reflection essay about teaching

12 Reflective Teaching Examples

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Reflective teaching is a process where teachers reflect on their own teaching practices and learn from their own experiences.

This type of reflection allows teachers to see what works well in their classrooms and what needs improvement. Reflective teaching also helps teachers to understand the impact that their teaching has on students.

Examples of reflective teaching include observing other teachers, taking notes on your own teaching practice, reading about how to improve yourself, and asking for feedback from your students to achieve self-improvement.

Reflective Teaching Examples

1. reflection-in-practice.

Reflection in practice is a concept by David Schon which involves small moments of reflection throughout your day.

Instead of pausing at the end of your activities and reflecting upon what you did, Schon argues that good practitioners reflect in the moment and make tiny changes from moment-to-moment. This is the difference between reflection on practice and reflection in practice. “Reflection on” occurs once the lesson is over. Reflection in occurs during the lesson.

For example, as you’re doing a question-and-answer session with your class, you might realize that the students are tuning out and getting bored. In order to resolve this problem, you might choose to get the students all to stand up and play heads or tails for questions you ask them. This might get the kinesthetic learners re-engaged in the lesson and salvage it from its impending implosion.

Related Article: 15 Action Research Examples

2. Conducting Classroom Observations

Another way to do reflective teaching is to start a classroom observation routine. Create a template for your observations (e.g. listing each student’s name down the side, with notes beside it) and take notes on students’ work.

You could, for example, choose to observe how well students responded to a new classroom intervention. These written observations can form the basis for changes that you can make to your work as you progress.

Similarly, you could make observations about students’ interactions after changing the classroom layout. This can help you edit and refine your chosen layout in order to maximize student learning and figure out the best location for each student.

3. Pivoting based on Formative Feedback

Reflective teachers also try to obtain formative feedback from students in order to gather data that can form the basis of their reflection.

An example of formative feedback is a pre-test a month before the exams.

This pre-test can help the teacher understand the general areas of weakness for their students, and acts as the basis for a pivot in their teaching practices. The teacher may, for example, identify a specific math challenge that the majority of the students had trouble with. They can then put extra focus on that challenge for the next few weeks so the students can ace that challenge in the end-of-term test.

In this way, formative feedback is a core tool for teachers in their formative feedback toolkit.

4. Keeping a Teaching Diary

A personal teaching diary can help teachers to identify trends in their behaviors (and the behaviors of their students) that can help teachers to improve.

For example, in my teaching diary, I will often take notes about how I reacted to certain events. I’ll note my reaction as well as things I did well, ways I effectively self-regulated , and things I did poorly. If I’m taking notes on an answer to a student’s question, I might note that something I did well was “give a clear answer” but an area for improvement might be “I failed to follow-up later in the day to check my student’s comprehension”.

Incidentally, teaching diaries can be extremely useful for self-performance reviews . Bring your teaching diary into the performance review and go over it with your line manager. They will be super impressed with your reflective practice!

5. Receiving Student Evaluations

Despite how much we may despise student evaluations, they can contain important tidbits of information for us.

I often like to compare my evaluations from one to the next to see if there are changes in the student trend. I’ll also work really hard on one aspect of my teaching and see if I can get students to take notice and leave a comment in the evaluation.

For example, one semester, I decided to implement a tech intervention (I let students use an educational app in class). The students used the app, and it turns out – they didn’t like it!

Without the student evaluation, I wouldn’t have been able to identify this problem and work on solving it. You can read all about that study here, which I published in an academic journal.

6. Debriefing with a Mentor

Having a mentor has been invaluable for me in my career. By sitting down with a mentor, I learn a lot about my strengths and weaknesses.

Mentors tend to bring out reflectiveness in all of us. After all, they’re teachers who want us to improve ourselves.

Your mentor may ask you open-ended questions to get you to reflect, or discuss some new points and concepts that you haven’t thought about before. In this process, you’re being prompted to reflect on your on teaching practice and compare what you do to the new ideas that have been presented. You may ask yourself questions like “do I do that?” or “do I need to improve in that area?”

7. Using Self-Reflection Worksheets

Self-reflection worksheets are a good ‘cheat’ for figuring out how to do self-reflection for people who struggle.

You can find these worksheets online through services like Teachers Pay Teachers. They often involve daily activities like:

• Write down one thing you struggled with today.
• Write down one big win.
• Write down one thing you will actively try to work on tomorrow.

These worksheets are simple prompts (that don’t need to take up too much time!) that help you to bring to the front of your consciousness all those thoughts that have been brewing in your mind, so you can think about ways to act upon them tomorrow.

See Also: Self-Reflection Examples

8. Changing Lesson Plans Based on Previous Experiences

At the end of each unit of work, teachers need to look at their lesson plans and self-assess what changes are required.

Everyone is aware of that teacher who’s had the same lesson plan since 2015. They seem lazy for failing to modernize and innovate in their practice.

By contrast, the reflective practitioner spends a moment at the end of the lesson or unit and thinks about what changes might need to be made for next time the lesson is taught.

They might make changes if the information or knowledge about the topic changes (especially important in classes that engage with current events!). Similarly, you might make changes if you feel that there was a particular point in the lesson where there was a lull and you lost the students’ attention.

9. Professional Development Days

Professional development days are a perfect opportunity for reflective teaching.

In fact, the leader of the professional development day is likely to bake reflectiveness into the event. They may prepare speeches or provide activities specifically designed for teachers to take a step back and reflect.

For example, I remember several moments in my career where we had a guest speaker attend our PD day and gave an inspiring speech about the importance of teachers for student development. These events made me think about what I was doing and the “bigger picture” and made me redouble my efforts to be an excellent teacher.

10. Implementing 2-Minute Feedback

The 2-minute feedback concept is excellent for reflective practice. For this method, you simply spend the last 2 minutes of the class trying to get feedback from your students.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to give students a post-it note at the end of the lesson. Have them write on one side something they liked about the lesson and on the other something they didn’t like. Then, you can read the feedback to reflect on how to improve.

With younger students, you can do ‘hands up’ for students and ask them how confident they are with the topic.

For online lessons, I’ve put a thermometer up on the screen and asked students to draw on the thermometer how confident that are (line at the top means very confident, line at the bottom means not confident at all).

11. Reading Books

Books are excellent for helping us to reflect and contemplate. There is a wide range of books for teachers, from philosophical ones like Pedagogy of the Oppressed to very practical workbooks.

Through reading, we encounter new ideas that challenge our current ideas. As we pick up new ideas and information, we interrogate our current thoughts and find ways to assimilate them into our new thinking. Sometimes, that requires us to change our own current opinions or thoughts, and challenge us to consistently improve.

In this way, reading books about teaching is an inherently reflective practice. It makes us better practitioners and more thoughtful people.

12. Listening to Podcasts

Like books, podcasts enable us to consume information that can help us pause and reflect.

I personally love podcasts because I find them easier to consume than books. The conversations and dialogue in podcasts help me to feel immersed in a conversation with close friends. Good podcasts hosts make you feel like they’re grappling with the exact same concerns and emotions as you are – and it’s a motivating experience.

Good podcasts for teachers include The Cult of Pedagogy and Teachers on Fire. These podcasts help me to reflect on my own teaching practice and continue to learn new things that I can compare to my own approaches and integrate when I feel they offer new insights that are valuable.

There are many ways to incorporate reflective practice into your teaching. By taking the time to reflect on your teaching, you can identify areas where you can improve and make changes to your practice. This will help you to become a more effective teacher and better meet the needs of your students. Through reflective practice, you can also develop a stronger sense of who you are as a teacher and what your personal teaching philosophy is.

Drew, C. & Mann, A. (2018). Unfitting, uncomfortable, unacademic: a sociological critique of interactive mobile phone apps in lectures. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0125-y

Lousberg, L., Rooij, R., Jansen, S. et al. Reflection in design education. Int J Technol Des Educ. 30, 885–897 (2020). doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-019-09532-6

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Number Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Word Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Outdoor Games for Kids
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 50 Incentives to Give to Students

2 thoughts on “12 Reflective Teaching Examples”

Dr Chris Drew, this article is useful for teachers like me. I really appreciate your hard work. Thank you for being a helpful professor. Sandy

Dr, Chris Drew. First of all Congratulations. This article is handy for me as I am doing my teacher training course. You did a good job, explaining in a simple manner so, anyone can understand easily. Thank you so much. Alka

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• Professional development
• Taking responsibility for professional development

Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice

Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works - a process of self-observation and self-evaluation.

By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in our teaching.

Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional development which begins in our classroom.

• Why it is important
• Teacher diary
• Peer observation
• Recording lessons
• Student feedback

Why it is important Many teachers already think about their teaching and talk to colleagues about it too. You might think or tell someone that "My lesson went well" or "My students didn't seem to understand" or "My students were so badly behaved today."

However, without more time spent focussing on or discussing what has happened, we may tend to jump to conclusions about why things are happening. We may only notice reactions of the louder students. Reflective teaching therefore implies a more systematic process of collecting, recording and analysing our thoughts and observations, as well as those of our students, and then going on to making changes.

• If a lesson went well we can describe it and think about why it was successful.
• If the students didn't understand a language point we introduced we need to think about what we did and why it may have been unclear.
• If students are misbehaving - what were they doing, when and why?

Beginning the process of reflection You may begin a process of reflection in response to a particular problem that has arisen with one or your classes, or simply as a way of finding out more about your teaching. You may decide to focus on a particular class of students, or to look at a feature of your teaching - for example how you deal with incidents of misbehaviour or how you can encourage your students to speak more English in class.

