Reflective Practice

Reflective practice is an important tool for teachers to be able to learn from their own classroom experiences (Lane, McMaster, Adnum, & Cavanagh, 2014). Particularly for pre-service teachers such as myself, it is beneficial to think “about why teachers employ particular strategies” (Alger, 2006, in Lane et al., 2014) in order to evaluate each approach and better understand our role as teachers. Establishing the habit of reflective practice in order to deconstruct the assumptions I bring with me into the classroom (Richards & Lockhart, 1994, in Alger, 2006) will ensure I am less likely to have one ‘default’ teaching style, but rather a nuanced understanding of student needs in order to make appropriate classroom environments.

After watching
During the lesson planning phase, I noticed my lesson was content-heavy for the time allowed and, due to inexperience, decided to speak quickly to balance the situation. I had not considered that this would cause me to move equally quickly through question time, which is needed to assess and ensure student comprehension. According to Tobin and Gallagher (1987) feeling pressure to cover course content in the allotted time- at the possible expense of student comprehension- is common amongst science teachers, and I was no exception. In order to improve after this experience, the ‘WRITT’ method describes using critical bridging to make “decisions about how to behave or act in the future”. Therefore, in future, I should ensure my lesson plans are less content-heavy, and that I emphasise time for building and assessing comprehension, possibly by utilising a handout. More positively, while I will ensure I do not speak or direct the lesson as quickly in future, many of my peers evaluated my voice projection and overall tone as enthusiastic, commending my ability to maintain student engagement and interest, so I will be mindful of utilising tone rather than speed to maintain and control the
doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.08.001

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2016). The Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers. Retrieved 18 March, 2016, from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list?s=1 Alger, C. (2006). ‘What went well, what didn’t go so well’: growth of reflection in pre‐service teachers. Reflective Practice, 7(3), 287-301. doi:10.1080/14623940600837327

Fund, Z., Court, D., & Kramarski, B. (2002). Construction and application of an evaluation tool to assess reflection in teacher training courses. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher
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Killen, R. (2013). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and practice (6th ed.).
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Lane, R., McMaster, H., Adnum, J., & Cavanagh, M. (2014). Quality Reflective Practice in Teacher Education: A Journey towards Shared Understanding. Reflective Practice
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Tobin, K., & Gallagher, J. (1987). What happens in high school science classrooms?. Journal Of
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