«Ми не вчимось від досвіду, ми вчимось, коли розмірковуємо над досвідом» (Джон Дьюї)
Вчитель англійської мови
Вчитель англійської мови
REFLECTION AS A MEANS OF TEACHING ART
Personally I am very fond of strawberries and
cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So
when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what
they wanted.
Dale Carnegie
Have you ever seen your
reflection in the mirror? Sure, you have. Does this mirror reflect your qualities as a teacher? Does it show you
your background
and experience, failure and success, strength and
weakness?
When I was making the first steps
in teaching I was continuously reading up for my lessons, holding the lessons,
checking students’ home assignment. And the same routine again and again. There
are teachers who leave the classroom or school and start thinking about other
things. I
am a different kind of a teacher.
When I came
home, I began to
evaluate my every step.
I was still thinking about the lessons I had, about my
learners and their reactions. I was telling myself “You did your job, now you
are free!” but I still couldn’t stop thinking regretting about the things I
shouldn’t have done to make my learners interested and involved into the
lesson. I was full of emotions. Sometimes I felt uneasy and it made me think
even more about what I had done wrong and I was so happy and inspired when I
had done right at the lesson.
Nowadays I have realized a lot of
things I did unconsciously at the beginning of my teaching career. Now I know the exact word which
reveals the secret of constant thinking. It is REFLECTION. Merriam-Webster defines reflection as the production of
an image by a mirror, an often obscure or indirect criticism, a
thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation.
However, my reflection does not mean that I sit in the lotus
position, hypnotically humming meditative chants. Being reflective means to be
active especially when it concerns the teaching and learning process.
Reflection, which is learning
through experience (Moon, 1999), is not a new concept, because people naturally
reflect on their experiences. However, the conscious, deliberate and ordered
process of using reflection as a learning tool in our professional practice is
much more challenging. It is a complex activity that requires the individual to
develop a set of skills required for problem solving (Moon, 1999). Donald Schön, in his research “The Reflective Practitioner”,
developed the term
into “reflective practice” (Schön, 1983). He
introduced the concepts
“reflection-in-action” (thinking on your feet) and “reflection-on-action”
(thinking after the
event).
Gruska, McLeod and Reynolds
describe
reflective practice as a continuous process
rather than a one off event involving, “repeated cycles of examining practice,
adjusting practice and reflecting on it, before you try it again” (Gruska et al
2005). Gibb’s reflective cycle has become a wonderful visual support for me (Gibbs,
1988) which
helps me to structure the way of reflective process.
Bartlett points out that becoming a reflective teacher involves moving beyond a
primary concern with instructional techniques and “how to” questions and asking
“what” and “why” questions that regard instructions and managerial techniques
not as ends in themselves, but as part of broader educational purposes (Bartlett
1990). And I as a teacher also want to be reflective. I realize that it is possible because I have
lesson plans, learners and peers who can give a feedback.
Asking “what and why” gives me a guideline over my way of teaching. In
reflecting on the above kind of questions, I get the opportunity to transform
my everyday classroom routine activities into more productive, motivated and
cooperative educational process. When I am involved into a reflective practice processes
I do not only think, I also evaluate, analyze and review what happened in the
classroom trying to find out new ideas, solve the problems and make changes.
Every lesson I have a great
reflective tool – my lesson plan. There is always a
distance between what is planned and what actually happens when dealing with a class. Whatever I teach at the lesson,
grammar, vocabulary, listening or reading skills, a lesson plan turns into
reflective diary
where I can write my comments or ideas
about the activity I did at the lesson, put exclamatory or question marks which
are the evidence of reflection in action. When I teach the same lesson twice it
is always different, because constant reflection makes me improve the
activities or change the lesson procedure in the way to fulfill the learning
outcome.
After having done the online
course provided by the British Council I have realized that my present reflective
practice was too perfunctory. Answering
the questions What went well? Why? What didn’t go well? Why?, What changes will I
make next time? Why?
was an unusual
and new experience for me. The trick of such written reflection lied in the
following: you
need to write a certain number words required for each rubric. It was a challenge which
really made me think and reflect on the details and things which I had never
noticed before.
At present when I plan the lesson
I do not perceive it as a routine practice or obligatory part of my work. It is
a room for my personal development. This process is the way to gain insights
into my teaching practice and learn from my own experience. With such critical
reflection I have started looking more deeply at my skills, analyzing and evaluating them,
then planning how to explore alternatives, solve problems or make changes.
In fact, even if I know how to
reflect on my performance, I still have a room for development as the process
of teaching and learning is two sides –a teacher and a learner. My learners help me to plan the
lesson as well.