The first step is to gather information about what happens in the class. Here are some different ways of doing this.

Teacher diary  This is the easiest way to begin a process of reflection since it is purely personal. After each lesson you write in a notebook about what happened. You may also describe your own reactions and feelings and those you observed on the part of the students. You are likely to begin to pose questions about what you have observed. Diary writing does require a certain discipline in taking the time to do it on a regular basis. 

Here are some suggestions for areas to focus on to help you start your diary. 

Download diary suggestions 51k

Peer observation Invite a colleague to come into your class to collect information about your lesson. This may be with a simple observation task or through note taking. This will relate back to the area you have identified to reflect upon. For example, you might ask your colleague to focus on which students contribute most in the lesson, what different patterns of interaction occur or how you deal with errors.

Recording lessons Video or audio recordings of lessons can provide very useful information for reflection. You may do things in class you are not aware of or there may be things happening in the class that as the teacher you do not normally see.

• How much do you talk?
• What about?
• Are instructions and explanations clear?
• How much time do you allocate to student talk?
• How do you respond to student talk?
• Where do you stand?
• Who do you speak to?
• How do you come across to the students?

Student feedback You can also ask your students what they think about what goes on in the classroom. Their opinions and perceptions can add a different and valuable perspective. This can be done with simple questionnaires or learning diaries for example.

What to do next Once you have some information recorded about what goes on in your classroom, what do you do?

• Think You may have noticed patterns occurring in your teaching through your observation. You may also have noticed things that you were previously unaware of. You may have been surprised by some of your students' feedback. You may already have ideas for changes to implement.
• If you have colleagues who also wish to develop their teaching using reflection as a tool, you can meet to discuss issues. Discussion can be based around scenarios from your own classes.
• Using a list of statements about teaching beliefs (for example, pairwork is a valuable activity in the language class or lexis is more important than grammar) you can discuss which ones you agree or disagree with, and which ones are reflected in your own teaching giving evidence from your self-observation.
• Read You may decide that you need to find out more about a certain area. There are plenty of websites for teachers of English now where you can find useful teaching ideas, or more academic articles. There are also magazines for teachers where you can find articles on a wide range of topics. Or if you have access to a library or bookshop, there are plenty of books for English language teachers.
• Ask Pose questions to websites or magazines to get ideas from other teachers. Or if you have a local teachers' association or other opportunities for in-service training, ask for a session on an area that interests you.

Conclusion Reflective teaching is a cyclical process, because once you start to implement changes, then the reflective and evaluative cycle begins again.

• What are you doing?
• Why are you doing it?
• How effective is it?
• How are the students responding?
• How can you do it better?

As a result of your reflection you may decide to do something in a different way, or you may just decide that what you are doing is the best way. And that is what professional development is all about.

Julie Tice, Teacher, Trainer, Writer, British Council Lisbon

This article was first published in 2004

Well organized

Greetings, The steps explained in reflective teaching are quite practical, no matter how many years educators put into their experience, properly guided ideas will definitely enhance how to engage our students, at the end of the day, what matters is how the learning took place in the classroom. and reflect on how i inspired my students to deliver the content, the reflective teaching practice not only helps to get back and analyze, but helps the educator to be more organized, thank you for the wonderful article.

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Wonderful advice

Thank you very much for these suggestions. They are wonderful.

online journal

Reflecting teaching.

Dear Editor, This is a very useful article for English teachers and trainers. Teaching diary is a must for all teachers and trainers.

JVL NARASIMHA RAO

Reflecting on your teaching

Dear Julie,

An excellent article.  Nothing can be more important then self reflection, i.e. looking inwardly to find out what you did, how you did it and how and what you need to do to make it better.  Unfortunately we seldome reflect on ourselves. 

I would like to introduce few simple questions every teacher should ask after completing a lesson:

1. Can I state one thing thet the students took back with them after my lesson?

2. Can I state one thing that I wanted to do but was not able to it becasue of insufficient time?

3. Can I state one thing that I should not have done in this lesson?

4. Can I state one thing that I think I did well?

Answers to these questions will enable the teacher to do better in the future.

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What Is Reflective Teaching and Why Is It Important?

Gerald smith.

• June 11, 2022

If you feel that your teaching is becoming a bit stale or you’re unsure of a lesson’s effectiveness, reflective teaching is the best way to regain your confidence and interest in ESL education. Let’s take a closer look at what reflective teaching entails, why it’s important, and how you can implement reflective practices in your career.

Reflective teaching is covered in detail in the IDELTOnline™ course, Bridge’s most advanced professional TEFL certification, which can be used as a pathway to an MA TESOL at more than 1,600 universities.

What is Reflective Teaching?

Reflective teaching is a teacher’s practice of thinking, writing, and/or speaking about their lessons and their teaching methods and approaches.

It’s easy for teachers to get into a rut while teaching, where it feels like they’re delivering lessons on autopilot. Reflective teaching is a way to break out of that rut and become the best teacher you can be.

In his essay, “Reflective Practice for Language Teachers,” Thomas Farrell writes, “Reflective practice occurs, then, when teachers consciously take on the role of reflective practitioner and subject their own beliefs about teaching and learning to critical analysis, take full responsibility for their actions in the classroom, and continue to improve their teaching practice.”

Want to read the entire essay and get a more in-depth look at reflective teaching? Take the graduate-level IDELTOnline™ course.

Why is Reflective Teaching Important?

“Teachers who engage in reflective practice can develop a deeper understanding of their teaching, assess their professional growth, develop informed decision-making skills, and become proactive and confident in their teaching.” -Farrell

It improves your lesson plans

One of the main benefits of reflective teaching is that it helps you to become a better teacher who engages their students more and consistently improves their lesson plans .

By analyzing different aspects of lessons like teacher talking time or student collaboration, you can measure your success.

For example, if you remember that students weren’t engaged during an activity, you can analyze the reasons why. Maybe you didn’t set a clear context or you overexplained and slowed down student discovery. Or, maybe it didn’t have anything to do with your planning, and the students simply partied the previous night and didn’t want to discuss the differences between the present perfect and past simple.

Whatever the reason, reflective teaching can help you think of a solution.

It can help you break out of a teaching rut

The more you teach, the easier it is to get into a teaching rut. You reuse the same tried and tested activities, you tell the same old anecdotes, and you recycle the same tired grammar explanations.

While reusing activities is great, you need to make sure you’re not doing something that feels boring to you. When you’re not having fun, you can’t expect your students to have fun.

Farrell writes, “If teachers engage in reflective practice they can avoid such burnout because they take the time to stop and think about what is happening in their practice to make sense of it so that they can learn from their experiences rather than mindlessly repeat them year after year.”

Reflective teaching gets you to think about how to modify activities and lesson plans so they’re fresh and interesting for both you and your students.

It inspires you to try new things

When materials like ELT course book activities start to get boring, it’s time to try something new.

Online, there are tons of resources for up-to-date lesson plans. Personal favorites are Onestopenglish and TeachThis.com , but there are hundreds more, some free and some paid.

Another great way to try new things is to collaborate with a fellow teacher. This is easy when working at a language school, but you can also do this online through Facebook groups and Linkedin. Teachers even share lesson plans through Twitter.

It’s part of continuing professional development

Continuing professional development comes in many forms, such as Specialized TEFL/TESOL courses or Micro-credentials that offer targeted training. Reflective teaching is also an effective way to continue developing and expanding your teaching skills throughout your career.

While reflecting on your teaching, you can also think back to training from TEFL courses you’ve already taken and see if you’re fully utilizing what you studied in your online TEFL certification lessons.

Learn more about professional development for EFL teachers.

It provides opportunities to share your experience

Posting your teaching reflections in Facebook groups or on Linkedin helps start conversations around best teaching practices .

You’ll be surprised to see how many teachers have had the same experiences as you or will have suggestions on how to teach in new ways.

This not only allows you to offer and receive great feedback but also builds your network or community of teachers .

See the ways that the IDELTOnline™ sets you apart as a teacher.

What are the characteristics of reflective teaching?

Although reflective teaching can take many forms, there are a few characteristics that appear throughout all types of reflective practices:

• Reflective teaching notes what happens in the classroom, why it happens, and how it can be improved.
• If you are practicing reflective teaching, it’s rare that you will teach the same lesson again in the exact same way because reflective teaching challenges you. You’ll need to critique yourself and your go-to lesson plans.
• Although many teachers write their reflections down, not all reflective teaching needs to be written. Many teachers, instead, choose to speak about their lessons with a colleague or mentor, or what Farrell calls a “Critical Friend.”
• Reflective teaching is collaborative, often involving a head teacher or a colleague.
• Reflecting on and speaking about how your lessons go often leads to helpful insights.

What are some examples of reflective teaching?

Some ways of practicing reflective teaching include:

• Teaching journals: Write down classroom reflections in a journal.
• Classroom observations: Be observed either by a mentor or by recording the lesson and rewatching it yourself.
• Critical friends: Speak about your classes with a friend who can offer constructive criticism.
• Action research: Research something you struggle with, and maybe even take a course to improve specific teaching skills .
• Online groups: Teachers actively post online about reflective teaching in teacher development groups like the Bridge Teaching English Online Facebook Group . Posting online helps teachers get more recognition in the industry as well as organize their reflections.
• Blogs: Many teachers choose to share their reflections by creating their own EFL blogs . For example, Rachel Tsateri, an EL teacher and writer, published a reflective post on her teacher talking time (TTT) on her website, The TEFL Zone . Because Rachel read a lot of the literature around TTT, she was also engaging in action research, a rather academic but effective approach to reflective teaching.
• Teacher beliefs: Continue to develop and verbalize your own beliefs about what makes good teaching. Not sure where to start with your teaching beliefs? Learn about crafting an ESL philosophy of teaching statement.

