JOURNALLING+AND+REFLECTION

Colleagues,
 * Journalling and Reflection**

Just a note on some pointers to create notable, reflective journal entries.

The end product of reflection (and it's noting in a journal) is about **__ improved instruction __**. As such your journal entries should be clear about
 * 1) The issue about which you are journaling and its defining characteristics (you need to tell the story so that your reader understands the issue)
 * 2) Why did you decide that this issue was an important one(why was this incident important enough for you to journal on it?)
 * 3) What have you learnt from this issue?
 * 4) What are your recommendations for improved practice?
 * 5) Does the literature say/suppose/recommend anything about each of the steps above? What did it (the literature) say?

For example, please read the handout on “My First Field Day” that was given. What are your thoughts on the piece given the above guidelines?

These are mine –


 * The T could have been clearer about why they decided to use the method (media/powerpoint) **
 * what about the practitioner's own past experience as a S/T prompted such a move?
 * what did the practitioner previously notice about their own Ss to encourage the use of powerpoint?
 * what were the expectations from such a move? e.g. how did the practitioner expect the intervention to change/impact/improve learning and why?
 * what did the literature say about any or all of the above?

There could have been a greater description and analysis of student responses. The teacher speaks about their experience and negates that reflection is primarily about //__ improved instruction __//; and whom does instruction benefit? The student.It is therefore critical to assess, even informally the students responses and feelings to the intervention.
 * The T could have included more about student responses **

After clearly describing how T's practice (both the how and why you do things) had been impacted, T could have given practical, everyday suggestions about how he/she planned to improve upon specific challenges of this class - Now that the T is aware of the challenges, what would you do differently if you had to re-deliver this lesson? For example, during the lesson the T realized that he/she had planned to deliver too much information but continued to do so slavishly. Next time the T could have recommended that they truncate the objectives mid-lesson. Such recommendations should proceed from and listed in the reflection. What measures has this incident encouraged the T to put in place for his/her continued teaching practice?
 * The T could have clearly linked lessons that he/she learnt to recommendations **