Reflective Practice
"I love to share teaching ideas but there aren't a lot of colleagues who are willing or want to talk about their teaching. I do my best thinking about my teaching when I bounce ideas off others. I'm also really good at stealing ideas. [Reflective practice] allowed me to meet people interested in teaching." - a UNH reflective practice member
The Equity and Excellence Project is committed to supporting the creation of reflective practice groups that will allow college faculty opportunities for professional growth. Faculty members today face dilemmas in attempting to respond to unique and diverse student abilities. Teachers engaged in reflection as part of their on-going practice can impact the classroom and its increasingly complex learning environment.
Reflective Practice has its roots in the work of a number of educational theorists and practitioners, and provides an opportunity for those in education to stop and take a close look at their teaching and student outcomes in order to become more effective practitioners. It is a cognitive process that involves a deliberate pause to examine beliefs, goals, or practices. This deliberate reflection can lead to improved instructional strategies in the college classroom.
Themes common to Reflective Practice:
- Reflection involves slowing down to notice, examine, analyze and inquire about various aspects and complexities of life. It is not a rushed task to check off of a to-do list.
- Reflection involves intention, making active choices to pause and examine. It is not a passive process.
- Reflection involves cognitive processes such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It is not simply memorizing or recalling information.
- Reflection can occur in many different forms and for different functions. There is not just one way to reflect.
- Teaching and reflection should not occur in a vacuum, but must rather consider the context-the "swamp" of the typical teaching experience.
Excerpted from "Reflective Practice" Institute on Community Inclusion, University of Minnesota
What faculty have to say about Reflective Practice:
"My teaching was relatively traditional when I started here three years ago. I didn't have the tools to really engage my students in dialogue. I immediately began to use what I was learning in RP in my classes. I now have the students do the problem-solving rather than me giving them the answers; I also model a willingness to be critiqued as after every lesson I ask students for feedback on the activities we just did." - A nursing professor and reflective practice group member
- 100% of RP participants agreed that they looked forward to attending an RP session.
- 88% of participants agreed that RP has helped to increase their confidence as a teacher
- 94% of participants agreed that RP has helped to improve their teaching skills
- 89% of participants agreed that RP has helped to improve their skills in the area of student assessment and grading
- 95% of participants agreed that RP has been one of the most effective ways for them to reflect upon and improve their teaching
- 89% of participants agreed that most if the ideas and techniques shared at RP meetings could be used with their own students
"I am very protective of my time. I teach many courses, serve on committees, and have many family responsibilities. The hour that I spend in my RP group is one of the most productive of my whole week, After each session I feel invigorated, Not only do I see tangible results in my students' work, but participation in these groups has changed the way I think about my teaching." - a Plymouth State College professor and coach of a reflective practice group
For more information on Reflective Practice, visit that National School Reform Faculty website. The Equity and Excellence project has published A Reflective Practice Toolkit for Coaches, available through the Institute on Disability website.
