Meaning of Reflective Teaching and Strategies for Promoting Reflective Teaching

Back to: Learning and Teaching – Unit 4

Reflective teaching is an important concept. Reflective teaching is a process where teachers look back at their teaching practices and find ways how their teaching methods can be improved or changed for the better learning of students. A teacher reflects on their teaching process to learn about their practice and think if it’s working for the students’ learning process. It can help a teacher largely in the way he/she functions in the classroom. Following this process will be helpful for both the teachers and students as it will lead to effective teaching as well as a learning experience.

 Strategies for Promoting Reflective Teaching

Peer Observations

Peer observations can be a helpful way for understanding one’s teaching techniques. With the help of peer observation, the teacher can understand in which aspects he/she shall improve for effective teaching in the classroom.

Record class lessons

Recording class lessons can be an effective way of analyzing one’s class lessons. The teachers can notice things that they were not aware of. This can be a helpful way of understanding one’s way of teaching.

Student Feedback

After classes teachers can ask for feedback from students as to what teaching techniques they prefer, what can be improved, or if they are satisfied with the teaching process. Getting the feedback of students is essential because it enables teachers to acknowledge whether their teaching methods are being effective or not.

Student Evaluations

The teachers may understand if the students are getting what’s being taught in the class while evaluating the tests or exam papers. The grades of the students may help the teacher in knowing how well students are taking in the information being discussed in the classroom.

Making Notes

The teacher can make notes after every class to understand how the lessons were taught and how did the students respond. This way the teacher will understand his/her strengths and weaknesses and can improve the teaching techniques.

By self-observation and self-evaluation, teachers can improve their teaching techniques. Through reflecting on one’s teaching style, teachers will be able to provide an effective learning experience for the students. Reflective teaching allows knowing what works best in the interest of the students. Such a teacher is on the way to a successful path as well as leads the students to success.