What Is reflective teaching practice?
Reflective teaching practice involves an intentional process of analyzing one’s teaching practices to improve student learning and professional development as an educator. John Dewey, a renowned philosopher and psychologist in education, defined reflection as “the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (Dewey, 1933, p. 9). Dewey saw reflection as a tool for educators to process their teaching by critically examining their experiences and using their insights to more effectively approach future practice.
Similarly, in another influential text – The Reflective Practitioner – written by Donald Schön (1983), Schön emphasizes that a key competence in educators is reflection and being able to respond during and after each teaching situation. This ability could only be achieved through an active practice of reflection and implementation. Hence, reflection is not simply a one-off activity or moment, but rather an iterative and deliberate process.
In higher education, beyond reflections as a form of learning activity or assessment for learners, reflective writing is often seen in the context of faculty tenure and promotion evaluations. This unfortunately focuses reflection as an output of assessing an educator’s experiences of teaching, rather than utilizing reflection for genuine professional development. An authentic and personalized reflective teaching practice can help educators grow and develop their teaching skills, ultimately improving student learning experiences. This can look like:
- Identifying what you do in your teaching (e.g. teaching practices, interactions, decisions)
- Actively questioning your own teaching assumptions, decisions, and interactions
- Observing and gathering evidence of your teaching (e.g. from your classroom, your students, or peers)
- Analyzing what worked, what didn’t work, and why – not only at a superficial level, but probing deeper to issues of assumptions, values, and / or positionality
- Making changes and experimenting with new approaches
- Refining teaching practices based on feedback and reflection on action
Expandable List
Maya Sterling is in her second year as an Assistant Professor at a university in the Biology Department. She completed her PhD in molecular biology three years ago and was very excited to find a tenure track professorship where she would have the opportunity to do some teaching. She enjoyed being a TA during her graduate studies and developing different innovative ways to engage her students. While she did not have any formal training in education, she received a lot of positive praise about her approaches.
Coming into her professorship, Maya has had to take on two lecture-based introductory courses, each with 150 students, as well as an upper-year seminar with 25 students. She had never taught seminar-style classes before, so she decided to mimic the course structures used by her colleagues in their courses in the department.
During her annual review, Maya received feedback from both students and her department chair. While student evaluations praised her depth of knowledge and enthusiasm, they also revealed challenges:
- Students felt the lecture portions of her classes were “too fast-paced” and sometimes “overwhelming.”
- A number of students reported they were hesitant to ask questions in class.
Her department chair encouraged her to “continue developing a reflective teaching practice” to grow as an educator and document this growth for tenure and promotion. Maya left the meeting puzzled. She had heard the term ‘reflective teaching’ mentioned in faculty workshops but wasn’t entirely sure what it meant or how to implement it. Is it like journaling and keeping a diary?”
References
Dewey, J. [1933] (1986) How We Think, in: J. Boydston (ed.), John Dewey, The Later Works. Essays and How We Think 1925–1953, Vol 8 (Carbondale, IL, Southern Illinois University Press).
Schön, D. (1987). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books.