Lesson reflections
After someone has been teaching for more than ten years, you could easily fall into a teaching rut; holding fast to ideas you learnt on your initial teacher training course, pounding out the same lessons not necessarily because of lack of care, but often lack of time. It is not easy to keep being reflective about your teaching, especially if the old and tested ways you have been using seem to be working.
You have most likely built up a great deal of experience, and younger less experienced teachers may be looking to you as to how they improve their teaching. If this is the case, I think it is important to demonstrate that even though you have years of teaching experience you are also open to new ideas and new ways of approaching how you teach your classes.
Keeping a lesson reflection notebook
One of the ways I try to stay reflective is by always have my trusty reflection notebook in my lesson. I jot down the name of the class, and at the end, I write what I feel went well, which students seemed engaged, what activity worked, etc. I remember keeping a teaching diary when I did my initial teacher training and once you start teaching you can easily get out of the habit of continuing this useful tool, unless you are going to be observed.
Why should you reflect on your teaching?
You may only have time to reflect on your teaching once a week depending on how much time you have between lessons, you may think that just thinking about your lessons in your head is enough; “Oh that went badly/well, I ‘ll do this next time/Mary was badly behaved today,” and this is adequate to a point, but it can be easily forgotten. When you have a written record, you are able to look back on it while planning your next lesson and adjust your plan.
If you work in a school in which having a parent meeting is part of the course, having a reflective notebook is very useful when you have to talk about a specific class or student. You don’t only have to reflect on the lesson in your notebook – you could write ideas about what you could do in the future with a class.
Reflecting in lessons takes a long time, doesn’t it?
If you are not sure what you are reflecting on, yes, it could take a while. However, having a set amount of questions that you answer is a way you could speed up the process. For example, you could ask yourself the following lesson reflection questions about your lesson:
Which student stood out today? Who captured by attention and why?
What did not work or could have been more effective? What was missing or needed?
What did not work or could have been more effective?
Who can I ask to help me? When am I going to ask them?
Who can I ask to help me? When am I going to ask them?
What is important for me to do this week, tomorrow to help this class?
Of course, not all the questions may be relevant for you, but once you have got into the habit, it really won’t take that long. You may have many lessons in one week, you could choose just two or three lessons you want to reflect on during the week.
One last cheer for reflection
Reflecting on a lesson will also arm you when you are being observed. You will be able to talk in detail about how you have tried to help students. You will also have a more detailed understanding of your students and how you have developed as a teacher. Reflecting on lessons also gets you into the habit naturally “over delivering” for your classes without you even thinking about it. This will give you as a teacher not only added value to your students, but to your school.
If you are someone who has your eye on a promotion, you will have a clear idea of what you provide during your lessons. As you reflect more on your lessons you will be able to be more honest with yourself as to what you still need to develop as a teacher, despite your years of experience.
by Yolande Deane
I'm Yolande, I have been teaching for around 14 years. I taught in Italy for two years and I am currently teaching young learners in China. I have been teaching in the north-east of China for almost seven years and I am still learning new things about teaching young learners. I love learning Chinese, eating north eastern Chinese food and playing the guitar when I remember!