...teacher today

Mental Cleaning

What better opportunity for professional development than reflecting on what

happened this year. While experience may prove to be a great teacher, it is only by

reflecting on that experience and resolving to take action that professional

growth is not only managed but, more importantly, sustained.

Life Long Learners

Acknowledgeable teachers view each year as another opportunity to enhance their success of my students 

The Reflective Practitioner: How. The author argues that genuine professional development. . .teacher today looks at some of The reflective practitioner. New York, NY: Basic Books, Inc. Schon, D. (1983).

Excellent Teachers know best practices. They are sensitive practitioners who think about what they are doing, analyze the effects of their actions and reflect upon their efforts in the light of their own professional vision. Unlike the demands of other professions, the cognitive demands of teaching are unique. The nature of the learning community both inside and outside the classroom is constantly changing. Teachers rarely, if ever, can treat each educational challenge in exactly the same way. Not surprisingly, the skills required to attain proficiency in teaching come not only from ears of working with students and tailoring instruction to their diverse needs, but also from regularly reflecting on those processes and their effects on student learning. Every lifelong journey, even an introspective one, needs a starting point. Why not embark upon your journey now? Begin your own self-analysis of your teaching by considering some of the following questions:

The Art of Self Reflection On Your Practices

My practices?

What sort of feedback from colleagues, students, and parents have I used to customize were your learning expectations reasonable in light of the overall needs of my...  students? 

Which professional development opportunities afford the best means of keeping abreast of new information in my discipline or improvements in instructional technique?

How can I ensure that my students are exposed to the most current insights or interpretations of the subject?

Regularly reflecting on classroom successes and setbacks and, more importantly, how each may be either repeated or avoided, is perhaps the single-most defining characteristic of an accomplished teacher.

Over time, the habit of reflecting on your instructional efforts and making timely adjustments can become an important guidepost for reinvigorating this year’s instructional commitments while formulating next year’s high expectations.

I exclude or include in my lessons items motivated by the needs of the students. 

 Building a shared responsibility for student learning Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Schon, D. (1983). practitioner Books, Inc. . Alexandria, VA:The reflective. New York, NY: Basic

  Favor completing routine tasks over designing new approaches :

• Prioritize—do the most important things first.
• Resist the temptations of perfectionism.
• Specify the “big picture” and define steps to get there.
• Think through exactly what you want as an outcome, and align student
• Spend 10 minutes at the end of the day planning for tomorrow.  Curriculum, instructional awareness, organization, and time management three key aspects to being a productive teacher.
• Keep a To Do sheet where you can jot down thoughts as they occur.

Check yourself—do you… While occasionally answering “Yes” to any of the above questions is not a cause for alarm, answering “Yes” to one or  more of them on a daily basis may signal a need to begin not working harder, but more efficiently. Often little changes can help to restore the sort of flexibility and  responsiveness that are the hallmarks of effective teaching. If the questions you asked yourself raise an alarm, try some (or all) of these actions... Such adjustments may be tricky, but with practice and ongoing reflection, the results will go a long way toward synchronizing the improvement of instruction on both sides of the teacher’s desk.

Characteristic of an accomplished teacher. Over time, the habit of reflecting on your instructional efforts and making timely adjustments can become an important guidepost for reinvigorating this year’s instructional commitments while formulating next year’s high expectations

Conzemius, A., & O’Neill, J. (2001).