Lecture 1
9 week course
Tutorial teacher Katie McCarthy
Textbook Killen, R. (2014). Effective teaching strategies. Cengage Learning Australia.
Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au
Reccomended reading: Churchill, R. et al. (2019). Teaching: Making a difference. Milton, Qld:
John Wiley & Sons. – e copy available in libraby
Reflective Teaching
Reflective teachers are:
Teachers who have the skills and dispositions to continually inquire into their own
teaching practise and into the contexts in which their teaching is embedded, so that
they can improve their teaching and their students learning
Why should teachers reflect?
So that we can do a better job of helping our students to learn.
We do this by:
focusing on intellectual quality in learning
creating quality learning environments
making learning meaningful and important to students.
Remember
Your beliefs about teaching and learning will drive the way you teach.
By making your beliefs explicit and questioning them, you can improve your
teaching.
When should reflection occur?
Levels of Reflection
1. Technical
2. Practical
3. Critical
Technical Reflection is
Application of research-based knowledge to achieve predetermined outcomes
- What should work for me in the classroom (based on research done
by others)?
- What did work for me (based on my own observations)?
Typical questions to ask
- What is the best way to explain . . . ?
- Which students should benefit from . . . ?
- How did students respond when I . . . ?
- Did . . . engage students in higher-order thinking?
Practical Reflection is
Concern for goals, assumptions, beliefs and values
- What am I trying to achieve and why?
Typical questions
- What do I think is important in my classroom?
- Why do I value . . . ?
- Why do I believe that . . . ?
- Why is . . . relevant?
Critical Reflection is
Concern of social, moral, ethical and political issues related to teaching.
- Whose interests are being served by what I do?
Typical questions to ask
- Who has decided what I should emphasise in my teaching? Why?
- Is my main concern about student learning or about control?
- Do I acknowledge and value the students’ views?
Reflective Teachers
accept that what they do determines whether or not students learn
continually strive to understand how their teaching influences their students’
learning.
continually monitor, evaluate and revise their teaching practices
try to find reasons for the things that happen in their classroom
are willing to try different approaches to teaching.
share their teaching experiences with other teachers
use feedback from their students to improve their teaching
learn from both their positive and negative teaching experiences.
Strategies for Reflection
• Reflective journal writing
• Direct feedback from students
• Audio/video recordings of lessons
• Reflective partnerships with other teachers / colleagues
• Annotations on planning documents
Tutorial
Hattie 2012
● “ What teachers should be looking at when they reflect is the effects, they are having
on Student Learning “
To Summarise
● Good teachers are made not born
● The making of a teacher is a complex process
● Reflection is a critical part of the process
● Reflection should focus on understanding & improving teaching and needs to be a
routine part of a teacher's life
● Reflection is a form of enquiry through which teachers question their actions, the
contexts in which they teach & all the influences on those actions and contexts.
● Reflection is an important tool for helping teachers through a learning process from
novice to expert
● We should be constantly asking
“ How does my teaching influence student learning?” Hattie ( 2012 )