Try different methods to find the right one for you. Journaling is an easy first step, but if you’re a more social teacher, you might prefer working with a critical friend or a teacher development group.

Teaching, a lot like learning, is a journey. No one becomes a great teacher overnight, so don’t be too hard on yourself when a lesson doesn’t go well. Instead, think critically about how you teach so you can continue to improve your students’ learning experiences and grow in your profession.

Want to learn more about reflective teaching and other best TEFL practices covered in the IDELTOnline™ course? Take a look at what this certification entails and whether it’s right for you.

Gerald Smith is an EL teacher, journalist and occasional poet. Originally from Texas, he now lives on a houseboat in Glasgow, Scotland with his partner and their two kittens.

Online Teaching Hub

Online and Blended Teaching Hub

Reflecting on teaching practice.

Reflection is an integral part of the teaching process. School activities in and outside the classroom create a natural environment for reflective teaching. Professional experience, healthy self-awareness, and genuine care for students and colleagues help teachers to reflect effectively. Reflective practices consist of in-the-moment reflection for immediate action, after-the-moment reflection for future action, and outside reflection for exchange of reflective experience among a teacher’s colleagues and professional learning networks. Reflection promotes evidence-based changes in the classroom to advance teaching practices and is one of the cornerstones of a teacher’s professional development and supports the quality of education in today’s ever-changing world.

Questions to Consider

Why is reflection essential to my growth as a teacher?

How do I receive feedback about my teaching and lesson content?

How does reflection impact my next steps towards continued growth as a blended or online teacher?

At-a-Glance Video

• Topic Summary
• Infographic: Reflective Questioning and Strategies
• Infographic: The Continuous Reflection Cycle
• Infographic: Benefits of Reflective Teaching

Web Resources

Reflection resources.

• Ways to be a More Reflective Teacher
• Benefits of Reflective Teaching and Learning 
• How To Apply Reflective Practice when Teaching Online
• How to Encourage Reflective Teaching in Your School
• Self-Reflection: Are You a Reflective Teacher?
• Questions to Tackle When Reflecting on Teaching
• Fun Ways to Reflect on Your Teaching
• Reflective Teaching: 5 Minute Definitions for Teachers in a Hurry
• Reflect on Teaching Practice

Related Online and Blended Teaching Hub Topics

• Building a Professional Learning Network
• Building Effective Relationships
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Work-Life Balance

Online and Blended Teaching Hub Tool Pages

• Assessment: Edulastic , Google Forms , Microsoft Forms
• Polling: Mentimeter , Poll Everywhere , Slido

Center for Teaching

Teaching statements.

Print Version

• What is a teaching statement?
• What purposes does the teaching statement serve?
• What does a teaching statement include?

General Guidelines

• Reflection questions to help get you started
• Exercises to help get you started
• Evaluating your teaching statement
• Further resources

What is a Teaching Statement?

A Teaching Statement is a purposeful and reflective essay about the author’s teaching beliefs and practices. It is an individual narrative that includes not only one’s beliefs about the teaching and learning process, but also concrete examples of the ways in which he or she enacts these beliefs in the classroom. At its best, a Teaching Statement gives a clear and unique portrait of the author as a teacher, avoiding generic or empty philosophical statements about teaching.

What Purposes does the Teaching Statement Serve?

The Teaching Statement can be used for personal, professional, or pedagogical purposes. While Teaching Statements are becoming an increasingly important part of the hiring and tenure processes, they are also effective exercises in helping one clearly and coherently conceptualize his or her approaches to and experiences of teaching and learning. As Nancy Van Note Chism, Professor Emerita of Education at IUPUI observes, “The act of taking time to consider one’s goals, actions, and vision provides an opportunity for development that can be personally and professionally enriching. Reviewing and revising former statements of teaching philosophy can help teachers to reflect on their growth and renew their dedication to the goals and values that they hold.”

What does a Teaching Statement Include?

A Teaching Statement can address any or all of the following:

• Your conception of how learning occurs
• A description of how your teaching facilitates student learning
• A reflection of why you teach the way you do
• The goals you have for yourself and for your students
• How your teaching enacts your beliefs and goals
• What, for you , constitutes evidence of student learning
• The ways in which you create an inclusive learning environment
• Your interests in new techniques, activities, and types of learning

“If at all possible, your statement should enable the reader to imagine you in the classroom, teaching. You want to include sufficient information for picturing not only you in the process of teaching, but also your class in the process of learning.” – Helen G. Grundman, Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement

• Make your Teaching Statement brief and well written . While Teaching Statements are probably longer at the tenure level (i.e. 3-5 pages or more), for hiring purposes they are typically 1-2 pages in length.
• Use narrative , first-person approach. This allows the Teaching Statement to be both personal and reflective.
• Be sincere and unique. Avoid clichés, especially ones about how much passion you have for teaching.
• Make it specific rather than abstract. Ground your ideas in 1-2 concrete examples , whether experienced or anticipated. This will help the reader to better visualize you in the classroom.
• Be discipline specific . Do not ignore your research. Explain how you advance your field through teaching.
• Avoid jargon and technical terms, as they can be off-putting to some readers. Try not to simply repeat what is in your CV. Teaching Statements are not exhaustive documents and should be used to complement other materials for the hiring or tenure processes.
• Be humble . Mention students in an enthusiastic, not condescending way, and illustrate your willingness to learn from your students and colleagues.
• Revise . Teaching is an evolving, reflective process, and Teaching Statements can be adapted and changed as necessary.

Reflection Questions To Help You Get You Started:*

• Why do you teach the way you do?
• What should students expect of you as a teacher?
• What is a method of teaching you rely on frequently? Why don’t you use a different method?
• What do you want students to learn? How do you know your goals for students are being met?
• What should your students be able to know or do as a result of taking your class?
• How can your teaching facilitate student learning?
• How do you as a teacher create an engaging or enriching learning environment?
• What specific activities or exercises do you use to engage your students? What do you want your students to learn from these activities?
• How has your thinking about teaching changed over time? Why?

* These questions and exercises are meant to be tools to help you begin reflecting on your beliefs and ideas as a teacher. No single Teaching Statement can contain the answers to all or most of these inquiries and activities.

Exercises to Help You Get You Started:*

• The Teaching Portfolio , including a section on teaching statements, Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence. This website includes five effective exercises to help you begin the writing process
• Teaching Goals Inventory , by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross and their book Classroom Assessment Techniques . This “quiz” helps you to identify or create your teaching and learning goals.

Evaluating Your Teaching Statement

Writing A Statement Of Teaching Philosophy For The Academic Job Search (opens as a PDF), The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan.

This report includes a useful rubric for evaluating teaching philosophy statements. The design of the rubric was informed by experience with hundreds of teaching philosophies, as well as surveys of search committees on what they considered successful and unsuccessful components of job applicants’ teaching philosophies.

Further Resources:

General information on and guidelines for writing teaching statements.

• Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement , Faculty and TA Development at The Ohio State University. This site provides an in-depth guide to teaching statements, including the definition of and purposes for a teaching statement, general formatting suggestions, and a self-reflective guide to writing a teaching statement.
• Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement , Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Iowa State University. This document looks at four major components of a teaching statement, which have been divided into questions—specifically, to what end? By what means? To what degree? And why? Each question is sufficiently elaborated, offering a sort of scaffolding for preparing one’s own teaching statement.
• Writing a Meaningful Statement of Teaching Philosophy , McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University. This website offers strategies for preparing and formatting your teaching statement.

Articles about Teaching Statements

• Grundman, Helen (2006). Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement (opens as a PDF), Notices of the AMS , Vol. 53, No. 11, p. 1329.
• Montell, Gabriela (2003). How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy , from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education .
• Montell, Gabriela (2003). What’s Your Philosophy on Teaching, and Does it Matter? , from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education .

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Reflective Teaching Statements

The Reflective Teaching Statement (RTS) is a short reflective essay that describes an instructor's teaching philosophy, learning objectives, instructional methods, and learning and engagement strategies. This collection contains various resources, from helping you get started writing one to examples from different disciplines.

Updated: February 2024

What is a Reflective Teaching Statement?

This handout explains what a Reflective Teaching Statement is and what types of information it contains.

Reflective Teaching Statement: Getting Started

This handout provides questions that can help you get started writing.

Reflective Teaching Statement: General Guidelines and Possible Components

Reflective teaching statement: structure.

This handout includes suggestions to consider as you organize and write your statement.

Reflective Teaching Statement: Rubric

This handout helps you score the various components of your statement.

Reflective Teaching Statement: Examples

Review sample statements from various disciplines.

Teaching Philosophies and Teaching Dossiers Guide

This guide provides a robust resource for creating teaching dossiers and philosophy statements. It starts with an overview of a research-informed framework for developing teaching expertise and then describes how to create philosophy statements that ground your approaches to teaching across multiple contexts. The final sections of the guide focus on creating and evaluating teaching dossiers.

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Developing a reflective teaching practice

Our university is built on a commitment to using the power of discovery, creativity, and analytical thinking to solve challenges, including those we encounter in the process of teaching. While consulting the scholarship of teaching and learning is a good way to identify effective teaching strategies, the most important dimension of an effective teaching practice is reflection.

What is “reflective” teaching?

