics that we have looked at.

Teaching Resources: Reflective Writing Guide—Auburn University Office of University Writing : This fantastic resource succinctly provides instructions for incorporating reflective activities, how to assess them, and provides examples. Reflective Writing in Education—Monash University : An excellent resource that discusses reflection as a whole and how it factors into disciplines outside of writing e.

This source also presents sample assignments that are composed in other disciplines, including trigger warnings when necessary e. Reflective Writing Guide—Dundee and Angus College : Provides an overview of reflection and various methods for incorporating it into your classroom. A Short Guide to Reflective Writing—University of Birmingham : Similar to the other guides as it presents examples for reflective writing and how to include it into the classroom. Scholarship: John Zubizarreta The Learning Portfolio: A Powerful Idea for Significant Learning : This article discusses writing portfolios, or learning portfolios as they are termed in the article, and why reflection is critical to its success.

In addition, the article argues for reflection to be collaborative, consistent, and guided. Kathleen Blake Yancey Reflection in the Writing Classroom : A pivotal piece on reflection and its use within the writing classroom. This work provides several chapters on reflection in various areas, including the classroom, assessment, and reading. For students to understand where they are headed with their learning, teachers should constantly share with them the "big picture" of learning - at the beginning of each unit of work and throughout the progression of the learning.

This enables students to monitor their progress against defined benchmarks or progressions. If possible, progressions of learning for particular areas of learning can be displayed in the classroom. An example could be exemplars of writing at successive curriculum levels , against which students can monitor their achievement. Both student and teacher can construct "where to next" through the use of exemplars , matrices, or progressions.

The more students are involved in the process of identifying next steps, the greater their understanding will be of how to extend their learning.