D629 Unit 1 Notes

Module 1:
●​ Lifelong learning is an ongoing endeavor for educators
●​ Staying current helps develop student learning
●​ Reflective practice involves thinking about your teaching,
analyzing the effectiveness of a lesson, and planning how
it might be modified to improve learning outcomes
●​ There are many benefits to adding reflective practice to
your tool kit
●​ Learning Objectives:
○​ Explain what a reflective practice is and why it’s
important
○​ Identify academic and nonacademic needs of
students
○​ Identify how bias can impact classroom culture
○​ Describe the characteristics of reflective teachers
○​ Explain the reflective cycle and the levels of
reflective thinking
●​ Developing a reflective practice involves thinking about
one’s teaching, analyzing how something was taught, and
determining how the practice might be improved or
changed for better learning outcomes
●​ Reflection is an ongoing process that takes focused time,
but is a worthwhile practice essential to the continuous
growth of the teacher
●​ Think:
○​ How can I expand my knowledge through reflection?
○​ How can reflection increase my ability to
continuously improve my effectiveness as a teacher?
○​ How do I model the three attitudes that facilitate
reflection: open-mindedness, responsibility, and
wholeheartedness?
●​ How do professional development and reflective practice
differ from each other?
●​ When engaging in reflective practice, educators must
consider potential biases that may influence their
perception of students based on factors like race, gender,
age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status
●​ By consciously assessing and addressing biases, the
teacher ensures a more equitable and inclusive learning
environment, promoting a deeper understanding of each
students, unique thoughts and feelings
●​ Recognizing and attending to the non-academic needs of
students is integral to fostering a comprehensive
educational environment that nurtured their overall
well-being
●​ By addressing non-academic needs, schools create a
supportive atmosphere that not only enable students to
excel academically, but also equips them with essential
life skills
●​ The Character Focused Approach aims to develop
communities composed of learners, leaders, and teachers
who are guided by positive character qualities, thus
contributing to the collective well-being of the
community
●​ This approach prioritizes, creating healthy learning, and
working environments were all individuals feel a sense of
belonging – where they are seen, heard, valued, and
supported to thrive and reach their fullest potential
●​ Part of being an effective teacher is striving to be better at
your profession tomorrow than you are today
●​ For the reflective process to benefit your craft and your
students’ learning, you will have to intentionally observe
all aspects of your teaching practice and analyze and
evaluate them
●​ Think:
○​ How open am I to scrutiny and change?
○​ How often do I examine the effectiveness of my
teaching practices?
○​ How do I demonstrate enthusiasm for continuous
learning?
●​
●​ A competent professional has well developed knowledge,
skills, and attitudes
●​ Four Steps to Unconscious Competence:
○​ Unconscious incompetence: learners are unaware of
their lack of knowledge and skill and they do not
know what they do not know
○​ Conscious incompetence: as the learner progresses,
they become much more aware of their limitations
and start to recognize what they do not know and
cannot do
○​ Conscious competence: as the learner continues to
move forward, they become more knowledgeable
and skilled and begin to apply their learning.
Typically, the learner does this in a deliberate step by
step way
○​ Unconscious competence: by this point the learner
can perform well in their work without much
conscious thought, as their knowledge, skills, and
attitudes become embedded in their practice
●​ Reflective practice helps teachers understand how and
why different instructional methods work
●​ Ideas are generated as a result of the reflection and are
then implemented in the classroom
●​ Stages of Reflection:
○​ Problem identification
○​ Observation and reflection
○​ Abstract conceptualization
○​ Active experimentation
●​ Once the practice of reflection becomes embedded in your
teaching habits and practice, the stages become more fluid
and holistic based on experience

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Module 2:
●​ Learning Objectives:
○​ Describe barriers to developing a reflective practice
and strategies for overcoming those barriers
○​ Apply tools and strategies to become a reflective
practitioner
○​ Use reflection questions to analyze the effectiveness
of lessons
●​ Developing a reflective practice has multiple benefits for
educators and students alike
●​ It can be challenging for a teacher to incorporate regular
reflection while also balancing various instructional
responsibilities; however, reflection is a worthwhile
endeavor
●​ Barriers to Learning:
○​ Fear of being judged
○​ Lack of experience
○​ Personal character
○​ Limitations of the profession
○​ School and district structures
●​ In addition to personal reflective practice for individual
professionals, reflective practice should also be an
integral aspect of the organizational structure within the
educational setting
●​ Two different models for reflection
○​ Flawed approach of resistance to reflective practice
○​ More effective approach of creating a reflective
practice environment
●​ Although regular reflection of teaching is worthwhile
practice, reflection methods may differ for individual
teachers
●​ Think:
○​ How do I examine my professional behaviors-
actions, feelings, thoughts- and the consequences of
those behaviors? What methods for collecting
descriptive information do I use?
○​ Which reflective strategies or direct observation
strategies do I employ in my reflective practice?
●​ As we see what we do in certain situations, we come to a
deeper understanding of why we act-and react- as we do
●​ Having a repertoire of tools and strategies to drive one’s
reflective practice is essential to the process of becoming
a reflective teacher
●​ What determines whether a lesson is effective?
●​ Useful reflection is based on evidence, non defensive,
absent of personal bias, and directed at improved student
learning
●​ When teachers can reflect using questioning strategies,
they can easily analyze the effectiveness of their lessons
●​ As a teacher, a healthy part of reflection is processing
lessons that do not turn out the way you envisioned
●​ It is important not only to totally disregard those types of
lessons, as valuable growth can come from reflecting on
what worked and what could be improved
●​ Think:
○​ Do I have any fears or apprehensions about reflecting
on my lessons that have gone wrong?
○​ What are some benefits of reflecting on lessons that
did not go the way I envisioned?