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Hi Adah and Tina,
This is so relevant to teaching today. Thank you for starting this discussion thread. I created a collection a while back that contains several articles and book chapters on this topic. It is called: Teachers as Researchers & Reflective Educators
Having just returned from an ASTE (Association of Science Teacher Educators), it was marvelous to see so many educators conducting personal research on teaching and learning. I am interested in promoting a culture within my preservice teacher courses that encourages not only the types of reflective teaching that you have both discussed earlier, but also to open up opportunities for my future teachers to engage in active research.
I think some of the formative assessments that we are using in our classrooms would be utilized even more if time were taken to reflect on what went well and what didn't go so well after each lesson/ instructional day. At the very least, 'exit tickets' help a teacher to reflect on his/her students' learning and understanding of the day's topic so that the next day's lesson can be based on information gathered the day before. How are others are using the reflective process to inform their practice and improve their students' learning?
Carolyn

Since I began Flipping my biology classes this year, I have found that watching yourself on video is a fantastic way of starting the self-reflection process. I encourage you to record a lesson or 2 even if you dont want to flip the classroom. Greg Prater

Greg, What a great idea to record yourself and use the video to reflect. I'm been looking into the benefits of flipping classrooms from the students' perspective, but hadn't considered how it can help teachers in self-evaluation. To help me reflect, I've added a reflection section to the bottom of my lesson planning chart. This section gives me some space to jot down a few notes about things that worked, didn't work, questions that came up, student feedback, etc. When I first started teaching, I was sure that I'd remember my lessons from year to year, but in reality, I realized that it's difficult for me to remember the details of lessons. By adding the reflections to my lesson plans, I am able to improve my lessons and refine my presentations from year to year. Maureen

I do not reflect in detail as you do, but would love to eventually incorporate that within my day. I do mentally reflect and review the good and the bad in my head but being able to review the improvements on paper does make the difference! Thanks for the great idea!!!

I am in my student teaching year, and we have been required to do reflections. At first, I was weary about the assignment, but then I realized that the reflections help me learn and grow as an educator. To be honest, I do not reflect on paper every day, but I do at least once a week. I love the idea of spending 30 minutes at the end of the day (before I go home) to reflect in a journal on my teaching and how the day went. I also like the idea of having the students reflect on their learning. I feel this is important not only as a teacher, but as a person. Reflecting on my actions allows me to grow as a person as well as an educator.

I've had several conversations with students about the retake process. All of them have said, that they don't really work at learning anything, because they can always retake a test. They all say, "I take the test, see whats on it...fail it, then go study that stuff enough to pass, and then retake it." Our valedictorian and salutatorian last year refused to take AP chemistry because they knew the teacher wouldn't let them retake tests which meant they might not get an A, and might lower their chance of being the valedictorian, etc. The students work the system and only take classes with teachers that will let them retake. It's just so hard to see the value in it, when so many game the system.

I am also a Student Teacher. After each lesson, we are asked to reflect on how the lesson went. At the beginning of the semester, I would reflect each day and post it into a Word document. I admit I have slacked off and need to begin reflecting again. However, at the end of each school day, I mentally reflect on how the day went. I find successful areas and areas of improvement. Reflecting has allowed me to see how the progress I have made.

I am also a student teacher and we are asked to reflect on a lot of our assignments, but mostly after our lessons where we sit with our advisor after their observation of the lesson. I find it helpful to have someone point out the positives and negatives of my lessons, but as a teacher, I won't have someone there constantly helping me to figure out the wrongs and rights of a lesson. Hopefully I will take everything I have practiced about reflection practices and use it daily to improve my teaching techniques.

I am a student teacher as well. Like my fellow NSTA members said, taking the time to reflect has been really helpful. For student teaching, we write a reflection for every lesson that we teach and sometimes for assignments that we do in our courses as well. At first, it was hard for me. I thought it was tedious and time consuming. However, I quickly realized later that taking the time to reflect really helped me identify my weaknesses and strengths so that I could continue doing what I did well and work on improving what I struggled with. In addition, it also helped me to think about my students' learning styles, learning preferences, which part of the lesson went well/not so well, and etc. I will continue to take time to reflect. I am positively that I will do so mentally daily, but I would really need to try to do it on paper.

The idea of videoing yourself teaching and subsequently watching it is a great idea. It is definitely something I want to do as a student teacher. There are so many involuntary things we may be doing (physically) that come across or are being interpreted by our students in certain ways. Listening to our voice inflection, enthusiasm level, etc are just as important as listening to ourselves dispense content.

I am currently student teaching and in my classroom, my teacher requires the students to write in their journal something they have learned, something they liked about school and why they think they deserve the behavioral card that they earned at the end of the day. The students have to give an example why they deserve the recognition they get at the end of the day. I think it is important for everyone to reflect, but I think it helps the students notice that they make their own decisions and are responsible for their actions, and it helps them be proud of themselves when they do something right.