How has reading about reflective practice affected you, and how has this changed your beliefs about the ways you teach?
After reading about reflective practice my whole style of teaching has been affect to the point I now question everything about my teaching. Before reading on this particular practice I would just prepare a lesson and I really never thought about how the child received it. More importantly I never looked so closely at my teaching or the practice that I used in my classroom.” Reflective practice has an allure that is seductive in nature because it rings true for most people as something useful and informing.” (Loughran) This practice has become so seductive until I now question or second guess everything that I do in my classroom. I no longer take anything for grant, not my teaching style or the student’s ability to learn. I am always seeking to do better if that can be said.
What specific parts of the readings changed, or did not change, the way you think about your teaching?
The parts of the reading that changed the way I think about my teaching is what the author stated on page 44. The text stated, “Reflection help me appreciate links between my practices and see patterns of my behavior.” The text goes on to share the two facts that are gain when you use reflective practitioner skills. “Frist, it pulls you out of autopilot and obliges you to think about what you do.” “Second, you may realize that learned patterns are not the best patterns and feel a deep sense of guilty.” (Larrivee)
How will what you have learned change or not change the way you approach teaching?
The reading has caused me be an educator who want to ensure that I will use the self-fulfilling cycles of academic regulations process in my classroom.
This will allow me to look at the student and my performance consistently and make the needed changes to become a reflective practitioner and at the same time creating students to be cutting edge citizen in whatever future endeavors.
Were you effective in terms of consequences for others and yourself?
In terms of consequences for other I feel like I was least effective because of my evaluation scores on that particular day. The day in question was the day that my Assistant Principal came in and evaluated me. I received two scores of 2 and one score of three, which meant that in the areas where I receive the two, was in consistently using research based strategies and academically challenge assignment. In my seventeen years of teaching I felt that I was a good teacher, therefore I may have been in autopilot mode because I had taken it for granted and that I could do what I normally do and get by. This woke my sense up to be on alert.
What factors influenced your response?
The factors that influenced my response were: (1) The score of below average on my evaluation. (2). My confidence as a teacher.
How were you feeling?
I was not feeling like an effective teacher. I felt like a failure in some respect. I felt like the evaluator was wrong and didn’t know what she was doing because this was her first year as an administrator.
How were others feeling?
The students appear to be feeling happy that they were able to comprehend the information that we had been taught.
How does this situation connect with previous experiences?
This situation connect to previous experiences because after this evaluation it made me go back and look at my entire teaching career and question everything that I had done. This situation also made me go and ask other teacher who had been evaluated by this evaluator to see how she score them. It was to my surprise most of use receive the same type of result from her. It was during the asking about their evaluation I gave them a summary of what I had done. I then ask them what could have I done to make the assignment more challenging. What strategies could have been used to make the assignment what the evaluator wanted to see.
What would be the consequences of alternative actions for the students and yourself?
The student I feel did everything that they were supposed do. The consequence of alternative actions on my part would be to research more academically challenge assignments for the students do. Also an alternative would be to find other academic strategies to incorporate into the lesson.
What Factors might stop you from responding differently?
The factors that might stop me from responding differently if the evaluator changes her feedback that she gave me in reference to the two areas where I score a two based on her perception.
How do you now feel about the situation?
I feel that even if she made a mistake on my evaluation I will forever question everything that I present in my class to my students. I will always question how the students are receiving the information that I am presenting. I will always seek to be a reflective practitioner.
A Thinker 