Reflective Teaching Training Workshop

1. REFLECTIVE
TEACHING Sumeya Sayid Mohamud

2. CONTENTS
• Definition
• Why do we do what we do?
(Philosophy and pedagogy)
• ‘Ain’t nobody got time for that’
• Theory
• Fundamentals of reflective practice
(Critical Thinking and Analysis &
Models of reflection)
• Self reflection Time
• Practice lesson & Feedback
• Conclusion
• Recommendations
• References

3. DEFINITION
Reflective teaching is a process where:
• teachers think over their teaching practices,
• analyzing how something was taught and
• how the practice might be improved or changed for better
learning outcomes.

4. Teaching Philosophy
• What is your teaching philosophy?
• What informs your practice (pedagogy)?
• Do you think about your beliefs/ assumptions related to teaching?
• How does your classroom practice match up to this?
• Are there any discrepancies? Why?
• If there are, what steps can you take to rectify this?
DISCUSS
1 minute
End

6. DO YOU SELF REFLECT?
Discuss:
Why/ Why not?
Benefits and
Challenges of
reflective practice?
1 minute
End
Feedback

7. WHY DO WE NEED TO REFLECT ON OUR
TEACHING? (DISCUSS)
• Learn about our own practice and what
informs it.
• Improve in our practice.
• Address a problem that you are having in an
area of teaching.

8. ”
“
Ain’t Nobody Got Time For
That!
Busy, over-stretched professionals are likely to find reflective
practice taxing and difficult. Bland, mechanical, routinised and
unthinking ways of doing reflective practice are too often the
result.
(Finlay, 2008)

9. THEORY
The term 'Reflective Practice' derives mainly from the work of Dewey
and Schon.
 According to Dewey (1910), reflective practice refers to
‘the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or
supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that
support it’.
 Being reflective ‘enables us to direct our actions with foresight….
It enables us to know what we are about when we act’.

10. THEORY
Schon (1983) divided reflection into two.
 Reflection in action: refers to quicker thinking and reaction that
occur as you are doing i.e. Students not understanding.
 Reflection on action: is what occurs after class when you consider
the situation again. (And you think more deeply about why the students
didn't understand)

11. THEORY
Critically reflective teaching occurs when as teachers we “identify and
scrutinise the assumptions that undergird” our teaching and the way
we work as teachers ( Brookfield, 1999).
It’s also “a means by which practitioners (i.e teachers) can develop a
greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their
performance, an awareness that creates opportunities for
professional growth and development.”
(Osteman& Kottkamp, 1993)

12. FUNDAMENTALS OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
1) Critical Analysis and Thinking
Critical analysis
Breaking a complex topic
down in order to gain a
better understanding of it.
Critical Thinking:
Questioning our actions and
assumptions. Think about issues
from a variety of perspectives.
What happened:
• Sts previous learning and understanding
• The way you taught the lesson, resources
• The context (time of day, students' mood, your mood, etc.)
• How you assessed their understanding
Why it happened:
• Why was it taught that way?
• What different approaches and strategies
could you use?
• ( must be objective, based on evidence not on
feeling)

13. FUNDAMENTALS OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Why is this important?
They are important so that we can differentiate between descriptive, analytical
and reflective practice.
(so that it’s deep reflection and not superficial)
Problem:
As Ixer (1999) mentioned sometimes it's difficult as teachers to reflect on
why we do things because we react naturally, automatically with
strategies that we've gained over the years so it becomes second nature.
So we never think why and it's difficult to even express why we are doing
it.

14. FUNDAMENTALS OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Solution: As teachers, we need metacognitive awareness: to
understand our thinking and how we think and therefore develop as
learners.
NOTE: It can only lead to learning when it's not surface level
reflection ( routinised, bland and unthinking)’ BUT deeper level (
conscious, self-analysis and metacognition)

16. 2. Models of Reflection
• Theorists have come up with different models, most of them are cyclical as it
involves continual learning.
• They generally look at the role of feelings, evaluate events and link between
what has happened in the past and the future.
I’ll give you one of the most popular models.
In your groups:
1. Put it in order
2. Discuss the pros and cons.
1 minute
End

17. 2. Models of Reflection
Figure 1 Gibb’s reflective cycle (Adapted from Dye, 2011)
Doesn’t address:
assumptions that we have or
challenge them.
the need to look at different
theories and approaches

18. REVISED GIBBS MODEL
1. Experience
What happened?
Feelings & Reaction
2. Evaluation
What was good/ bad about the
lesson?
3. Analysis
Why it happened?
(Assumptions)
4. Conclusion
What else could you have
done?
What have you learnt?
5. Action Plan
What would you do next time?
(Research different theories and
approaches)

20. WHEN YOU THINK OF A
LESSON, WHICH ONE
STANDS OUT?
THE BEST OR THE
WORST?
WHY? ( DISCUSS) End123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930

21. Why didn’t the lesson work?
OR

23. Think about:
A lesson that you taught that was
successful or a disaster.
Reflect and write down your thoughts.
(2 mins)
Feedback: Discuss
1. Your thoughts on your reflection
2. When a lesson is successful or unsuccessful:
Do you reflect on what happened and why?
How do you measure it?
REFLECTION TIME
2 minutes

24. Discuss in your groups: factors that affect the lesson.
• Assumptions?
• Materials?
• Instructions?
• Interactions?
• Grouping?
• Participation?
• Students’ mood?
• Our mood & attitude?
End123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930

25. PRACTICE
1. Lesson plan: By now you should have chosen a concept or skill
to teach.
2. In groups of 3 or 4: teach your lesson
3. Peer evaluation
4. Self evaluation
15 minutes
End

26. FEEDBACK
End
You have 3 minutes to do your
Self Evaluation &
Peer Feedback

27. CONCLUSION:
Reflective practice is part and parcel of career long learning.
Being a reflective teacher requires continual learning:
to adapt to latest developments, changes in pedagogy.
 It requires us to think about our own concepts, values and how they affect
our teaching.
 We have to understand that learning is not a direct result of experience:
but it happens when we take charge of our critical reflection and
carry out steps to learn from it.

28. RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Journals
• Student Feedback
• Peer observation and collaboration
( Discussion, invaluable source)
• Action Research Project (ARP):
theory and practice

30. REFERENCES
Dewey, J. (1910) How we think. London: D.C.Heath.
Finlay, L. ( 2008) Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’ PBPL paper No. 52 .
A discussion paper prepared for PBPL CETL. Retrieved January, 2016 from
http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-
content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Ixer, G (1999) There’s no such thing as reflection. British Journal of Social Work, 29, 513-
527
Schon, D. (1983) The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action, New York:
Basic Books.