Making Reflection Part of What We Do

“The more reflective we are, the more effective we are.”

                                                                                      

                                                                                                   ~Pete Hall

Linn-Mar Teacher Leaders had the opportunity to ZOOM with Pete Hall at a recent teacher leadership meeting.  The focus of the learning was centered on his work in the book:  Teach Reflect Learn. 

The ideas discussed were as coaches, our job is to influence or mediate the thinking of teachers.  This change in thinking will increase reflection, and then influence teacher practice to impact students. This work pairs nicely with Cognitive Coaching and has been the topic of discussion over the past couple of years.

This year with Linn-Mar teachers completing coaching cycles with our Mentor Coaches, Technology Integration Coaches, and Instructional Coaches we see movement toward a more reflective practice.  Pete Hall has found that teachers really fall into various stages of reflection.  He has broken them down to the Unaware Stage, Conscious Stage, Action Stage, and Refinement Stage.  The idea is for coaches and teachers to work collaboratively on a goal to build the reflective capacity he or she is working toward.  The question we need to be exploring is:  "How do teachers think?" And the next question after that is:  "What can we do to support teacher's thinking?"

For so long in education, teachers have been isolated from collaborative opportunities, and time to reflect, discuss, and think.  There just has not been adequate time in the day.  Pete Hall was quick to share how reflection is a skill that should be part of what we are already doing.  Weaving reflection time into our professional conversations, PLC meetings, and other district initiatives will help us embed this skill into our relevant work.  It’s not one more thing; it’s a vehicle to drive our work.  Just like coaching.  Coaching is another professional conversation that helps teachers think, reflect, and improve instructional practice.  While some teachers may think a coaching cycle has to be a one and done event, it doesn’t have to be, nor should it be.  Coaching cycles should move fluidly from one goal to the next.  The more coaching cycles teachers are entering into, the more opportunity for new thinking.