The American philosopher and educational reformer, John Dewey, considered reflection crucial to learning. As Dewey scholar, Carol Rodgers, notes, Dewey framed reflection as “a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking” that led to intellectual growth.

Because our students are so diverse and there’s so much variety in instructional contexts, good teaching requires instructors to observe, reflect upon, and adapt their teaching practice . In addition to identifying areas for improvement in your teaching, reflection is also core to an inclusive teaching practice.

Reflective practices

There are lots of ways to be thoughtful about your teaching, but here are a few for each point in the quarter.

Before the beginning of the quarter:

• Reflect on your course goals. What do you want students to be able to do by the time they leave your course?
• Reflect on your own mix of identities. How has privilege or oppression shaped your perspectives?
• Reflect on how your discipline creates knowledge and decides what knowledge is valuable. How has this constrained what and how you teach?

During the quarter:

• Keep a journal to briefly jot down your observations of student interactions and experiences in the classroom. Note things that are working and things you might want to change.
• Get an outside perspective. Ask a colleague to come observe a class and your interactions with students and/or course materials.
• Conduct a mid-quarter evaluation to gather information on how the course is going. Ask yourself what you can do to relieve the pain points that students identified in the evaluation.

At the end of the quarter:

• Reflect on your course data. What do your gradebook and course evaluations indicate about what worked well and what didn’t work so well? What can you do to improve students’ performance?
• Connect with a consultant to brainstorm ways to redesign assignments or improve your teaching practice.
• Dig into the scholarship of teaching and learning to find ideas for how others have improved their teaching practice in a certain area.

Reflecting on your identities and position

Your teaching emerges from your educational background and training, as well as from your personal history and experience. Reflecting on how who you are and what you have experienced shapes your teaching can help you identify ways to better connect with your students.

Positionality and intersectionality

Positionality refers to the social, cultural, and political contexts – including systems of power and oppression – that shape our identities. Our positionalities influence how we approach course design, choose content, teach, and assess student work. Recognizing how your own positionality impacts your teaching can help you create a more inclusive classroom.

On one level, intersectionality refers to the ways that the multiple dimensions of our identity intersect to shape our experience. Black feminist scholars have stressed how social systems based on things such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability combine to create an interlocking system that privileges some and oppresses others.

Reflecting on your own positionality and the intersectional nature of your identity can help you think more intentionally about your content choices, the materials you assign to your students, and even how the different aspects of your students’ identities may affect their experience in your class.

Empowering students

The relationships that define learning environments are, unavoidably, imbued with power. As an instructor, you hold a position of authority, and a level of implicit institutional power – you determine the content of your course, create assignments, and grade those assignments. But when students have agency in their courses, they are more likely to be engaged and invested in their own learning . Reflecting on the power structures that define your classrooms may help you find ways to recalibrate or redistribute power so that students become more active agents in the creation of disciplinary knowledge, as well as in their own learning.

As you reflect, you might consider adopting one or more of following strategies for empowering your students:

• Take on the role of a guide. Rather than aspiring to transmit information through lecture, consider ways to make students active participants and contributors in their learning. Develop student-driven activities and discussions that create constructive, cooperative learning environments that encourage students to learn together.
• Consider flipping your classroom . Devote the time you spend with students to interaction and collaboration. Create videos focused on your lecture material that students can watch (and rewatch) as a homework activity.
• Work with students to articulate community values and expectations. Consider building community agreements with students. Openly discuss how you will assess students’ work and allow students to ask questions and offer their own ideas for grading. A great way to get students involved in thinking about their own assessment is to co-create assessment rubrics.
• Encourage students to share their own knowledge and expertise. Ask students to think about what they already know about a course topic and how your course can help them build upon that knowledge. Challenge students to think critically about why and how course material is relevant to their own lives.
• Practice inclusive course design. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles can help make your teaching more inclusive and offer students more opportunities to engage and express their knowledge.

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Reflective teaching.

When instructors engage in reflective teaching, they are dedicating time to evaluate their own teaching practice, examine their curricular choices, consider student feedback, and make revisions to improve student belonging and learning. This process requires information gathering, data interpretation, and planning for the future. Reflective teaching involves examining one’s underlying beliefs about teaching and learning and one’s alignment with actual classroom practice before, during and after a course is taught.

When teaching reflectively, instructors think critically about their teaching and look for evidence of effective teaching. This critical analysis can draw on a variety of sources: Brookfield (2017) lays out four crucial sources: “students’ eyes, colleagues’ perceptions, personal experience, and theory and research.” Instructors can use various tools and methods to learn from these sources and reflect on their teaching, ranging from low-key to formal and personal to inter-collegial. For example, reflective teaching may include self-assessment, classroom observations , consideration of student evaluations , or exploration of educational research . Because each semester’s students and their needs are different, reflective teaching is a continual practice that supports effective and student-centered teaching.

Examples of Self-Assessment

Reflection Journals: Instructors might consider capturing a few details of their teaching in a journal to create an ongoing narrative of their teaching across terms and years. Scheduling a dedicated time during the 5 or so minutes after class to write their entries will ensure continual engagement, rather than hoping to find a moment throughout the day. The instructor writes general thoughts about the day’s lesson and might reflect on the following questions: What went well today? What could I have done differently? How will I modify my instruction in the future?

Teaching Inventories: A number of inventories , like the Teaching Practices Inventory (Wieman and Gilbert, 2014), have been developed to help instructors assess and think more broadly about their teaching approaches. Inventories are typically designed to assess the extent to which particular pedagogies are employed (e.g. student- versus teacher-centered practices). 

Video-Recorded Teaching Practices: Instructors may request the Poorvu Center to video record their lessons while conducting a classroom observation, or instructors can video record themselves while teaching and use a classroom observation protocol to self-assess their own practices. Some Yale classrooms have video cameras installed for lecture capture , which instructors can then use for their self assessment. 

Teaching Portfolio: A more time-intensive practice, the teaching portfolio invites instructors to integrate the various components of their teaching into a cohesive whole, typically starting with a teaching philosophy or statement, moving through sample syllabi and assignments, and ending with evaluations from colleagues and students.Though less focused on classroom practices, a portfolio is an opportunity to reflect on teaching overall. The Poorvu Center offers an opportunity for faculty new to Yale to complete a teaching intensive and reflective program, the Faculty Teaching Academy , which includes a culminating portfolio. Faculty who complete the program will receive a contribution to their research or professional development budgets.  The University of Washington CTL offers best practices for creating a teaching portfolio . 

Examples of External Assessment

Student Evaluations (Midterm and End-of-Term): In many courses, instructors obtain feedback from students in the form of mid-semester feedback and/or end-of-term student evaluations . Because of potential bias, instructors should consider student evaluations as one data source in their instruction and take note of any prevailing themes (Basow, 1995; Watchel, 1998; Huston, 2005; Reid, L. (2010); Basow, S.A. & Martin, J.L. (2012) ). They can seek out other ways to assess their practices to accompany student evaluation data before taking steps to modify instruction. The Poorvu Center offers consultations regarding mid-semester feedback data collected. They will also conduct small group feedback sessions with an instructor’s students to provide non-evaluative, anonymous conversation notes from students in addition to the traditional survey format. If instructors are interested in sustained feedback over time from a student perspective, then they can also participate in the Pedagogical Partners program.

Peer Review of Teaching: Instructors can ask a trusted colleague to observe their classroom and give them feedback on their teaching. Colleagues can agree on an observation protocol or a list of effective teaching principles to focus on from a teaching practices inventory.

Classroom Observations: Any instructor at Yale may request an observation with feedback from a member of the Poorvu Center staff. Observations are meant to be non-evaluative and promote reflection.  They begin with a discussion in which the instructor describes course goals and format as well as any issues or teaching practices that are of primary concern. This initial discussion provides useful context for the observation and the post-observation conversation.

Basow, S.A. (1995). Student evaluations of college professors: When gender matters. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(4): 656-665.

Basow, S.A. & Martin, J.L. (2012). Bias in student evaluations. In M.E. Kite (Ed.), Effective evaluation of teaching: A guide for faculty and administrators. Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Huston, T. (2005).  Report: Empirical Research on the Impact of Race and Gender in the Evaluation of Teaching.  Retrieved 3/10/17 from Seattle University, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning website.  

Reid, L. (2010). The Role of Perceived Race and Gender in the Evaluation of College Teaching on RateMyProfessors.com. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. 3 (3): 137–152.

Wachtel, H.K. (1998). Student Evaluation of College Teaching Effectiveness: A Brief Review. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 23(2): 191-212.

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Reflection Of My Teaching Experience

Teaching is not just a job that I perform because I expect a reward at the end of each month; it is my passion and I feel extremely satisfied with every successful lesson. I like to help the society, and teaching gives me a great opportunity to do so. I am passionate about educating my students, so I work with them and motivate them to lead them to find inspiration in learning . I use different strategies to engage them and share with them the knowledge . As a teacher, I believe that I play a crucial role in the success of every learning process. To guarantee that learning will take place, I make sure to create a learning environment that is relevant to the students’ background. Throughout my teaching experience, I learned how to love my students, …show more content…

The observation’s reflection has already influenced the way I plan and teach. Reflecting on my work helped me improve my teaching strategies and gain the ability to schedule plans that respond to the students’ needs. In my opinion, observation is one of the most successful strategies that are used in the practicum course to support teachers. I believe that AUD has formed an enthusiastic teaching and learning community. I learned a tremendous amount of information and experiences since my enrollment in the ME program. I learned to be flexible, remain open to continuous learning, and improve my career. I am also learned about the importance of time and about the importance of education in our life. I give the credit of all of that to the reflection strategy. During my learning experience, I had the opportunity to re-skill myself and learn new strategies to support my mission as a teacher. Recently, the Practicum course has helped me live an authentic experience by transferring my learning and understanding into reality. I share knowledge, experience, and communication, which increase my awareness in a way to understand the change and implement new ways of

Unit 301 Understanding Roles leaflet

As teacher’s we are committing to a life time of learning and development of ourselves and our learners.

