What do I believe the role of reflection to be teaching? It is interesting that upon progressing through this post graduate teaching course I was at first overwhelmed with the expectations of reflecting on my work and "did not feel experienced enough to reflect". Suddenly I was reflecting through forums, creating a new blog, reflecting on activities, reflecting on lesson writing and performance. AAHHGG! However, once I began engaging in reflection as a professional practice and certainly during my time in school practicums, I realised just how important I found reflection to be in my personal growth, my learning journey and ultimately to how I perceived my self and my learners. Interestingly, I realised how I reflect unconsciously all of the time about other things in my life and this was a way of constantly monitoring and allowing for readjustment and improvement and experimentation and growth.
Once I had become comfortable with reflecting and understood how it was enhancing my development as a learner, I was able to enjoy the process and benefit from it. When reflecting, I not only undertake a critical and honest look at myself, my learners, my practice and my beliefs, but I also engage in making cognitive changes and improvements. For me, reflection initiates questions and I find myself actively seeking new information, extensions to information I may already have, justifications and alternatives and profession discussions with my Mentor Teachers and other teachers also. I appreciate and practice honesty in my reflections on how I am progressing and am perhaps one of my harshest critiques (something I also need to work on as being part of honesty), I understand the importance of equally addressing my strengths and weaknesses and to be conscious of working to improve areas of weakness, fill gaps and build my skills base. This is what I understand to be the way in which I will continue to learn and make sense of my direction and profession.
In my experience and opinion to date, my practice of reflection is important not only to my development and the growth and learning of my learners, but it is helping me to understand the complexities of the profession in which I am studying to enter. It is assisting me to "make sense" of the teaching profession and it works to "validate" my work and allows me to work towards seeing myself as such a professional. It allows me to gain confidence in my work each time I reflect and adapt lessons to meet the needs of my learners.
Prestridge, S., & Watson, G., (2004) Developing classroom teachers' understanding of multiliteracies: the role of reflection as outlined in EDED20487 Learning and Pedagogy in Secondary. CQUniversity. Retrieved 11 July 2010 from http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/2084/1/25767_1.pdf
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