Tag Archives: instructional processes

How’s That Working For Ya?

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Sense of urgency.

I’ll be honest with you: I used to despise that term. It wasn’t so much because of what it meant as it was the behaviors I witnessed that went along with the phrase. In struggling schools I observed well-intended educators doing, doing, doing without engaging in any type of systematic and authentic reflective process. Data analysis occurred and produced much of the same instructional behaviors before the analysis.  There was little to no reflection on and analysis of instructional processes. Yet with little to no change repeatedly no one asked an obvious question: how’s that working for ya?

A few years ago I taught a graduate course on reflective practice. At the start of the class, a learner asked if he could alter the format of an assignment to better align with his learning style and deepen his understanding of the course concepts. I said yes. The product of his learning is one I have since used (with his permission) as a catalyst for cultivating a culture of reflective practice.

I’m sharing his “Curriculum Comics Presents” product below. Perhaps you will consider the ideas presented to enhance reflective practice at your site so that data analysis does work for ya!

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Here are 3 ways you might use Andrew’s comic as a catalyst for reflective practice:

  1. Rehearse your own journey as a student to determine how to improve instructional processes for you and your students.
  2. Consider how your students are currently responding to instruction and ask, “what can I take away from Andrew’s learning experience as a teacher to apply to my own?”
  3. Use Andrew’s comic as a non-threatening way to engage staff in authentic dialogue on what reflective practice should look like at your site.

Without authentic reflective practice of instructional processes, you could just be spinning your wheels and that won’t work for anyone. Create a sense of urgency about reflective practice.

For more of Andrew’s work, check out his blog.

Reference:

Wales, A. (2008, June 1). The teacher as reflective practitioner. Unpublished manuscript.