Reflect Your Best

Reflection is a critical attribute of effective professionals. Seems, all my life, I have been reflecting. When I was in Brownies (Girl Scouts) there was a ceremony in which the words, I do not recall, but at the end my troop and I got to peer over the edge of the flora and fauna and saw ourselves-the only person we could change. There was a mirror on the floor with its edges hidden by plants. As a student teacher, I had six 42-minute periods one semester. Three of which were 8th grade math - so there was an opportunity to quickly reflect between class periods to adjust instruction to enhance results. During that time, my cooperating teacher supported me in my reflection with questions or observations. As a teacher, department head, and later a writer I have chosen to use reflection as an internal process to enhance my effectiveness.


In this month's issue of the Virginia Journal of Education, there is an article that I co-authored with James Stronge (author of Qualities of Effective Teachers) on reflection.The "aha" for me in the article was classifying thoughts by their reflective state. Sometimes just having a label to attach to a thought can help in the processing of the event. The three states are: emotional, acknowledging, and questioning. Often times, a reflection involves multiple reflective states, but once clear of the emotional response, I feel free to explore the issue. The article addresses in a nutshell developing a reflective process through the use of three questions (an idea I borrowed from my mother who always started her classes with three questions on a topic) as well as how to support colleagues' reflective practice.

The three questions are:

1. What went well today and why?
2. What could have gone better and why?
3. What do I want to remember for the future?

Certainly there are otherways to reflect. The three questions get you started. For me, the questions provide a frame to decompress from work as well as hold onto what was worthwhile and process what needed to be better.