A Reflective Teacher!!!!!!!!!

                             A  Reflective teacher!     

                                                 By Haridas                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Keeping a journal and writing in it is a journey of good as well as reflective learning. It is a full of emotion and thought. It is a journey from within. It starts with thought and ends with insight. It always inculcates lot of things into not only teacher’s life, but also the students with many changes.  These are clear communication, clear thought, full of ideas, innovation in application and creativity in the class etc. it always changes the mindset of the teachers and gives a lot of new ideas. That can give an insight to them. Over all it is good and innovative method. The teachers can keep and develop self in the course of time.  

            At first two teachers make a group and everyday they exchange their journals with each other. Then they read it and supply the feedback to each other. Sometime they try to suggest some way out. They also share their feeling, thought and ideas with each other. But they have to go through following questions before sharing their journals. They need to spend time into this journal activity and also think into these given questions. Then they try to write them honestly. The questions are given below.

A)  Questions about your teaching

1)    What did you set out to teach?

2)    Were you able to accomplish your goals?

3)    What teaching materials did you use? How effective were they?

4)    What technique did you use?

5)    What grouping arrangements did you use?

6)    Was your lesson teacher dominated?

7)    What kind of teacher –student interaction occurred?

8)    Did anything amusing or unusual occur?

9)    Did you have any problems with the lesson?

10)          Did you do anything differently than usual?

11)          What kind of decision making did you employ?

12)          Did you depart from your lesson plan? If so, why? Did the change make things better or worse?

13)          What was the main accomplishment of the lesson?

14)          Which parts of the lesson were most successful?

15)          Which parts of the lesson were least successful?

16)          Would you teach the lesson differently if you taught it again?

17)           Was your philosophy of teaching reflected in the lesson?

18)          Did you discover anything new about your teaching?

19)          What changes do you think you should make in your teaching?

B)   Questions about the students.

1)    Did you teach all your students today?

2)    Did students contribute actively to the lesson?

3)    How did you respond to different students’ needs?

4)    Were students challenged by the lesson?

5)    What do you think students really learned from the lesson?

6)    What did they like most about the lesson?

7)    What didn’t they respond well to?

C)    Questions to ask yourself as a language teacher.

1)    What is the source of my ideas about language teaching?

2)    Where am I in my professional development?

3)    How am I developing as a language teacher?

4)    What are my strengths as a language teacher?

5)    What are my limitations at present?

6)    Are there any contradictions in my teaching?

7)    How can I improve my language teaching?

8)    How am I helping my students?

9)    What satisfaction does language teaching give me? 

                            Once they exchange it. Then they try to change themselves internally and externally. They have good flow of ideas as well as thought. And these will try to change their image in the class and the school. It is purely, entirely and certainly mental changing process. It gives a sense of responsibility, duty sincerity and freedom etc. through this, they come school every day with a bag of creativity and innovative. It is never going to end, but all the time full of amazing ideas. Anytime they can use. It is an ultimate beneficial for all of them including the school. If taken proper way and done daily, it is surely going to change the face of not only the teachers but also the school.