Reflective Practice in Teaching
Reflective Practice in the context of teaching ESOL
Reflective practice engages practitioners in a continuous cycle of self-observation and self-evaluation in order to understand their own actions and the reactions they prompt in themselves and in learners (Brookfield, 1995; Thiel, 1999). Reflective practice is considered as an evolving concept which views learning as “an active process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice.” (Reid, B 1993 cited in Garfat, T. 2005).
In my opinion, implementing reflective practice approach to professional development in order to expand our knowledge is a challenge. This challenge involves teacher’s ability to “reflect on his or her practice” in order to “bring about change and improvement”, especially in the ESOL context that is represented by variety of learner groups, curricula, available resources, and amount and type of teacher preparation (Schellekens, 2007, p.199).
To me, nowadays, teaching students to meet their requirements does not only involve the effective and professional use of methodology, training and concept alone. I think that it is all about the ability of integrating both theory and practice with highly exploratory process of reflective practice.
I consider reflective practice as a reflective professional development tool, which I treat merely as a personal low-tech way of incorporating reflective practice in day-to-day classroom teaching in order to make my class more effective. Developing own reflective or critical thinking skills should engage various aspects of teaching, such as preparation process, receiving feedback form the learners, self-evaluation process, feedback or criticism from the colleagues, statistical data, teacher’s diary, training/development and own teaching experience.
According to The Institute for Learning’s policy statement on professional formation, reflective practice is a professional
Reflective practice engages practitioners in a continuous cycle of self-observation and self-evaluation in order to understand their own actions and the reactions they prompt in themselves and in learners (Brookfield, 1995; Thiel, 1999). Reflective practice is considered as an evolving concept which views learning as “an active process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice.” (Reid, B 1993 cited in Garfat, T. 2005).
In my opinion, implementing reflective practice approach to professional development in order to expand our knowledge is a challenge. This challenge involves teacher’s ability to “reflect on his or her practice” in order to “bring about change and improvement”, especially in the ESOL context that is represented by variety of learner groups, curricula, available resources, and amount and type of teacher preparation (Schellekens, 2007, p.199).
To me, nowadays, teaching students to meet their requirements does not only involve the effective and professional use of methodology, training and concept alone. I think that it is all about the ability of integrating both theory and practice with highly exploratory process of reflective practice.
I consider reflective practice as a reflective professional development tool, which I treat merely as a personal low-tech way of incorporating reflective practice in day-to-day classroom teaching in order to make my class more effective. Developing own reflective or critical thinking skills should engage various aspects of teaching, such as preparation process, receiving feedback form the learners, self-evaluation process, feedback or criticism from the colleagues, statistical data, teacher’s diary, training/development and own teaching experience.
According to The Institute for Learning’s policy statement on professional formation, reflective practice is a professional
References: American Medical Association (AMA). (2009). American Medical Association. Retrieved from www.ama-assn.org Association of American Educators (AAE). (2009). Association of American Educators. Retrieved from www.aaeteachers.org Public Relations Society of America. (2000). Public Relations of America. Retrieved from http://www.prsa.org Public Relations Society of America. (2000). Public Relations of America member code of ethics. Retrieved from http://www.prsa.org Urbany, J.E., Reynolds, T.J., & Phillips, J.M. (2008). How to make values count in everyday decisions. MIT Sloan Management Review, summer (2008), 75-80. Retrieved from www.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/delivery?vid=6&hid=113&sid...