Analysis Of Deborah Tannen 's Article How Male And Female Students Use Language Differently

Today, teachers strive for the creation of positive and influential learning environments for all students. Moreover, they aim at increasing children’s chances of succeeding. They constantly re-evaluate their teaching strategies for educational improvement of students. Teachers create supportive and respectful school environment that makes students strive for more prosperous and eventually rewarding lives. According to Deborah Tannen, the teacher’s encouraging and

Becoming a Certified Teacher in Missouri

Student Teaching: Real classroom experience for Teacher Candidate (you, the student) at the end of the program of study

Why I Would Be A Good Teaching Assistant

The reason why I want to teach is because of the essential and noble profession. Next to parents, I think teacher are important foundational element in our society. Being a teacher would show me the value, knowledge, and character to be a figure for children to look up to. The important thing is the proper preparation and the fundamental to living a full and rewarding life. A teacher is defined as someone who gives instruction and communicates skills. Teachers enhance the lives of our young children by using their teaching methods to deliver valuable information, which will serve the purpose throughout their lives.

Hi I Am Teacher Therese Of 51talk Analysis

Hi, I am Teacher Therese of 51Talk. For me, teaching is a satisfaction and an opportunity for me to impart my knowledge to others. When I have free time, I usually read books or articles which can enhance my knowledge. You can expect my classes to be fun and educational. See you in one of my classes!

Why I Chose Early Childhood Education

In my 24 years of experience employed with the Department of Education I have found that working with children watching as they grow is inspiring as much as it is rewarding. Teaching helps one to sharpen their skills on all levels for the curriculum is forever changing. Being an educator has its challenging moments but its something I want to accomplish. To be successful at educating others I must continue to grow, increase and improve within.

What Is My Field Experience

Through my professional seminar as well as my field experience, I was able to develop and determine what were my values regarding teaching. While I initially thought that my goal as a teacher was primarily to help out students and make their learning meaningful, through working and interacting with teachers at my host school, I came to the conclusion that this must be done by showing students the connection between what they are learning and their real life. Moreover, the teacher must not only be knowledgeable of their material, but they must show that they care about the students learning. More specifically, an effective teacher involves one who understands their classroom and their students and knows which strategies to use such that every student has an opportunity to succeed.

Critical Reflection And Professional Enquiry And The Importance Of Education

As a future practitioner, I believe that being able to evaluate our teaching practices and critically reflect on the way they

Personal Statement: A Career In Education

Teaching and guiding others have come naturally as long as I can remember, and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life; sometimes a field or a profession calls a certain type of person, and I definitely am drawn to a path in education. Nothing gives me more satisfaction, and can create more of a positive effect in our society. My passion is teaching and I want to change the lives of students across the board, but mostly those who live in poverty and have not possessed the same opportunities as

Personal Experience: My Teaching Philosophy

My philosophy of teaching is deeply rooted in nurturing the potential each and every student in my classes. Providing a creative environment that allows self assessment, growth, group interaction and mentorship are at its very core. Having taught in Higher Education for many years, and as an instructor of Media Arts and Animation, and Game Design, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the brightest and creative young professionals. Teaching has not only broadened my love of art and exploration, but my determination to help students that do not have the confidence to persevere through their education, yet have the passion to follow their dreams.

What Extracurricular Activities Would You Be A Part Of The Golf Program

Thinking back, I vividly remember always dreaming about pursing a career in education. As I’ve gotten older, I have begun to realize why exactly this profession has excited me for so many years. First, I love learning, and I want to spread this passion and enjoyment to my students. It is my mission to show them that learning can be fun, interactive, and truly life changing. Learning is something you do your entire life, and I want to equip my students with the proper skills and resources to be successful in this journey. Second, I have always thoroughly enjoyed helping others. By taking the initiative and seeking out opportunities, I want to form relationships with each of my students, finding ways

My Practicum Experience: Pursuing A Career In Higher Education

Pursuing the life to empower and educate our youth is the lifelong mission behind most teacher’s motivations to pursue the educational route in their higher education. My practicum placement I gained the opportunity to work alongside Ms. Jennifer Harvey in her endeavor to educate and inspire her first-grade students. In her class, I began to realize the workload and dedication that teachers set forth to help their students succeed. It may seem bizarre to believe how teachers calculate and manipulate their activities and lessons to meet their students' needs best. Consequently, my experience with her and her students, I saw how a connection formulated behind the teacher’s efforts and the performance of his or her students; it was beautiful. Over the course of my ninety-plus hours, I’ve gained more knowledge about how it means to be a teacher and how influential they are to the students than I ever imagined. Upon reflecting, I realized how this course strengthens my resolve, surprised me, helped me learn

Reflection Of Education As A Teacher

As I complete my final thoughts for this class, I have come to realize the importance of respecting others. As a future educator, its importance for me to understand the different social and culture values within the classroom. It’s my job to keep a positive environment that promotes learning for all (different ethnicities) students to success. There are plenty resources out there for teachers to utilize inside the classroom to incorporate different students’ cultures. For example, you can incorporate different books on different cultures inside your classroom library. As a teacher, it’s your job to make each child and family feel included. It’s our job to overcome those barriers and challenges that is associated with students who are immigrants. I’m willing to go the distance for my students, but first I need to understand and accept my own personal journey. It starts with understanding your own social identity; your social identity is how you establish yourself as a person.

The Reflection Of Being A Teacher

I have learned many things over the past five weeks of this course. I have learned that when you become a teacher you must accept everyone and their differences no matter what. These are the people who will soon shape and lead our nation. As a teacher one thing you say could ruin your reputation as a teacher. During my observations I realized how diverse a classroom really is. Just spending the fifteen hours in a classroom and observing has really helped me in looking deeper into everything and how things run in school. I also have learned that there are many ways you can figure out “tips and tricks” to dealing with difficult situations. The things about being a teacher and working in a certain environment can really give you more knowledge than working in most places. As a teacher your job is supposed to be teaching your students, but more times than not you will be the one learning. Kids can teach us to open our eyes to diversity because they are not born with hatred or bad thoughts about others. They learn those things from the environment and people around them. Seeing how young children react with each other we can learn a lot from them and if we just look at their views more than our own we can learn how to become better human beings. Overall, this course has taught me a lot about the people I come into contact with every day and how my actions may or may not affect them.

My Teacher Experience

I had a wonderful experience during my time at Mr. Palmieri’s sixth grade classroom at Woodrow Wilson School in Bayonne, New Jersey. Mr. Palmieri teaches three separate sixth grade classes of Mathematics. He and his students were very welcoming which generally increased my inspiration to teach and pursue my career in education. While completing my field experience, I believe that I have fully grown professionally and academically.

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Questions for Reflective Essays on Teaching

You may wish to consider some of the following issues as you think about writing a reflective essay on your teaching. We have grouped these questions into three subgroups: questions about your discipline and your research, questions about your student learning objectives, and questions about your teaching. These questions are not a template designed to produce a formulaic reflective essay. Select the ones which most effectively stimulate your thinking about your teaching, transform or adopt these questions, or create your own questions. Finally, while reflective essays should address the broad teaching issues which are fundamental to your teaching, you might also consider concentrating upon a single course.

Discipline and Research

• Think about your discipline as a lens or a window onto a given body of material, ideas, or texts. What problem, issue, or question first animated the construction of that lens? Do those same issues continue to animate it today? Think about the historical origins of your discipline, and its evolution as a field of study.
• What first captured your interest in your discipline? What now engages your attention about that discipline (i.e., what is your current research)? Think about the origins of your entry into your field of study, and about the transformations which your thought has undergone to lead you to your present interests.
• Under what broad problem, issue, or question would you subsume your current or most recent research projects and interests? How might that same problem, issue, or question have some impact on the lives, interests, or futures of your students? What kinds of texts or course materials might help you to demonstrate the relationship of your work and your discipline to your students?

Student Learning

• What important skills, abilities, theories or ideas will your discipline help students to develop or obtain? How will those skills or that knowledge help your students solve problems they may encounter, resolve difficult issues or choices with which they are confronted, or appreciate important–and perhaps otherwise neglected–dimensions of their lives and minds?
• How–if at all–do you communicate the value of your disciplinary lens, and the kind of research you pursue, to your students?
• What do you want your students to be able to do as a result of taking a course with you? Recall? Synthesize? Analyze? Interpret? Apply? Think both across all of your courses and within individual courses.
• What abstract reasoning skills will your students need to accomplish these objectives?
• How will you and your students best understand the nature of their learning, its progress, the obstacles it faces.

Teaching Practices and Reflections

• How do you communicate to your students what you expect them to know and do as a result of having taken your course?
• What teaching strategies do you use in the classroom–i.e., discussion, lecture, case studies, etc.–in order to foster the learning goals you have set for your students? How do you teach your students the abstract reasoning skills necessary for the learning you want them to do?
• How do your course materials, assignments, and exams contribute to fostering student learning?
• How do you measure student learning in your courses? How do you measure your own progress in helping students achieve the learning objectives you have set for them?
• How do you know whether your efforts to foster student learning have helped or hurt? Stimulated unintended, and perhaps undesirable, results? Have students learned despite you?

