Strategies for engaging in reflective teaching practice
Regardless of the reflection model / framework you choose, it is important that your reflections are of high quality. High quality reflection has been characterized by many different scholars. Eyler et al. (1996) organize high-quality reflections using 4 C’s:
- Continuous (ongoing practice that occurs regularly)
- Connected (integrating experience with learning, related to actual assignment and activities)
- Challenging (clarifying values and expectations, encouraging being critical of your own practices)
- Contextualized (larger context of the community and world around, responding to changes)
Some strategies you can use to building reflective teaching practice include:
- Using structured reflection tools (e.g., frameworks)
- Identify moments in teaching that stand out (positive or problematic) and reflect on these explicitly
- Set aside time to do it
- Write regularly about teaching events, challenges, and insights
- Integrating reflection into course evaluations, peer evaluations and tenure / promotion portfolios.
- Use mid‐course evaluation, classroom assessment techniques, anonymous feedback, etc.
- Start small – feedback on an activity could be helpful
- Have colleagues observe your class and then reflect together
- Building a community of reflective practitioners – encourage opportunities to share and engage in discussion on teaching practices.
- Faculty development groups, mentorship programs, or peer groups that meet to share and reflect
Expandable List
Maya has continued her practice of reflecting into the next semester of classes. She has found that when times get busy, it was very easy to skip reflection. However, she tried not to stress too much about it – even if she put a few thoughts down, that’s better than none! The key was spending more time on critical incidents that occurred where she felt she needed to reflect deeper into a situation.
In receiving her course evaluations from last semester, it was helpful to compare her thoughts on an activity with how students experienced it. She has modified some class assignments to better align her desired learning outcomes with student experiences. Maya feels much more confident in her teaching than she did previously.
Maya’s reflective teaching practice has also led her to explore scholarly literature on teaching and learning, an area that is not her area of expertise. She connected with her institutional centre for teaching and learning and was connected to a group of other faculty who wanted to engage in discussions on how to improve their teaching practices. She was also able to share how reflection served her this past semester.
Information Box Group
Questions for your reflection:
What obstacles do you see in your maintaining a reflective teaching practice and writing good quality reflections? How might you overcome those obstacles? What resources exist to support you through this process?
References
Eyler, J., Giles, D.E., & Schmiede, A. (1996). A practitioner’s guide to reflection in service-learning. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.