Mirror, Mirror: Why Self-Reflection Matters

I resolved at the beginning of the school year to post a weekly blog that reviews my classroom activities from the week before. The idea was to share with fellow educators for accountability, and to share with students for input. 

The good news is, nine weeks in and it's still getting posted!

The not-so-good news is that I've heard no feedback from educators or teachers. 

The great news is, I've realized that's really not the point, anyway. 

It's about my own reflections. My own critiques and praises of what I've tried, successes and failures. 

Format

I follow a simple format:  Good, Not-so-good, Bad, Grade, and Goals. Good addresses successes and addresses failures. The stuff that found me taking the easy road or failures I was aware of but students didn't see is on the not-so-good. Grade is determined by strength of good over depth of the other two, with an explanation of why I see it that way. Goals are things I want to do the next week. 

Evolution

When I started, I found myself talking about behind the scenes stuff- planning, scheduling, organization. But those are things that I'm aware of and actively work on anyway. So I shifted the focus to the types of lessons, and the instructional strategies I use. These are things students see and experience, and thus the things I most need to sharpen and evaluate. I've also made the observations shorter- less words on the page because I sort things out in my head. 

Why?

Sure, if you want to start reflection, you should start with "why" you need to do it. But as a speech teacher, I know the last thing you hear is what you most likely remember, so the most important thing goes last. 

Why reflect?  Because EVERYONE can get better. 

Our District, and my campus specifically is taking strong charge at coaching in the classroom because we want our teachers to develop reflection. Just like an athlete watches film to correct the small things that hinder success, teachers need to look at the small things that hinder learning- or keep the students from going a level deeper in their search for knowledge. 

I stumbled on this concept personally when a majority of my students failed a test last year. I tried to see what I did wrong- and I thought, "Why not ask the students what I could do better?"  

Apparently, this is not a normal teacher thought, because when I told others about it, I got looks of awe and lots of "Wow, that's brave"s.  

But I needed that reflection, to ask them and to ask myself the tough questions.

 I want to continue to strengthen my abilities. I need to evaluate what practices and strategies work. If you watch football, and a coach runs the same play three times and each time it fails- you yell at the TV that he's "an idiot because it didn't work the first two times, why would it a third?"

Yet how often do we do the same instructional strategies and lessons and get the same results/complaints?

They may not yell it, but you better believe your students are thinking what you yelled about that coach. 

The Mirror

Self-reflection and feedback from colleagues and students are the mirror we must continually look at to keep ourselves on track. So ask for feedback- "attaboys" and "have you thought about...." are equally important. But if you fear feedback from others, write your thoughts, fears and concerns down somewhere. Ask yourself those questions. A great one is "Would I like this if I was a student in this class?" 

Private reflection is still a great tool for teachers to sharpen their skills. Reflection with a trusted peer is better. When you feel you can, public reflection and freely asking for input is best. A fellow teacher of mine recently said "We get better because of each other."- Molly Sandrers. 

That's what reflection is all about.