Reflecting on Reflection

Reflection on teaching practice has always been an essential part of good practice. Reflection requires teachers to be more self-aware, to critically reflect on their teaching, and to improve on their pedagogy. But isn't a good teacher always reflecting? Re-assessing assumptions, self evaluating, and adding to ongoing, life-long learning. So is enforced reflection by school management (usually as part of the appraisal process), turning reflection into something else we are expected to do, rather than a process which improves an individual's practice? Dewey referred to reflection as thinking about a situation which arises from "doubt, hesitation, or perplexity". Schon developed these ideas and felt reflection should be the act of reflection rather than the process of writing down what you went through as you reflected. How many times have teachers under pressure of many deadlines, quickly typed up a reflection because it was required rather than really putting thought into an act they need to reflect on? Is this reflection or just more paperwork? As an experienced teacher I find that I constantly reflect on all aspects of my practice - what went well what I need to add/change/delete in a lesson, where to move the lesson to next based on the children's responses. Having to record this process would be quite time - consuming and happens all day, every day. Which one do I record? According to Zeichner and Liston (1996), this form of reflection is "rapid reflection" or "repair", where the teacher makes ongoing or immediate actions or decisions to alter a lesson or behaviour based on student reactions and interactions. "Review", "Research" or "Retheorizing and Reformulation" are more related to the process of a teaching inquiry. I think these are slowly becoming mixed and muddled, but I feel the two are very different processes. A good reflective practictioner means we not only have to reflect on our basic pedagogy, planning or assessment techniques, but also on our relationships with our students, or as Russell Bishop calls this, our cultural responsiveness. I think a good example of this I have seen lately is when I was formulating the list of maths target children this year. This information was based on their 2017 OTJ. It was concerning to see that although the OTJ was based on a variety of tests, assessments, and in-class work and participation that although some children had very similar results, those that were Maori or Pasifika were more likely to have been given an OTJ of below or Well Below. On reflection, the OTJ seems to have been based on a deficit theory and as part of the next steps for the target children, I inserted a goal that teachers had to look at (a) how they were differentiating teaching for Maori and Pasifika children and (b) that PD may be required for teachers on assigning OTJ. This will be very important this year as our school moves away from using National Standards and into assessing against Curriculum Levels. However, this is a reflection - I have put steps in place to monitor what I have found and made suggestions, but it is still merely a reflection. Should this be taken further and an inquiry be put into place, then this would involve a lot more steps and a different approach (for example, hypothesis, readings linked to the topic, a trial of putting something into place, a reflection on how things are going, making changes, additions to plans, etc). I am finding reflection different this year as I am not in a classroom. As Deputy Principal/SENCo, my reflections this year have so far revolved around systems in place, and working smarter and more efficiently in a new position. This week's readings and having to write this blog, now have me reflecting on how I am going to be required to do reflections as part of my appraisal this year. Something I will have to find out about! References: Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. The Open University. Retrieved 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 Bishop, R (2017). Video from Ted Ed on Culturally Responsive Practise #JWrigg #AucklandSouth #Blogpost1