TO ALL EFL PHD ,MA, and Dip ss

1. Reflective Writing

2. Reflection
 A thought process occurring after a
teaching situation
 In a reflection you must show the
assessors HOW you use what you learn
from teaching experiences to inform and
improve your practice in the future
 Do not just describe what you have done

3. Reflective Thinking
 Allows you to make decisions about how
you would approach similar situations in
the future.
 Do something the same way
 Differently
 Not at all
 Overlaps with analysis (WHY?) but not
identical.

4. Analysis Reflection
 Asks WHY the
elements or events
are described as
they are
 Particular kind of
analysis
 Always suggests
self-analysis
 Retrospective
consideration of
one’s practice in
terms of this
assessment.

5. Make Sure
 The subject of the analysis is available to the
reader. For example if you are reflecting on
Betty’s writing sample, provide Betty’s writing
sample for the reader to review.
 Focus of your writing is not on WHAT you have
done but on WHY you would make changes or
improvements.
 Show how you use what you learn from the
teaching situation/students to inform and improve
your future practice.

6. You Need More When Reflecting
 Do not just explain
what happened.
 Do not simply
state a conclusion.
 Do not simply
state that you
observed
fulfillment of your
goals (easy way
out)

7. Interpretation
 Assessors need to be aware of specific
details about why you interpreted the
results of the lesson the way that you did
 You need to explain the interpretation you
make
 Share your sense of WHY it happened
that way
and then reflect
 Your understanding of what should come
next

8. When to Interpret
 “When you are asked what student
performance suggests about your
teaching, you are being asked to
analyze and interpret.”
 Use the evidence of student work to
explain and illustrate your practice
 Use your practice to explain and
provide a context for student work.

9. Ask yourself…
 What did my students know before this
teaching experience?
 What did my students learn because of
this teaching experience?
 What did I know about my students and
their knowledge before this teaching
experience?
 What did I learn about my students and
my practice because of this teaching
experience?
 What would I do differently?

10. Critical Components
 Honesty
 Use concrete evidence to support
your statements of what went
well/not well and the explanation of
why.
 Looks to the future
 Includes ideas about how to improve
what is already there
 Provides a rationale for the new ideas.

11. Refer Back to Goals or the Original Question
When Formally Reflecting
 Check alignment
to overall learning
goals.
 Address all goals
stated.
 Limit goals to
significant goals

12. List of Suggested Reflective Phrases
 After observation….
 The significance of this activity…
 This comment tells me….
 It is important for me to realize…
 In this situation I should have…
 This is significant because…
 Because of this activity I was prompted to…
 I acknowledge that…
 This is an indication of…
 I focused on….because…
 To promote continued thinking I…
 I realized that…
 The intent of my question…
 In the future…
 In retrospect…
 I have since concluded…
 After this activity I found….to be significant
because…