Last week I had a discussion with a student about reflective
teaching. She was concerned about our course and shared some of her worries.
Since they will be blogging about their experiences in my class, I asked that
she blog about her concerns, which will be the first assignment. I want them to
write about their expectations and concerns and also come up with 3 goals for
themselves.
We also discussed how important reflective teaching is and
I’m so glad this student gets it! I think reflecting on our teaching is one of
the most important things that we can do. I think we tend to do this
unconsciously but I think it is important to make a conscious effort to do
this.
I know that when I started teaching more than 30 years ago,
I started keeping a daily journal during my first year of teaching. I jotted
down each day a little paragraph about each of my students. It was so cool to
see how much they had changed by the end of the year. I think we do a lot of
the same things I did years ago but now the techniques are labeled with fancy
names. I wish that I had kept a journal of my own thoughts then also and kept
up with it over the years. It would have
been great to compare it to my thoughts at the end of my teaching career.
By doing this we can look at what works and what didn’t work
as well as how to make things better. Just because something worked doesn’t
mean that it couldn’t be improved. I also like to see how people see their own
teaching and how they thing they can improve.
I also think the blogging platform is a great way to do this
reflective activity because it lets others comment on your post. Sometimes we
have questions that we can’t answer ourselves and others can offer suggestions.
Sometimes we have concerns that other people can address. If we feel worried,
others are there to give support. And most of all, if we have a victory, there
are others to share in our successes.
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