Introduction

11/12/2024 Sample Footer Text 2

Reflective Thinking
 Activity
Time: 10 min

1. What happened?
2. What were you thinking and feeling?
3. What was good or bad about the
experience?
4. What sense can you make of the situation?
5. What else could you have done?
6. If it arose again, what would you do?

1
3
 Let’s Evaluate!
• Did you think about an experience?
• Were you conscious about it?
• Did you assess the situation?
• Did you offer an evaluation?

1
4
• Did it affect the way you think?
• Did it affect the way you act?
• Did it affect the way you feel?

Cognitive Psychomotor
Knowledge Kinesthetic, manual or
motor skills

Affective
Attitudes, motivations,
values of the
discipline
1
5
You have just reflected!
 FR

Reflection is a deliberate action in

which the participant consciously
thinks about an experience, assesses
what happened and offers an
evaluation.

17
 FR
• A critical aspect of reflection is that it is
conscious and deliberate.
(Boud, Keogh & Walker, 1996; Brookfield, 1998; Schon, 1998).

• Reflection involves considerations of

thoughts, feelings and actions, recognizing
that learning affects the cognitive, affective
and psychomotor domains. (Bloom, 1956)
• Linking to each of the domains allows for a
more holistic approach to learning which can
result in new skills, knowledge and/or
attitudes, sol idifying connections to
learning outcomes and essential
employability skills. 18
 FR

Educational researchers have long

promoted the importance of reflecting
on practice to support student
learning and staff development.

https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk. 19
 FR

There are many different models of

reflective practice. However, they all
share the same basic aim: to get the
best results from the learning, for
both the teacher and students.
Each model of reflection aims to
unpick learning to make links between
the ‘doing’ and the ‘thinking’.
https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk. 20
What is
Reflective
Practice?
Reflective
Practice
The process of reflection is a cycle
which needs to be repeated.
• Teach
• Self-assess the effect your teaching
has had on learning
• Consider new ways of teaching
which can improve the quality of
learning
• Try these ideas in practice
• Repeat the process
 Reflective Practice
• Reflective practice is ‘learning through and from experience towards gaining
new insights of self and practice’ (Finlay, 2008).
• Reflective practice is usually considered a form of cyclical and systematic inquiry
where teachers carefully collect evidence about their teaching practice in order to
analyze, interpret, and evaluate their experiences with the intention of improving
their future teaching (Farrell, 2016a; Mathew & Peechattu, 2017).
• It is also a meaning-making process that enables teachers to grow (Rodgers,
2002).
• Reflective teachers not only aim at gaining better solutions; they also attempt to
deepen their understanding of themselves as well as how the solutions they have
discovered connect to other experiences and ideas. Indeed, the value of reflective
practice has repeatedly been confirmed (Loughran, 2002; Yalcin Arslan, 2019).
Reflection
Reflection is a systematic reviewing process for all teachers which allows you
to make links from one experience to the next, making sure your students
make maximum progress.

Reflection is a basic part of teaching and learning. It aims to make you more
aware of your own professional knowledge and action by ‘challenging
assumptions of everyday practice and critically evaluating practitioners’ own
responses to practice situations’ (Finlay, 2008).
The reflective process encourages you to work with others as you can share
best practice and draw on others for support. Ultimately, reflection makes
sure all students learn more effectively as learning can be tailored to them.
Listen to these educators discussing what reflective
practice means for them. How do their ideas about
reflective practice compare with yours?
Reflective practice is a key
factor that brings change to two
main areas of Educators.

Teacher Identity

Teacher Quality
 What are the benefits of reflective
practice?
Reflective practice helps create Reflective practice benefits all.
confident teachers

Reflective practice encourages

engagement.

Reflective practice makes sure you Reflective practice encourages

are responsible for yourself and your
students. innovation.
 What are the benefits of reflective
practice?
Reflecting on your teaching will help you to understand how your students best learn and will allow you
to be accountable for their progress. By assessing the strengths and weaknesses in your own teaching,
you will develop an awareness of the factors that control and prevent learning.

The reflection process will also help you to understand yourself and the way you teach. By asking
yourself questions and self-assessing, you will understand what your strengths are and any areas where
development might be needed. Reflecting allows you to understand how you have helped others to
achieve and what this looks like in a practical learning environment.

By asking your students for their thoughts and feelings on the learning, they play an active part in the
learning cycle. This allows them to take ownership of their learning and also work with you and give
feedback, which creates self-aware and responsible students.

Once the student starts to play an active part in the learning cycle, they become more aware of different
learning styles and tasks. They become more aware of how they learn and they develop key skills and
strategies to become lifelong learners.
Reflective practice makes sure you
are responsible for yourself and your
students.
 What are the benefits of reflective
practice?
Reflective practice develops your ability to understand how your students learn and the best ways to
teach them. By reflecting on your teaching, you identify any barriers to learning that your students have.
You then create lessons that reteach any content that your students have not been able to access to
allow them to overcome any obstacles and develop.

