Reflective Practitioner Reflection Paper

Being a reflective practitioner means that an educator must take time to think about their processes in the classroom and the outcome of their efforts and find ways to not only progress but to improve upon current their methods. This helps to improve the quality of education for all students and allows educators to develop into more effective educators. Self-reflection and sharing ideas and concepts with fellow educators make for a more well-rounded and effective teacher. I personally like to work with other educators sharing ideas and insights. I learn from others as well as share my ideas with my peers. This also provides me a way to reflect upon other educator's methods in order to develop my own methods of teaching and practices which improves upon my performance in the classroom. York-Barr et al., (2006) suggests that "Joining with another person in the process of reflection can result in greater insight about one's own practice especially when trust is high and the right combination of support and challenges is present."

Ash and Clayton (2004) stated that reflection is "A continual interweaving of thinking and doing," and I could not agree more. It is very important as an educator to reflect both independently and with others in order to grow and develop as an educator. I try to take time every day after work to reflect on what went well that day, what did not work, and what I could do differently next time. I also try to decide I want to achieve with short-term and long term goals in my classroom. In doing this, I am able to see my role as an educator and try new and innovative ways to deliver the best possible instruction. Reflective practice is a great concept and an empowering process that allows educators to grow both ...

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...t the same pace. It is important to decide how to teach students in a manner that is useful in order to find ways to better improve the quality of education in the classroom both in the present and the future. One of the areas or practice that I think needs researching includes obtaining reliable and valid predictors of future student achievement which reflects an accurate measure of change over time. With this, I can revise my lesson plans and classroom curriculum accordingly and move along with student achievement as it progresses locally as well as across the country. I can also study the revisions made to standards and practices as well as study new legislation which directly affects student performance (such as revisions to laws like No Child Left Behind). This will also help me to adjust classroom instruction accordingly as well as meet accountability demands.