How to Write a Reflective Essay

You’re probably used to responding to different sources in essays. For example, in an academic essay, you might compare two books’ themes, argue for or against a position, analyze a piece of literature, or persuade the reader with facts and statistics.

In one way, a reflective essay is similar to an academic essay. Like an academic essay, a reflective essay can discuss ideas and concepts from books, literature, essays, or articles. However, unlike an academic essay, it focuses on how your personal experience relates to these things.

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What is a reflective essay?

Reflective essays are a type of personal essay in which the writer examines a topic through the lens of their unique perspective. Reflective essays are more subjective about their subjects than an academic essay, use figurative language, and don’t require academic sources. The purpose of a reflective essay is to explore and share the author’s thoughts, perspectives, and experiences.

Reflective essays are often written for college applications and cover letters as a way for the writer to discuss their background and demonstrate how these experiences shaped them into an ideal candidate. For example, a college applicant might write a reflective essay about how moving every few years because of their parent’s military service impacted their concept of home.

Sometimes, reflective essays are academic assignments. For example, a student may be assigned to watch a film or visit a museum exhibition and write a reflective essay about the film or exhibition’s themes. Reflective essays can also be pieces of personal writing, such as blog posts or journal entries.

Reflective essay vs. narrative essay

There are a few similarities between reflective essays and narrative essays. Both are personal pieces of writing in which the author explores their thoughts about their experiences. But here’s the main difference: While a narrative essay focuses on a story about events in the author’s life, a reflective essay focuses on the changes the author underwent because of those events. A narrative essay has many of the same elements as a fictional story: setting, characters, plot, and conflict. A reflective essay gets granular about the circumstances and changes driven by the conflict and doesn’t necessarily aim to tell a full story.

Reflective essays based on academic material

You might be assigned to write a reflective essay on an academic text, such as an essay, a book, or an article. Unlike a reflective essay about your own personal experiences, this type of reflective essay involves analysis and interpretation of the material. However, unlike in an analytical essay , the position you support is informed by your own opinion and perspective rather than solely by the text.

How to choose a topic

A reflective essay can be about any topic. By definition, a reflective essay is an essay where the writer describes an event or experience (or series of events or experiences) and then discusses and analyzes the lessons they derived from their experience. This experience can be about anything , whether big life events like moving to a new country or smaller experiences like trying sushi for the first time. The topic can be serious, lighthearted, poignant, or simply entertaining.

If your reflective essay is for an assignment or an application, you might be given a topic. In some cases, you might be given a broad area or keyword and then have to develop your own topic related to those things. In other cases, you might not be given anything. No matter which is the case for your essay, there are a few ways to explore reflective essay ideas and develop your topic.

Freewriting is a writing exercise where you simply write whatever comes to mind for a fixed period of time without worrying about grammar or structure or even writing something coherent. The goal is to get your ideas onto paper and explore them creatively, and by removing the pressure to write something submittable, you’re giving yourself more room to play with these ideas.

Make a mind map

A mind map is a diagram that shows the relationships between ideas, events, and other words related to one central concept. For example, a mind map for the word book might branch into the following words: fiction , nonfiction , digital , hardcover . Each of these words then branches to subtopics. These subtopics further branch to subtopics of their own, demonstrating just how deep you can explore a subject.

Creating a mind map can be a helpful way to explore your thoughts and feelings about the experience you discuss in your essay.

Real-life experiences

You can find inspiration for a reflective essay from any part of your life. Think about an experience that shifted your worldview or dramatically changed your daily routine. Or you can focus on the smaller, even mundane, parts of life like your weekly cleaning routine or trips to the grocery store. In a reflective essay, you don’t just describe experiences; you explore how they shape you and your feelings.

Reflective essay outline

Introduction.

A reflective essay’s introduction paragraph needs to include:

• A thesis statement

The hook is the sentence that catches the reader’s attention and makes them want to read more. This can be an unexpected fact, an intriguing statistic, a left-field observation, or a question that gets the reader’s mind thinking about the essay’s topic.

The thesis statement is a concise statement that introduces the reader to the essay’s topic . A thesis statement clearly spells out the topic and gives the reader context for the rest of the essay they’re about to read.

These aren’t all the things that a reflective essay’s introduction needs, however. This paragraph needs to effectively introduce the topic, which often means introducing a few of the ideas discussed in the essay’s body paragraphs alongside the hook and thesis statement.

Body paragraphs

Your essay’s body paragraphs are where you actually explore the experience you’re reflecting on. You might compare experiences, describe scenes and your emotions following them, recount interactions, and contrast it with any expectations you had beforehand.

Unless you’re writing for a specific assignment, there’s no required number of body paragraphs for your reflective essay. Generally, authors write three body paragraphs, but if your essay needs only two—or it needs four or five—to fully communicate your experience and reflection, that’s perfectly fine.

In the final section, tie up any loose ends from the essay’s body paragraphs. Mention your thesis statement in the conclusion, either by restating it or paraphrasing it. Give the reader a sense of completion by including a final thought or two. However, these thoughts should reflect statements you made in the body paragraphs rather than introduce anything new to the essay. Your conclusion should also clearly share how the experience or events you discussed affected you (and, if applicable, continue to do so).

6 tips for writing a reflective essay

1 choose a tone.

Before you begin to write your reflective essay, choose a tone . Because a reflective essay is more personal than an academic essay, you don’t need to use a strict, formal tone. You can also use personal pronouns like I and me in your essay because this essay is about your personal experiences.

2 Be mindful of length

Generally, five hundred to one thousand words is an appropriate length for a reflective essay. If it’s a personal piece, it may be longer.

You might be required to keep your essay within a general word count if it’s an assignment or part of an application. When this is the case, be mindful to stick to the word count—writing too little or too much can have a negative impact on your grade or your candidacy.

3 Stay on topic

A reflective essay reflects on a single topic. Whether that topic is a one-off event or a recurring experience in your life, it’s important to keep your writing focused on that topic.

4 Be clear and concise

In a reflective essay, introspection and vivid imagery are assets. However, the essay’s language should remain concise , and its structure should follow a logical narrative.

5 Stay professional

Although you aren’t bound to a formal tone, it’s generally best to use a professional tone in your reflective writing. Avoid using slang or overly familiar language, especially if your reflective essay is part of a college or job application .

6 Proofread

Before you hit “send” or “submit,” be sure to proofread your work. For this last read-through, you should be focused on catching any spelling or grammatical mistakes you might have missed.

Reflective essay FAQs

Reflective essays are a type of personal essay that examines a topic through the lens of thewriter’s unique perspective. They are more subjective about their subjects than an academic essay, use figurative language, and don’t require academic sources.

What’s the difference between a reflective essay and a narrative essay?

While a reflective essay focuses on its author’s feelings and perspectives surrounding events they’ve experienced or texts they’ve read, a narrative essay tells a story. A narrative essay might show changes the author underwent through the same conventions a fictional story uses to show character growth; a reflective essay discusses this growth more explicitly and explores it in depth.

What are example topics for a reflective essay?

• Moving abroad and adapting to the local culture
• Recovering from an athletic injury
• Weekly phone conversations with your grandmother
• The funniest joke you ever heard (and what made it so funny)

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Reflections on Our Favorite Teachers

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Editor’s Note: Obviously, the main thing on all of our minds is not the qualities of our favorite teachers—it’s the coronavirus and its impact on our society, our students, our families, and on us. Ed Week has been doing a tremendous job covering its impact on schools, and I have been posting related resources and advice every day at my Websites Of The Day blog (see The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) - Please Make More Suggestions! ). And, of course, I’ve been trying to figure out how to support my own students as our district shuts down.

Nevertheless, in this time of crisis, reading and thinking about non-coronavirus topics can be a welcome diversion now and then. I put thinking about and reading about our favorite teachers into that “welcome diversion” category.

(This post is the first in a multipart series.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

Who was your favorite teacher when you were attending school, and why was she/he your favorite?

We all had favorite teachers when we were going to school, and I suspect that most of us hope that our students feel that way about us.

This series will share reflections from educators on their favorite teachers and what qualities made them so memorable. Perhaps we can apply these recollections toward improving our own daily practice.

Students Share Their Best School Experiences & What We Can Learn From Them is the all-time most popular post from this column. Keeping that in mind, a number of columns in this series will also share commentaries from present-day students about their favorite teachers.

Today’s post will share responses from Elizabeth Villanueva, Jessica Levine, Betty Cárdenas, and Jenny Vo. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with the four of them on my BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

“Love and dedication”

Elizabeth Villanueva is a Spanish teacher and world-language department chair at Luther Burbank High School. She has been recognized as the 2018 National Education Association Social Justice Activist Award Finalist; 2018 California Teachers Association, César Chávez “Sí Se Puede Human Rights Award"; and Sacramento City Unified school district, Teacher of the Year 2015-2016. Elizabeth is an Ed.D., candidate at the University of San Francisco in the Learning and Instruction Doctoral Program with an emphasis in heritage-language maintenance:

When I first came to Salinas, Calif., at the age of almost 18 not knowing any English, I had an ESL teacher whose love and dedication for her students’ success made her my favorite teacher. Her name is Rosa Montoya, who was, for the very first time in my life that I remember, someone who told me I was smart. Ms. Montoya was the first teacher I encountered when I first attended Alisal High School in Salinas. I remember her being tall and skinny with a very deep and strong voice speaking in a language that I had no clue of what she was saying. That made me be afraid of her, or it was just the fact that I felt lost in her class at first for not being able to understand and communicate in English. I was not the only one feeling that way, since most of the students in her class were in a similar situation as myself as a new English-language learner who had recently arrived in this country.

