Running head: REFLECTIVE

Reflective Planning and Instruction

Allison Workman
Regent University

REFLECTIVE

Reflective Planning and Instruction

A pastor once told me that growth cannot occur without reflection. If you do not know where you
came from you have no idea how much you have grown. The students benefit the most from the
teachers reflection. If I notice that the students are not grasping a concept or objective I can
make a not and return to it later in the lesson or the next day. My goal is to make sure that the
students are learning, I will do everything in my power to do so. And when I teach that, or a
similar, lesson in the future I can read the notes and know what worked and what did not so that I
do not waste the students time.
Rationale of Artifacts
The first artifact is an evaluation from my cooperating teacher from week 2 of my second
placement. At this point I was teaching science and Bible but my teacher noticed that I need to
improve on my transitions. Effective transitions can hold the students attention and prevent
management issues. If the students are always engaged it is less likely that they will act out and
cause a disruption. Poor transitions tend to lose the students focus and then you have to get their
attention again. Since that time I have worked on improving my transitions by reviewing the next
subject with the students as they get their books out or I pass out papers. I also tell the students
exactly what I want them to do, when they come into the room I tell them that they need to put
their heads down. Professor Gould pointed out that I need to improve on my small group
transitions as well.
The second artifact is a lesson plan from Bible. The students were learning about the life
of Daniel, this particular lesson covered the writing on the wall in Daniel chapter 5. The lesson
critique at the end of the lesson shows my reflections. In second grade most of these students
knew of Daniel but most of their knowledge pertains to Daniel and the lions den. The writing on
the wall was an unfamiliar story. A video would have helped to supplement the concept for the
students. And one of the vocabulary words was omnipotence, at the end of the Daniel unit many

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students were unable to apply the definition of the word on their test. The question asked what
part of Daniels life showed Gods omnipotence only a select few students got the question
correct. The second reflection notes that there needs to be more emphasis on the application of
omnipotent rather than just the definition.
Reflection on Theory and Practice
No class will be the same, there will be changes from year to year but a teacher needs to
know what works and what does not. Reflection is deliberate and structured thinking about
choices. It is an integral step to improving our practice. Through reflection, we as educators can
look clearly at our successes and struggles and consider options for change (Sanders, 2015).
Sometimes it can be difficult to critique a lesson that you put so much effort into but if the
students found the information confusing or if the students really enjoyed the lesson you want to
make sure you use it over again. The primary goal of an educator is to have the students learn, if
they are not learning something needs to change. If things are going well, more of what is
happening needs to be repeated. Taryn Sanders with the United Federation of Teachers (UTF)
recommends reflecting with a colleague using a series of questions: How did you expect the
lesson to support your teaching? Did it help to plan out the lesson when you delivered it? At what
point did you feel lost? (Sanders, 2015). The teacher who gave the lesson is asked probing
questions that cause her to think about the lesson and the exact moment where it went wrong.
Sanders says that when you can do this, you can better figure out how to fix the problem. The
goal of UTF, as Sanders points out, is to get teachers to develop a sense of metacognition by
encouraging reflecting using collected data. In order to be effective, reflection on planning and
assessment is essential.
Conclusion
In order to be an effective educator reflection is essential. Not every lesson will be
effective and not every activity will hold the students attention, it is important to remember what

REFLECTIVE
worked and what did not. It can also be used to improve myself and my teaching methods.
Certain skills will come with mastery and reflection can help you to recognize how far youve
come.

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References
Sanders, T. (2015). The Importance of Reflection. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
http://www.uft.org/teaching/pip-importance-reflection