Reflection is something that teachers are asked to do on a regular basis. I believe this to be a crucial aspect of effective teaching and learning. Teachers must be able to reflect critically on their idea (what worked and what didn’t) and use these reflections as a means of informing their future teaching. As teachers reflect on certain aspects of their teaching and lessons, they are continuously improving their educating skills – both to make the experience more useful for the teacher and the students. This reflection can inform practice, challenge belief systems and mould future learning.
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This reflection can occur in multiple channels throughout an educator’s professional experience.
Teachers will always reflect as they progress through stages of the lesson, noticing student involvement, achievement level and other general observations that can be observed by the teacher. Some schools enforce reflective practice in more of a structured way than others. For example, principals and other teachers will observe lessons and offer constructive criticism. This is a very effective means of feedback as teachers can gain an understanding of what they know and do well and things that they develop and improve upon.
Reflection allows us to learn how we can best discover the highest key knowledge and learning, and leads to better overall achievement levels.
The Forever-Learning Teacher 