Individual Reflective Practice

Questions for getting started with Individual Reflective Practice
The longest relationship that you have is with yourself. May as well make the best of it. Becoming more reflective is a way to learn more about who you are as a person and as an educator, what is important to you, how you think, and what you say and do. Choosing reflection supports your desire for excellence and effectiveness in your work. To guide thinking about your reflection capacities and your preferred means of reflection, contemplate the following questions:

Source: York-Barr, J., Sommers, W., Ghere, G., and Montie, J. (2006). Reflective practice to improve schools: An action guide for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Thinking about your own development as an educator, what are you most interested in learning more about? Why does that seem important to you?

What about the considerations of identity, ethics, courage and voice? Which of these seems most important to ponder right now, and why? What thoughts do you have about how you might step into examining such an area of your identity and/or beliefs and values?

As you reflect on your teaching and learning practices with your students, what are your big interests and questions? What parts of the curriculum are the students missing? How can you maximize the learning strengths of all of your students?

What would be the best way to go about addressing these interests and questions? What ways of reflection are best aligned with your learning styles? (e.g. journaling, exercising, reading, mapping)?

How might you create space in your life to reflect and learn on a regular basis?

Are there any additional people you want to include in your process of reflection?