Main Body
Reflection
“Reflection is deliberate and structured thinking about choices. It is an integral step to improving our practice. Through reflection, we as educators, can look clearly at our struggles and consider options for change.” (Taryn Sanders) Reflection involves looking at student work to determine the efficacy of your instruction. It’s a process of self-observation and self-evaluation. Reflection comes in many forms including:
- written accounts of experiences (journal writing, blogging, self-reporting)
- audio/video recording of teaching to capture the moment-to-moment process of teaching
- collaborating with colleagues
- analyzing student work
- peer observation can provide opportunities for you to view other colleagues in order to expose yourself to different teaching styles and to provide opportunities for critical reflection on your own teaching
Reflecting and Growing in the CPS Lesson Plan
The most successful, highly effective teachers are reflective practitioners. Following the teaching of your planned lesson, you will reflect upon your instruction and experience. You will do so with the educator who observed your lesson (Supervising Practitioner, Field Placement Faculty, or a member of the CPS Faculty). This is an extremely valuable opportunity in which to receive constructive feedback that, if acted upon, will positively impact the planning and execution of your future instruction.
At CPS’s Center for Educator Preparation we strongly recommend that you to video tape yourself as you instruct students. This provides powerful insight into your teaching practices and habits. It allows you to observe everything from your body language to your verbal language as well as interactions with students. It enables you to monitor your effective implementation of professional instructional practice. As a result of reflection you are able to identify an area for growth in future lessons.
You are additionally expected to reflect in writing following your observed teaching, referring to effective documented evidence of your students’ progress in planning the next steps in your students’ learning. You’ll reflect upon the processes used in your instruction and the classroom environment. You’ll note what went well and determine an area of your teaching to focus upon in the future (Professional Responsibility).
CPS’s Aligned Lesson plan Section
CPSs Aligned LOFT Evaluation Criteria and Annotations – in process of being updated
CEP Student Examples :
| Overall, I was happy with the lesson even after the rocky start. Pauses in the lesson and interruptions due to behaviors interfered with the pacing but improved the classroom climate to allow for learning to happen.
The transition between the cut and paste activity and the peer poster activity was slow. For the next lesson, I will ensure that materials for all activities are in place prior to the start of the lesson to keep the flow going. Dealing with behaviors reduced the time that students had