Asking the Hard Questions: Survey of Reflective Practice


Survey of Reflective Practice

Being able to self-assess is an important skill to have as an educator.  The idea of reflective practice is a theory I have heard of within my twelve years of teaching. However, the idea of reflecting-in action and reflecting-on action were two areas that stood out from the reading (Tannebaum, Hall, & Deaton, 2013).  The idea of reflecting-in and reflecting-on would really apply well to the visual art classes that I teach and having students make the connection to their work.  Taking what students have created and really reflecting on it not only helps them improve as artists but will help me as a teacher.  The purpose of this journal blog is to review my personal assessment of reflective practice and discuss the indicators I will be focusing on, as well as looking at the goals I want to achieve within the indicators.

Personal Assessment

After completing the Survey of Reflective Practice: A Tool for Assessing Development as a Reflective Practitioner, I found there are several areas that I have done well with and others I can improve.  The survey has some good areas to reflect on that I have not seen before. I like how it is broken down into different levels.  This helps with knowing what reflecting skill I need to improve on.  Some of the wording confused me at first, which would be something I would change to help clear up any confusion. However, after reading the questions a few times, I was able to figure it out. Overall the assessment helped me see where I can improve within my reflective process and the areas that I am reflecting well within.   
Where am I?

The level that I have the most frequent tallies was the pedagogical reflection. This area doesn’t surprise me, because a majority of the training I have received within my district has been on the pedagogical theory; focusing on how to teach students to reflect and how teachers are the driving force when students are learning how to self-reflect.  The area that I have the most sometimes tallies is the surface reflection.  This reflection area I only had one frequently tally; making adjustments based on past experiences.  This data was interesting to me.  Almost all the other tallies were in the sometimes column.  I believe this is because it hasn’t been a focus within my training and I have never had to complete reflections within this indicator.  The level with the most infrequently tallies was pre-reflection. I’m not sure if that is because I didn’t understand some of the questions, or if being infrequently within this category is a good thing.  I believe that I consider different needs for learners and don’t see myself as a victim of circumstances.  So being infrequent within this reflective area is a good thing from my standpoint.  Within this indicator I did find that I do question things around me and really want to understand what is being taught.

Indicators to Focus On

The three indicators I have chosen to focus on are, first, provide some differentiated instruction to address students’ individual differences (Larrivee, 2008).  I feel that I do this naturally within my classroom, but I would like to have some strategies and ideas on how to differentiate learning for these students better.  This indicator is important because I have a lot of students that are on IEP’s and 504’s, as well as other students who don’t qualify but could be on a plan to help them academically.  Currently I am at a sometimes, but feel I could make a more conscious decision about differentiating instructions for students.    

The second indicator is from the practice indicators and it is: considers students perspectives in decision making (Larrivee, 2008).   Currently, we are having a huge push for students to take responsibility for their own learning and having students be part of what is being taught.  Currently I do this sometimes, but know I have lots of opportunities for students to do this within my classroom.  In addition to considering how students are making decisions and what decisions they are making related to their work would help me not only understand them but help them academically.

The last indicator is from the critical reflection category and it is: encourage socially responsible action in their students (Larrivee, 2008).  My current level is infrequently to sometimes.  Teaching this generation to be socially responsible for their actions is now more important than ever and I want to find ways to incorporate this into the curriculum.  As educators, we can not expect students to just understand what this means, but they need to be shown and taught what it looks like and how to accomplish it.
Actions to Achieve my Goals

When you become aware of reflective practice and self-reflection you seem to focus your teaching on it.  Within my first year of teaching, I had a very good mentor teacher that taught me to self-reflect and what to do with my thoughts.  This idea of critical thinking leads to reflective practice and self-reflection (Tannebaum, Hall, & Deaton, 2013).  My first step would be to think about self-reflection and what needs to be done.  The next step is reading and refreshing my memory about how to reflect on teaching.  If I am not constantly trying to learn about self-reflection, I won’t progress with my goal.  I need to focus on what I want to get out of reflective practice and work towards that goal. Reflective practice takes time, the third thing I would do is work on “scaffold critical thinking” (Tannebaum, Hall, & Deaton, 2013).  Building my knowledge little by little and focusing on different areas to think about my self-reflection will help this skill grow and not fall apart.  Lastly, I would teach this to my students, having the students be able to actively reflect and critically think about their learning will help them in the schooling to come.  Dewey presented some great research on the impact reflective thoughts and reflection have on people.  He discusses the five states of reflective practitioners.  These states are 1) perplexity, confusion, or doubt, 2) conjectural anticipation or tentative interpretation, 3) careful survey of attainable considerations, 4) consequent elaboration on the tentative hypothesis and how to make it more consistent, and 5) taking the idea and projected hypothesis as a plan of action to the problem (Tannebaum, Hall, & Deaton, 2013).  The five items could help solve problems that students are having and help students develop their own self-reflection.  In addition, it gives a way for educators to help guide them through self-reflection.

Conclusion
        After completing the assessment and reading I have found several areas that I would like to look more into.  The skills of reflective practice will take time and effort, but applying the ideas of critical thinking will help develop myself as a stronger teacher and make it so I can better educate the students within my classes.
    


References

Larrivee, B. (2008). Development of a tool to assess teachers' level of reflective practice. Reflective Practice, 9(3), 341-360, DOI: 10.1080/14623940802207451
Tannebaum, R. P., Hall, A. H., & Deaton, C. M. (2013). The development of reflective practice in American education. American Educational History Journal 40(2) p241-259.
http://www.infoagepub.com/products/American-Educational-History-Journal-Vol40-1-2 

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