Being reflective will also make sure you have a wider range of skills as you find new ways to teach. This
will develop your confidence in the classroom as you find the best ways to deliver your knowledge of a
subject.

By reflecting, you will develop abilities to solve problems. Through questioning and changing the way
you deliver your lessons, you will find new solutions and become more flexible with your teaching. It
allows you to take time to assess and appreciate your own teaching.

Reflective practice also helps create confident students. As a result of reflecting, students are
challenged as they use new methods in the classroom. From reflection, you should encourage your
students to take on new challenges in learning, developing a secure Reflective practice
and confident helpsbase.
knowledge create
confident teachers
What are the benefits of reflective
practice?
Being reflective helps you challenge your own practice as you will
justify decisions and rationalise choices you have made.
It encourages you to develop an understanding of different
perspectives and viewpoints. These viewpoints might be those of
students, focusing on their strengths, preferences and developments,
or those of other colleagues, sharing best practice and different
strategies.

When you become more aware of your students’ preferences and

strengths, learning becomes more tailored to their needs and so they
are more curious and are equipped to explore more deeply.
Reflective practice encourages
engagement.
 What are the benefits of reflective
practice?
Reflective practice allows you to adapt lessons to suit your
classes. You can create and experiment with new ideas and
approaches to your teaching to gain maximum success.
By varying learning and experimenting with new approaches,
students have a richer learning experience. They will think more
creatively, imaginatively, and resourcefully, and be ready to
adapt to new ways and methods of thinking.

Reflective practice encourages

innovation.
What are the benefits of reflective
practice?
By reflecting, you create an environment that centers on the learner. This environment will support
students and teachers all around you to become innovative, confident, engaged, and responsible.

Once you start the reflective process, your quality of teaching and learning will improve. You will take
account of students’ various learning styles and individual needs, and plan new lessons based on these.
Reflection helps focus on the learning process, so learning outcomes and results will improve as you
reflect on how your learners are learning.

By getting involved in the reflective process, you will create an environment of partnership-working as
you question and adapt both your own practice and that of your students and other colleagues. The
learning process then becomes an active one as you are more aware of what you want your students to
achieve, delivering results that can be shared throughout the institution.

By working with other colleagues and students, relationships become positive and demonstrate mutual
respect. Students feel part of the learning cycle and are more self-aware. Colleagues can ‘team up’,
drawing on expertise and support. This will develop the whole institution’s best practices. All of these
things together result in a productive working environment.
Reflective practice benefits all.
 Listen to these educators giving their views on the benefits of
reflective practice. Which of the benefits are most relevant to you
and your colleagues?
 Domains of
Development
According to Benjamin Bloom, there are 6 levels of understanding that
we pass through as our intellect grows. They are remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. He laid
Learning
Pyramid/Co
ne
What is
this?
Activity
T i m e : 15m i n – P a i r W o r
k

1. What happened?
2. What were you thinking and feeling?
3. What was good or bad about the
experience?
4. What sense can you make of the situation?
5. What else could you have done?
6. If it arose again, what would you do?

49
Activity
FR

1. Did you evaluate the given information to

solve the problem?
2. Did you reflect on your answer to get the
right answer?
3. Did you give reason for your final
answer?

50
 Common misconceptions about reflective
practice
• ‘It doesn’t directly impact my teaching if I think about things after I have done them’

Reflection is a cyclical process: do, analyze, adapt, and repeat. The reflections you make will directly
affect the next lesson or block of teaching as you plan to rework and reteach ideas.
Ask yourself:
What did not work?
How can I adapt this idea for next time?
This might mean redesigning a task, changing from group to paired work or reordering the lesson.
 Common misconceptions about reflective
practice
‘Reflection takes too long; I do not have the time’
Reflection can be done on the spot. You should be reflecting on things as they
happen in the classroom.
Ask yourself:
What is working well? How? Why?
What are the students struggling with? Why?
Do the students fully understand my instructions? If not, why not?
Do the students fully understand the task? If not, why not?

Do your students ultimately understand what success looks like in the task or
activity? Can they express this for themselves?
 Common misconceptions about reflective
practice
‘Reflection is only focused on me, it does not directly affect my students’
Reflecting and responding to your reflections will directly affect your students as you change
and adapt your teaching. You will reteach and reassess the lessons you have taught, and this will
allow students the chance to gain new skills and strengthen learning. Creating evaluation
models will help you to know whether the actions you have taken have had the intended effect.

‘Reflection is a negative process’

Reflection is a cyclical process, meaning you grow and adapt. You should plan to draw on your
own strengths and the best practice of colleagues, which you then apply to your own teaching.
Try any of the reflection models listed in this unit to help you progress. By getting involved in a
supportive network everyone will develop.

'Reflection is a solo process, so how will I know I’ve improved?’

Reflection is best carried out when part of a supportive network. You can draw on the support of
colleagues by asking them to observe and give feedback. You can also draw on student
feedback. Reflection should trigger discussion and co-operation.