Graded Assignment 3: Essay

Johnneice C. Blyden

EDLM 1002: Foundations of Reflective Practice

University of the West Indies Open Campus

Tyrone M. Brown

16th November 2020

“I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose”.

Kobe Bryant

According to the Oxford dictionary reflection can be defined as serious thought or

consideration or an idea about something, especially one that is written down or expressed.

Reflection and reflective practices are common with in the workplace can have its advantages

and disadvantages. It is my hope that this essay will help the reader understand the ways in

which reflection and reflective practices are used at my institution and if they either promote or

hinder the process of reflection. Some of the ways in which reflective practice is promoted at my

institution are: - The weekly lesson plan evaluations done by teachers, bi monthly staff meetings

and staff professional development. Some of the ways that hinder reflective practice at my

institution are the beliefs and leadership style of the administrator, the division of staff between

teachers and teacher’s aides, teacher isolation and last but not least time.

For the purpose of this essay. I will focus on two areas that promote reflection and two

areas that hinder reflection at my institution. My institution is a small school with an enrollment

of about one hundred and sixty five (165) students with moderate to severe special needs. Most

of the teachers on staff are trained with advance degrees in Special Education. We also have

teachers’ aides that are non-instructional and assist students and teachers in the classroom and

one school administrator.

Weekly lesson plan preparation and evaluations promotes reflective practice at my

institution. As an educator preparing a lesson plan is one of the most important ways in which a

teacher is able to reflect and evaluate teaching methods. After teaching a lesson a teacher is able
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to look back on the lesson and reflect on what could be done better in order to improve student

outcomes. By engaging in this type of reflection or evaluation the teacher is able to tailor the

lessons to the needs of her students for future reference. The teacher would be able to

incorporate the learning styles of the students and know what concepts they would need to spend

more time on. When reflecting the teacher would be able to adapt or change methods or even the

way in which the concepts were taught because the students didn’t grasp the concept. Ways to in

which to continue to promote reflective practices at my institution through weekly lesson plan

writing and evaluation are to encourage journaling. Teachers should be provided a lesson

journal where they are able to jot down and write down their thoughts after each lesson. The

journal should contain leading questions to assist with the reflection.

Staff development through professional development workshops and bi-monthly staff

meetings promotes reflective practice at my institution. Collaboration with others through staff

meetings and other professional development workshops helps teachers to look at other ways to

problem solve, use different mechanisms to attack a problematic situation as well as provide

insights that may not come from direct or self-reflection. One way in which we can continue to

promote reflective practice at my institution is to create a professional learning community

where teachers can collaborate and discuss goals that and instructional practices that improve

student outcomes. We can also establish a mentor program where

Time hinders reflective practice at my institution. The majority of teachers at my

institution would prefer to complete school related activities at school. Some teachers feel that

they do not have the time to do a proper reflection because it is time consuming and as they

would need to be in deep thought. They would always in my opinion find the easy way out

whether it be a lesson plan evaluation, an evaluation of a colleague or their perspectives during a

discussion. From participating in the course I must confess this was something I did. I would

just want to get the evaluation over and done with and a generic response is usually given, either

I agree, I disagree or all the objectives have been met. As a special educator a lot of paper work

in involved. You are no longer just teaching a group a students to achieve one goal, you are now

teaching a group of students to achieve different and individual goals specific to them for each

subject area. These goals have to be data driven. Besides the differentiated lesson plans,

individual educational plans (IEP) for each student, progress monitoring, data analysis, anecdotal

notes, meetings with the IEP teams, consulting with parents. For teachers it can feel that there is

not enough time in the day for reflection or evaluation and this is usually overlooked or not done

correctly. Because of this course I am now aware of how beneficial reflection is in education

especially in a leadership capacity. I would propose to promote reflective practices in my

institution as it relates to time is to add evaluation or reflective time into the teaching schedule.

There would be time allotted for teachers to reflect daily, weekly and by subject. Also, a form

can be created for ease of use with probing questions such as what went well today? What could

be done differently? What do you need assistance with? How can you use this information to

improve? What would you do differently if you have to do it again? Or even a rating scale with

spaces for comments based on whatever area is being evaluated. I feel that these simple steps

would help to mitigate the hindrance of time as a reason not to engage in reflective practices.

The beliefs and leadership style of the administrator hinders reflective practice at my

institution. The administrator at my school is very nonchalant. The administrator rarely

provides feedback weather positive or negative to staff members. Staff members are often

unaware of what their strengths and weaknesses are so they go throughout the year thinking that

they are doing well and then receive a sub-par score for end of year evaluations. When it comes
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to formal observations they are not done as they should be and are always informal. If there is

room for improvement there is never a follow up and modeling or mentoring does not take place

in most cases. If the head of the school is not the best reflective practitioner how can the staff

and teachers be? This is truly a hindrance. When questioned on if she would provide feedback

to a struggling teacher or model she would usually state that it would not make a difference in

the outcome. One way in which we can promote reflective practices at my institution is to build

a culture of reflective practice. Have a workshop on reflective practice where a reflective

practitioner come in and teach the staff what reflective practice is all about. Have the

administrator see how simple it is to implement reflective practices and the benefits to the school

community as a whole, to the staff, and students.

It is my hope that the suggestions that I put forward in this essay can help me help

persons in my institution become more reflective.

References

Borko, H. (2004). Professional Development and Teacher Learning: Mapping the Terrain.
Educational Researcher, 33(8).
http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Journals/Educational_Researcher/
Volume_33_No_8/02_ERv33n8_Borko.pdf
Collaboration as a Reflective Practice for Teachers. (2016, May 18). Retrieved from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/collaboration-as-a-reflective-practice-for-teachers.html.