As time passed, a group of friends and I looked for a safe spot to meet during lunch, and we found out that Ms. Montoya kept her classroom open during lunch, and her students were welcome to come and hang in there. It was during lunch that we would go and sit by her desk and just talked about our families or any difficult situations we were facing due to the fact that we were far from our home country. She would ask us what was something we missed the most or what we wanted to do once we graduated from high school.

One day in specific, during the spring semester a few weeks before summer break, I remember at the beginning of her lesson she was very happy and excited sharing something that I couldn’t understand much except for the word “Paris.” It is a cognate in Spanish, and that last syllable sounds the same in both languages. We didn’t know then that she spoke Spanish; we knew that she understood because we would speak to her in Spanish, and she would respond in English. After she explained in English her summer plans, she switched to Spanish to let us know that she was going to Paris for her summer break. I was amazed and speechless because it was the first time that I knew someone who was going to Europe, specifically Paris. Then during lunch, we came back to her classroom, and I asked her so many about her upcoming trip. Then one of her answers was, “Elizabeth, when you go to college, you will travel to Paris and so many other countries yourself.” That was the first time that I heard the word “college.” I didn’t know what exactly that meant, but the way that she said it with such determination and a belief in me made me believe that one day I would travel like her.

My hopes and dreams that one day I could be “someone” in this country flew up to the sky. That was just one example of the many times she would instill in me motivation and guidance so that I would apply myself to graduate from high school in two years. She was the one who introduced me to my counselor to ensure that I was getting the right classes that would help me learn English faster and complete the high school requirements. She gave me academic tools, guidance, and an English and Spanish dictionary that I still have. She motivated me by saying that if I studied and received a college education, I could also travel the world like her. Her trust, commitment, simplicity, and interest influenced me tremendously later on in college to decide to become a teacher. Ms. Montoya’s passion, love, and patience to teach her subject matter and students were transmitted instantly. I believed her. I was very fortunate to have had her.

She not only cared for my academic success but also for my well-being. Even when I was not in her class anymore because my second year in high school as a senior I was taking regular English classes, she was constantly checking in on me. That fear and intimidation that I first felt in her class became admiration and respect for her and her profession. She was intentional and purposeful. Now, I have become a passionate teacher and world traveler, hoping one day my students will get inspired and expand their horizons as well.

“She advocated for me”

Jessica Levine is an innovative educator who strives to provide exceptional learning experiences for students and adult learners. She has presented on multiple topics focused on effective technology integration and innovative practices at the national and local level. Connect with her on twitter: @SCTechJess:

I want you to reflect on your career as an educator. When designing lessons, implementing classroom-management strategies, and connecting with your students, do you find yourself thinking about your childhood experiences? To this day, I often think about the experiences I had as a student. Even though I’ve had some amazing teachers throughout my elementary, secondary, and postsecondary school years, there are two teachers who have played an integral part in my professional and personal life. It has been close to 20 years since I’ve been in middle school; however, the qualities Mr. Tagg and Mrs. Bendell displayed are unforgettable.

Mr. Tagg was my Algebra 1 Honors teacher in 8th grade at Berkeley Middle School. Math has always been my favorite subject in school, but having Mr. Tagg as a teacher made my math class even better. He was very approachable and enthusiastic about teaching. There was never a dull moment in his class. I remember engaging in fun lessons and learning practical strategies to solve complex algebra problems. The most memorable part of my class was when Mr. Tagg turned the topic of probability and statistics into a game-based baseball unit. We also went on a field trip to a minor-league baseball game in Charleston. It was a remarkable experience because I had an opportunity to see what I was learning in school right before my eyes in the real world. As an educator, I strive to re-enact moments like this for students and other educators in the classroom and through my professional-development sessions.

Another phenomenal teacher I had was Mrs. Bendell. She also taught at Berkeley Middle School where she was my 6th grade Honors English teacher. I can truly say she instilled a love for writing and public speaking within me. She provided me with so many strategies to develop great speeches and writing samples. She was my only English teacher who allowed my classmates and me to share all of our writing samples with one another. I used to look forward to delivering my speeches and hearing from my classmates to get new ideas. As an adult, I have had an opportunity to deliver a Ted talk at the 2019 ISTE Conference. I’ve also presented at multiple national, state, and local conferences.

When I think about Mrs. Bendell, I also remember her being an advocate for me. The first couple of weeks in middle school, I was in the wrong classes. Before coming to middle school, I was in gifted and talented classes. For some odd reason, my schedule did not reflect this when I went to middle school. One day I spoke with Mrs. Bendell and shared with her my concerns. I told her that I was not in the right classes and that I should be in her Honors English class. Instead of brushing it off, she advocated for me. She went to the guidance department to share this information with them. She also told them how she felt it was necessary to change my schedule. Long story short, Mrs. Bendell was able to get my schedule changed within two weeks. I will never forget what she did for me. This is why I make sure to advocate for all of my students. Every child needs educators who will have their best interest at heart.

Abdul Kalam said, “Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual.” Educators must be mindful that everything they do has a lasting impression on their students. I’m thankful for the experiences I’ve had with Mr. Tagg and Mrs. Bendell for they have shaped my life. Thank you for being exceptional educators. You are my favorite teachers.

She helped me “establish my purpose”

Betty A. Cárdenas was a Texas bilingual educator for seven years and has most recently been serving as a bilingual/ESL & special education specialist for the Region One Education Service Center in the Rio Grande Valley. With a passion and dedication to the educational field, she is now pursuing doctoral courses in bilingual education at Texas A&M Kingsville. She seeks continuous learning experiences for herself that can help her provide all students with a feeling of success and enjoyment in school:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I remember being asked that question numerous times as a child. Now I wonder, is it possible that the knowing of who we aspire to be is the most important question to know the answer for? To me, this question never held more weight than it did my 4th grade year with Ms. Pérez.

I distinctly remember dividing my paper in half to draw a singer on one side (Selena Quintanilla was my idol) and a teacher on the other. Like any great teacher would, Ms. Pérez had us write the explanation for our choices underneath. Both reasons dealt with how these two actions made me feel. Singing gave me a sense of liberation and expression. Although I quickly realized that singing along to the radio or in the shower was enough singing satisfaction for me, I enjoyed dancing more, too. Teaching, though, teaching was another story.

Ms. Pérez gave us multiple group-work opportunities in which I would often take the leader role to help others, or she herself would assign us to assist. Being able to help others made me feel productive and useful, like I was making a difference. This feeling created a sense of purpose that went beyond completing my work. It was a sense of accomplishment to know I had made a difference in someone’s understanding. That’s what I was after when I decided to become a teacher.

Now as an educator, I’ve been asked the question, “Who was your favorite teacher?” multiple times. Usually, this question leads up to the importance of teaching the whole child. While my answer has always been, “Ms. Pérez,” and I rationalized my decision with her granting me the opportunity to realize the direction I wanted my life to take, I slowly realized it was much more than that. I have jogged my memory and discovered she stands out to me for more reasons than one.

Ms. Pérez was the patient type of teacher that always had encouraging words, she had high expectations, and rewarded our efforts. Even when we happened to break the rules, she would calmly inquire the reason for our behavior and helped us to see the importance of taking alternative steps. Moreover, as I went down memory lane, another profound memory I stumbled upon was my first day of school with Ms. Pérez. Like other parents, my dad walked me to her doorway. She greeted us with her genuine smile and communicated to him in Spanish that this would be my first school year to be in an all-English class but not to worry because she would still be giving me assistance as needed. “ Le va ir bien ,” she said, “she will do well.” I remember feeling the sense of importance in what she was saying, but at nine years of age didn’t realize why it was such a big deal. Hadn’t I already been receiving English instruction? I knew I had been receiving instruction in both languages and I had always been made to feel like both languages were valued and important. With Ms. Pérez, it was no different, but it did mark my transition year during which, in retrospect, being successful in her class only provided further validation.

Ms. Pérez did much more than present me with the opportunity to think of what I wanted to be when I grew up. She emphasized the importance of aspiration through her dedication to ensure I had a successful year since day one. She found my strengths and built upon them. Overall, she helped me believe—believe that I could be what I set out to be. Yet most importantly and unknowingly, by valuing me as whole, she marked the beginning of my need to provide students with the same empowering feeling that she provided me. With Ms. Pérez, I knew the answer not only to the most important question, but subconsciously I had also established my purpose: my why .

“Emotional support and love”

Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-learners during all of her 23 years in education and is currently an ESL ISST in Katy ISD in Katy, Texas:

I’ve had many amazing teachers during the years I was in school. A number of them still hold a special place in my heart—my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Logsdon, my 5th grade teacher Mr. Wooley, and my 9th grade English teacher Mrs. Vurlicer are just a few. However, the title of my favorite teacher goes to Mrs. Virginia Newcomb. Mrs. Newcomb has been my favorite teacher ever since I met her in 3rd grade at Robert F. Elementary School in San Jose, Calif. Mrs. Newcomb was actually the school librarian, but she also served as the gifted and talented teacher for our campus. My relationship with Mrs. Newcomb started when I qualified for the GT program in 3rd grade.

