Reflection Questions Following Each YOED 3500 Teaching Assignment

Introduction: John Dewey said people who reflect well possess three traits. First they gather all pertinent facts, including an examination of their own actions. Second, they accept responsibility for those things under their control. And third, they make a commitment to not repeating mistakes.

For this reflection you are to examine the lesson you taught in class. Your focus should be on the twenty minutes that were yours, not what could have happened if you had more time. Examples: (Weak) -- “I could have done much better if I had thirty additional minutes.” The thing that makes this a weak response is that the student is not focusing on results that occurred during the actual lesson. (Better) -- “I think I would have gotten more student participation if I had personalized the questions.” In this example, the student is taking responsibility for things that did or did not occur during his/her lesson.

Avoid painting the lesson with a broad stroke. In order to progress at a rapid rate, one should learn to break the lesson down into small parts and to look for specific cause/effect relationships. Examples:

Mastery of Objectives: To what extent was each objective learned? What evidence do you have to prove that? What did you do to make that happen? If improvement is needed, what will be tried next time? Explain the rationale for the improvement strategy.

Pacing: Did the pace of the lesson contribute to student learning? What specific decisions impacted the pace of the lesson? If improvement is needed, what specific changes will be made for the future? Explain the rationale for the improvement strategy.

Student Talk: Who talked the most—the teacher or students? What specific decisions impacted the amount of teacher talk/student talk that occurred? If improvement is needed, what specific changes will be made for the future? Explain the rationale for the improvement strategy.

Reflection Questions:

1. To what extent were the objectives learned? Provide evidence to support your answer.

2. What were major strengths of the lesson? Provide evidence to support your answer. Focus on cause-and-

effect relationships.

3. What were major weaknesses of the lesson? Provide evidence to support your answer. Focus on cause-

and-effect relationships.

4. If you made adjustments during the lesson (with respect to instruction or classroom management), list

them and: (a) describe the reason for the adjustment, (b) the rationale for the action that you took, and (c)

provide a description of the result.

5. (A) What was the main thing you learned from this lesson? (B) What improvement plan (if any), will you

implement for the next lesson?

6. If you implemented an improvement plan (proposed following a previous lesson), (a) describe the plan, &

(b) describe the results.

7. What questions, if any, do you have about teaching?