I have never thought before that
learners’ feedback would become such a helpful reflective tool for me. Students
like doing questionnaires especially when they are anonymous. I ask them to
write what they liked/did not like about the lesson as well as suggest what can
be done differently. This way they are not afraid to say what they think. This
first feedback from my students became the evidence for me: “The changes are
needed!” Step by step building the atmosphere of trust I make my learners aware of the idea that they are
the part of the learning process. They are what we do; they are
the center of our classroom, not us. However, as a teacher, I am the most
impactful single person in the classroom. Honest feedback from my students will help me level up.
Every lesson feedback allows
improving the next lesson but it does not always give the opportunity to
reflect on the whole picture of students’ learning during the semester or a
year. Giving the survey form where there are rubrics such as: “Things I learnt this
year…”, “Things which were difficult/ easy/interesting/boring… “Things I loved doing
this year…”, “Things I want to do next year…” helps me analyze the knowledge
of the students, their interest in English, their alternative about the lessons they had during
the year. It also helps me organize the next year
educational process better taking students’ suggestions into consideration.
I was not sure if it would work
with young learners. Now I can say I would. It works. It is really important
for a primary school teacher to hear the voice of young learners. They are
open, sincere and emotional. So, it is a necessary thing to meet their
expectations first. I try to use a variety of activities which help me to
understand what I do right or wrong (questionnaires, surveys, different
feedback forms, discussions etc).
Sometimes I can get an unexpected
feedback. The bright example is the recent lesson I had with the 4th
formers. The
students were practicing the use of the Gerund with the verbs like/love /hate. And as it was a lesson of
English I asked my learners “What do you like/love/hate doing at the lessons of
English?”
They told me that they love playing games, watching videos, learning new
information. Well, and there were also the answers about that it is boring to
write dictations and learning grammar rules. So, my brain started working how
to make writing dictations exciting, giving my students an opportunity to
become the creators of the lesson and why it is important for them to be aware
of writing dictations as I like when
my students learn without recognizing the fact that they learn.
From time to time I laugh after
getting my students’ feedback or I want to cry, and sometimes … I'm mortified.
However, I can sincerely say that every single piece of feedback I've received
has made me a reflective
teacher. And
great teachers are never afraid of having or inviting such tools. This is one
of best practices that
have helped me to be a better, more excited reflective teacher every year.
Now I know for sure that if I am
a reflective
teacher, my students become reflective learner. Our cooperativeness becomes a
driving force for ongoing reflection foe me and for them.
The use of physiological quizzes helps my learners think
about
their strength and weakness, what they do, how they do and why they do so many
things at the lesson. For example, starting the topic “Food” with the 9th formers last year, I decided to
use personality and learning styles quiz “What Kind of Fruit Is
Your Style?”
created by Dr. Linda Karges-Bone. The first reaction was: “Why should we do this?
It is not a lesson of physiology!” Anyway, we started. It was a kind of a listening activity
and with every further question I read and students heard their previous
emotions turned into smiling, thinking, and asking “What is the next
question?”
I did not read the answer for them. I gave the answers to them and just asked to
write if the results were true or not and why. I didn’t tell them that it was a
reflective practice. It was just their learning to look inside themselves, analyze, evaluate and push them
to changes. Their writing reflections were full of grammar and lexical
mistakes; nevertheless those messages revealed the other students ready to
change.
Taking time to reflect is
beneficial to all human beings. Time off work, out of the classroom is an
excellent time to practice
being a
reflective teacher. As Winnie the Pooh says: “Did you ever stop to
think and then forget to start again?” I think he meant that it can be so wonderful to “stop”
that you neglect starting as you were. We need to stop as human beings. If we
don’t stop we can become fatigued and worse we can burn out.
I have realized that reflective
practice has huge benefits in increasing students’ self-awareness, developing
creative thinking skills, and encouraging active engagement into work processes.
I like to remind myself of the
story of two
lumberjacks
trying to chop more wood in a competition. The first was a busybody with a
great work ethic. He chopped until it hurt and then kept right on going limping
to his bunk at night. The second was seen taking regular breaks and meditating.
At the end of the competition, oddly enough the resting lumberjack had cut down
far more trees. When number one asked him how he achieved such an
accomplishment he replied: “I stopped regularly to sharpen my axe.”
The participation in this contest
will give me the opportunity to “sharpen my axe” – to get new experience and
learn more from the other teachers. I would demonstrate and share my ideas
about the importance of reflective practice as a means of continuing
professional development and bringing up reflective learners who are able to
use the
products of their learning in the real world. After the contest I would apply
all the novelties at my school for the other teacher to use.
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