I started at Kennedy Elementary as a 2nd grader in 1981. We had just arrived in the United States that year—my dad and I. My mother and younger siblings were still in Vietnam. My dad and I had been reunited with my grandmother and uncle, who had come to the United States in 1985. At that time, we were living in a two-bedroom apartment with another family. I did not know much English—only a few words that I had learned from a few classes on the refugee island. But I was a voracious learner, soaking up everything like a sponge. I stayed after school and joined one of the 3rd grade classes when they had tutorials. I picked up the language quickly and was recommended and qualified for the GT program the next year in 3rd grade. From then on, this motherless girl found a mother and a second family in the form of our school’s sweet librarian and my GT teacher—Mrs. Virginia Newcomb.

Once I started the gifted and talented classes, Mrs. Newcomb and I were pretty much inseparable. I stayed after school helping her to shelve books (and reading all of them as I shelve!) and inventorying and tagging books in the summer. My love for reading blossomed under her tutelage. Our summer weekends were spent at church and garage sales. I still vividly remember driving around in her convertible with the top down and feeling the breeze blowing on my face.

Even though my family moved to another area when I started junior high, my weekends and summers with Mrs. Newcomb continued. Vacation bible school sessions were my favorite because I saw her every day! One summer, she even took me to Disneyland! I so cherished those days with Mrs. Newcomb and her daughter, Linda! My uncle and dad were busy working so we didn’t go anywhere, so my time with Mrs. Newcomb were a reprieve from those lonely Saturdays and Sundays cooped up in the apartment. Sadly, those weekends ended when my family moved to Texas in 1986. However, Mrs. Newcomb and I still kept in touch through letters and phone calls. The frequency got less and less as I grew older, but the love was still ever present. When I got married in 1994, Mrs. Newcomb and Linda flew over from California to attend my wedding. When I gave birth to my daughter, I received an ABC book that Mrs. Newcomb had painstakingly created for Kaitlin. We exchange Christmas cards and letters every year. I hope to bring my two children to visit her soon! Mrs. Newcomb will always be my favorite teacher because of the emotional support and love she gave me when I needed these things so desperately.

Thanks to Elizabeth, Jessica, Betty, and Jenny for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn’t include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the “answers” category found in the sidebar.

This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts

Race & Gender Challenges

Classroom-Management Advice

Best Ways to Begin the School Year

Best Ways to End the School Year

Implementing the Common Core

Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning

Teaching Social Studies

Cooperative & Collaborative Learning

Using Tech in the Classroom

Parent Engagement in Schools

Teaching English-Language Learners

Reading Instruction

Writing Instruction

Education Policy Issues

Differentiating Instruction

Math Instruction

Science Instruction

Advice for New Teachers

Author Interviews

Entering the Teaching Profession

The Inclusive Classroom

Learning & the Brain

Administrator Leadership

Teacher Leadership

Relationships in Schools

Professional Development

Instructional Strategies

Best of Classroom Q&A

Professional Collaboration

Classroom Organization

Mistakes in Education

Project-Based Learning

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column .

Look for Part Two in a few days....

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Reflection on Teaching Placement

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Teaching Young Students How to Reflect on Their Learning

Early elementary students can identify and articulate their goals through structured reflection on what matters most to them.

Reflection helps us remember lessons learned and gives us a sense of accomplishment. When we consider our challenges and experiences deeply, we can identify gratifying experiences and things that we can aspire to do differently going forward.

When you help kids set manageable goals, they can take ownership of their learning and understand that they can accomplish hard things if they focus. As a foundation for lifelong learning, reflection builds confidence and fosters pride in new skills (including metacognition skills that help learners notice their own growth).

You can teach young children this skill anytime during the school year, weaving it into instruction in any number of simple ways. I like to build reflection into the beginning of the school year so students can set their own goals for the year ahead, and near the end of the school year .

Setting Goals

I always have kids reflect on their hopes and dreams for the school year ahead to set them up for success. I guide them through the activity over the first couple of weeks of school, starting with discussions centered around questions like “Why do we come to school?” and “What would you like to accomplish here?”

I record my students’ answers on a single piece of chart paper and help them articulate the answers as manageable goals. (If any of their goals seem unrealistic, I help them form ones that are more manageable. If a child says, “I want to visit a zoo,” I may ask them if I can rephrase their goal by saying, “Sounds like you want to learn about animals this year. Can I write that down?”)

This activity continues over several days: The list grows as new goals emerge, classroom routines develop, and students learn what a school day is like. Students also discover that setting learning goals takes time and requires thoughtfulness to discover what matters most to them.

After a week, each child chooses one goal from our class list that is most important to them. They write it down on a piece of paper and illustrate it with markers and watercolor paints. Then each child shares their goal with the class, and we display them for everyone to see. The students learn that their goals are something they can work toward and be proud of, and that goals represent who they are, who they want to become, and what is important to them.

Morning Meeting

I also teach children about reflection in our daily morning meeting. Our class mascot is a stuffed turtle named Twiggles, who shows up every day at our morning meeting and asks the kids, “How are you feeling?” This SEL activity helps the kids learn how to identify and express their emotions. We name our feelings and describe what may be causing them; sharing them in a group builds their confidence. We also talk about expected and unexpected feelings (excitement to see a friend or sudden sadness while remembering a loved one who has passed away), as well as comfortable and uncomfortable feelings (happiness when you do something really well or nervousness when presenting your work to the class). Finally, we notice how feelings come and go and how sometimes people can have many emotions at once.

I like to list these feelings on an ABC chart (A: Agreeable, Anxious, Annoyed; B: Brave, Bored, Bashful; etc.) so that we can continue to reflect on and learn from the many feelings that infuse our days. Being able to notice, name, and reflect on their emotions gives children the emotional vocabulary they need to feel heard, valued, and accepted, which helps them in accomplishing their goals.

Written Reflection

Another great way to reflect with young children is through their written work. Whether we are doing a science observation out in nature or discussing a strategy for solving a math equation, the kids keep a journal where they can reflect on what they learned. They answer these three prompts: I see _____, I think _____, I wonder _____.

That way, children learn how to pay close attention to what they see, draw conclusions from their observations, and think about what questions that doing so brings up for them. This simple journal activity, along with other question-generating strategies, such as the Question Formulation Technique , helps students reflect on their learning and take ownership of it.

As the children share their thoughts with classmates, they learn that there are many ways to solve problems, that their observations can help others learn, and that there is value in listening to others’ ideas. This practice of reflecting on their work with others helps build confidence in their knowledge, engages them in their assignments, and inspires curiosity.

Memory Rocks

This year I introduced a new reflection activity to my students: creating memory rocks. At the end of the year, we made a list of lessons learned from the long previous months, when things were constantly changing. I asked my students simple questions about what lessons or memories they wanted to hold on to as we got ready to say goodbye for the summer:

• What did we learn from this year?
• How are you feeling?
• What was the most important thing you want to remember?

They amazed me with their simple, powerful reflections: Don’t give up... Be kind... Try your best... Friendship counts... Be brave... Things can change... Be yourself... Help others... You can do it... Love.

Then we read If You Find a Rock , a story about all the mysterious natural places you can find different kinds of rocks, including those you hold on to that can represent certain memories. Then we went outside in the woods to look together for smooth rocks and brought a big pile back to our classroom.

Each child wrote the words they wanted to put on their memory rock to honor our year together. They drew on paper what they wanted their rock to look like, then painted it with vibrant colors and a white square in the middle for their words to go. When they were done, they brought their rocks to the front entrance of our school for all to see.

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Reflections of a Student Teacher

My student teaching experience was transformative. The ten weeks were filled with moments of joy and growth. I learned many lessons, and I wanted to share a few.

My focus during student teaching was to connect with students and build a partnership with them. I felt that a truly student-centered classroom honors who students are and incorporates student voice and choice. My mentor teachers inspired this focus. They connected with students in different but meaningful ways. From weekend updates to asking how clubs and sports were going, they made sure to know what was going on in their students’ lives. I started doing the same. By doing so, I learned so much about who students are and what they care about. It also created space to ask students what their preferences for learning are. I was then able to incorporate their voice in the lessons I planned and give them choice in activities they completed. When I asked students what they thought about including student voice and choice in the classroom, they shared that “having a choice makes me feel heard and is helpful to customize my learning experience to my preferences to help me succeed”, and “I love having a choice in class because it makes me feel more important”. My students taught me that including student voice and choice in the classroom creates rich learning experiences for them and me. The classroom becomes our classroom.

I also learned that reflection is key. Teachers are reflective practitioners; lessons and teaching practices can always improve. Self-reflection and conversations with others, like my mentor teachers, created space for me to consider how I can improve. I liked reflecting immediately after lessons because my thoughts and feelings about how the lesson went were the freshest then. I also saw teachers reflecting with one another. Members from the Human Geography team would meet often and discuss how the lessons they created went. The discussion was surrounded around what went well and what could be improved. Here, collaboration was not only rooted in creating ideas as a team but also creating space to grow as a collective of teachers. They knew that they can always get better at their craft.

I learned one last and arguably the most important lesson. My last day of student teaching was very bittersweet. On the one hand, the end of student teaching meant I was that much closer to getting my own classroom. On the other hand, it meant saying goodbye to everyone. I loved the school community, from the teachers to the students. I thought to myself, how can I say goodbye to individuals who have made such an impact on me? I then realized that the people you meet is the best part of the job. Teaching means meeting individuals who will forever change your life. I am so grateful for the people I met at Elk Grove High School, and I am so excited to meet more wonderful people next year. I can’t wait to start my teaching career!

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Teaching in the Classroom – A Summary of My Teaching Practice with Reflections on Becoming an Intentional Teacher