Reflective practise is nothing new. When I did my teacher training I was encouraged to write my lesson reflections after the session on a proforma, this formed my evidence of meeting the required standards. I loved it. I loved celebrating the wins and I sadly, really loved trying to put a positive spin on the fails in my classroom. Those reflections helped me develop at a rapid pace as was required on my PGCE. I was fortunate to be on placement with a peer so we reflected together. Coincidently my peer lived local to me and we were able to car share to placement. Those car journeys became invaluable. Whilst teaching in the same department in a school of only 800 students we still struggled to see each other during the day. Different breaks and lunch duties, combined with we were very much used as supply cover, meant our paths rarely crossed. We would debrief with each other in the car on the way home and share our many failures of the day. We then learnt that there was a staff funded breakfast club (I'm not going to address the poverty divide of this time 10 years ago that has shifted very little in that time today, but I want to make the point, this was 10 years ago!) for the students so we started getting into work earlier to help feed the students. We were then mixing with colleagues from other departments and those reflective conversations with them shaped our days too. I remember a drama teacher sharing an ice breaker game that had gone well in her lesson. I immediately tried it with bottom set year 8 and we had a more productive lesson than the day before. I remember the languages teacher talking about call and response but asking students to pick the next respondent. I tried it with year 7 who were so excited to be active vs what I had done previously. Through those connections in breakfast club my practise changed, and many of those changes remain in my practise today.
Yet if you asked me at the time how I reflected, it was on the proforma from university with document ref TP4. I valued these connections and discussions but I didn't see them as my reflections, that was an isolating process done late at night before my assessor arrived. But which held more power and influence in my practise? Well both, the informal conversations informed my decisions and my reflections on the proforma. They were intertwined. In our GEG UK event we all concluded that these informal connections are important when reflecting. So how do I do this now I am more experienced?
When we were face to face we had a tiny cupboard office for all of us to drop bags off, eat lunch and plan sessions. It was a grim space visually. Planning happened in my classroom at the end of the day and I rarely went to the cupboard. But when I did it was to reflect. Mainly moan but actually reflect. 'I've just had group A and you will never guess what happened' someone would respond with 'I had them yesterday and they were the same' in that supportive comment I could immediately reflect and think the issues of my lesson were perhaps outside factors at play with the group. I would then individually reflect when I returned to my room and think, what can I do about it next time, how can I engage group A so that these external issues don't affect my lesson, how can I engage them more?
I was always a fan of scribbling over my lesson plans. The printed template of the school I was in would be beautifully planned, sequenced on a lovely piece of crisp paper in my plastic wallet on my desk throughout the lesson. Then after the lesson I would take it out of the wallet, and using a different coloured pen I would scribble and destroy it, proudly! I would scribble on each episode the initials of students who did or didn't engage well. I would annotate episodes we needed to go back over next lesson as it wasn't secure. I would star episodes that went well to remind me to praise them next lesson. It would be covered in annotations, arrows, stars, and big text to remind me of important things. That was my reflection and me learning from the experience of the lesson, planning what adjustments I was going to make for next lesson.
When lesson plans were no longer a mandatory requirement, when evidence of planning came in, I stopped using paper templates. As much as I enjoyed planning and reflecting, when time's tight anything that becomes optional is removed from my task list. We moved to mini schemes of work, the old units of work for a series of lessons with the main highlights being the planned episodes. These were printed out and popped in my plastic wallet on my desk and dutifully scribbled over after the lesson. Old habits die hard. When I became multi site these stopped being printed. But I still scribbled all over them, but this time via adding comments to the doc online. Selecting the episode and inserting a comment, after the lesson, with initials for those who needed a bit more on this and how I was planning to address it next lesson. Happily even my online units of work docs were hideously scribbled all over and rightly looked a mess with all my annotations.
I became multi site when I moved into an advanced, whatever work you use in your instution type role. Essentially a coaching and mentoring role for staff. I mention role and rank for the purposes of highlighting that I still choose to teach. I need to experience the ever changing spheres of the classroom, reflect and adapt in order to best support my colleagues and peers. If I fully moved into what I call trainer land, where everything exists beautifully on paper, my empathy for coachees would be affected. I need to live and breath the challenges of the classroom, at this time, in this institution to have my freshest thinking to share.
This reflection is an isolating process. This blog today is an isolated process. Although it stemmed from a discussion with others I am reflecting on my own here and now. With the world as it is now we are seeking and valuing those connections even more. So how do we connect and reflect as a department, as a faculty?
As a member of the collective #JoyFE we are all about seeking and practising joy in further education. FE is similar to community college in USA but has many differences too. In #JoyFE we celebrate the #Microjoys of the day. A #Microjoy is a joyful thing that happened. Looking at my experiences above, the car journeys with my peer would be a #Microjoy. The sharing of lesson reflections over the breakfast club too. Finding time to reflect and scribble on my lesson plans a #Microjoy aswell. How can we, as educators, reflect and celebrate those #Microjoys with our peers?
The staffroom is the natural home for teacher reflections and #Microjoy celebrations in the face to face school. But with modern buildings sacrificing staff areas for work zones these are dwindling. It has also been a challenge to replicate now we are online. There are weekly drop ins for staff to come and have a natter. Anecdotally I see these having various success from department to department even within institutions. The idea is lovely, someone is there to talk to and connect with. The challenge is we often exist in hierarchies and the person who is there to listen may sit in a different part of the hierarchy meaning participants may be reluctant to join or share. There are other challenges with this approach but for brevity we will move on. I have seen Google Classrooms created for resource sharing. These would lead to celebrations of good lessons and #Microjoys but those reflections on challenging lessons may not be captured in this format. Daily briefings. Whilst they help connect us, they again are not a space where we can reflect.
Flipgrid is a video tool where you can pose questions and respond. There are other features too. I have blogged many times about Flipgrid, especially as a tool for teacher reflection here. Encouraging teachers to share a short section of video from their lesson then inviting peers to comment and reflect with them would be a fascinating experience. We have trialled it and my learnings are, staff are fearful of judgement and staff pick their best episodes. Personally I have no problem with staff picking their best bits, it shows they have the self reflection to identify what's good and what isn't which is a key skill. Staff being uncomfortable and not wanting to engage is harder to overcome. In our GEG UK talk Daren talked about the need to disconnect from the experience in order to reflect on it. It tied in with the discussion of discomfort on Shannon's 3CCs podcast here. But what about using Flipgrid to replicate that staffroom reflection?
Staff could record their reflections on their lesson, good and bad, on to Flipgrid. That's where I could have put my 'I've just had group A and you will never guess what happened' my colleague could reply via video or comments sharing their experience with Group A too. Although distant and apart as colleagues we could reflect together. But I am mindful that video isn't for everyone. This is where Wakelet comes in for me. Staff could type reflections, essentially mini blog, on Wakelet and those who want to use video can use the built in Flipgrid video feature in Wakelet. We are giving teachers a choice in the method of how they want to reflect. Staff can share resources via Wakelet moving the Google Classroom #Microjoy celebration space into the Wakelet too. You can also put a wakelet within a wakelet. You could have one for #Microjoys, one for lesson reflections that have led to further questions and a need for support. Or staff could have their own private Wakelet to reflect across all the options above. If they choose to share they can add their Wakelet to the team or department Wakelet. I've a rough example wakelet here that showcases my ideas.
Reflecting Forward - https://wke.lt/w/s/7zv87f
Ultimately a pen and paper may be the tool of choice for reflections, learning from these experiences as we exponentially develop our online teaching skills should be reflected upon and celebrated as #Microjoys.
