Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher

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Reflection is a cyclical process: experience, analysis, implement, repeat. You can incorporate the changes into future deliveries, or into the design of new activities. The changes you identify are very rarely so specific that the learnings cannot be applied elsewhere. It’s easy to ignore reflection because we quite often think it takes a long time. And let’s be honest, if you sit down to with the sole intention to reflect, then yes – it might take a bit of time. But keep in mind all of the opportunities you have to undertake some reflection-in-action. Designed as a practical resource, the second edition contains completely revised chapters as well as new chapters on topics that reflect today's teaching environment including information on social media, teaching race and racism, leadership, and critiquing critically reflective teaching.

Brookfield (1995) defined four distinct and interconnecting lenses through which teachers discover, examine and critically reflect on their own assumptions and actions. Bronner, S. E. (2011). Critical Theory: A Very Short Introduction, New York (Oxford University Press) 2011, 144 pp. Racism, whether evident in overt displays or subconscious bias, has repercussions that reverberate far beyond the campus grounds. As the cultural climate increasingly calls out for more research, education, and dialogue on race and racism, this book helps teachers spotlight issues related to race in a way that leads to effective classroom and campus conversation. The book provides guidance on how to:When we become reflective about teaching and learning practice, we strengthen our capacity to learn. We build those all-important metacognitive skills and start to examine the gap between what we know and what we need to learn – the basic principle of how we improve. Sch ö n (1983) took reflective practice a little further and defined two processes: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action . REVISED AND UPDATED, THE LANDMARK RESOURCE AND HANDS-ON GUIDE TO THE ESSENTIAL PRACTICE THAT BUILDS BETTER TEACHERS There’s no restriction on when reflection can happen, and it really doesn’t require any tools other than yourself and your own mind. Having said that, you might want use one of the many models that help you capture reflections. Here’s a couple you may find useful:

Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher is organized into three sections. In the first section Brookfield gives the context for critical reflection by introducing critical theory as the foundation for reflection, defining three different types of assumptions, and discussing power and hegemony. The second, longer section is devoted to explaining the four lenses of critical reflection: students’ eyes, colleagues’ perceptions, personal experience, and theory. For each lens Brookfield provides exercises and strategies that teachers can use to uncover assumptions. The final section includes new chapters where Brookfield discusses the risks of critical reflection, using social media in the reflection process, teaching about race, and applying critical reflection to leadership.NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising. (2017a). NACADA academic advising core competencies model. Retrieved from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Pillars/CoreCompetencies.aspx Uncover each student’s own subconscious bias and the intersectionality that exists even in the most homogenous-appearing classrooms Teaching is a continual process of planning, reflecting and adapting , where you learn from your own teaching experience to refine and develop your practice. Dewey (1938) argued that reflective practice promotes a consideration for why things are as they are and how we might direct our actions and behaviour through careful planning. When we underpin this planning with experience and theory, we become much more impactful. To simplify the point, we do not learn from experience, but from reflecting on experience, and it is these lessons we take forward. Create the conditions that facilitate respectful racial dialogue by building trust and effectively negotiating conflict Learning as a Way of Leading: Lessons from the Struggle for Social Justice, co-authored with Stephen Preskill (2008)