Welcome to the WJETT blog
What is WJETT?
The WJETT blog or Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching blog is designed to encourage staff and students to disseminate good practice and to engage with their peers on academic cultural critique or areas of research that they find interesting. With the increased focus on ‘teachers as researchers’ in the sector, many qualified teachers are expected to publish the outcomes of any action research projects they undertake. The WJETT blog can be the first step on your journey towards publishing and enables you to experience publishing and reviewing in a friendly and supportive environment.
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How using a recognised reflective framework has helped me reflect on and improve my practice
“Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning” (Schon, 1983). Schon’s (1983) reflective model framework distinguishes between “reflection in action” and “reflection on action”.
Reflection in action refers to practising critically, so in essence, reflection during lessons. For me, this involves considering a host of different aspects during a lesson;
- How are students reacting to tasks/ activities?
- Are timings appropriate and do I need to shorten or lengthen an exercise in line with student engagement?
- Do I need to support any individual students or clarify anything to the class as a whole, as they progress?
- How do I know all students are engaged?
- Do students need a break from listening to me / others talk (e.g. an energiser activity)?
- How can I ensure that all students are progressing in their learning?
- What I am going to do next and is it appropriate, given the students’ engagement so far?
- What is the key take-away that I need to emphasise – have these changed from the lesson plan given any misconceptions in class?
Reflection on action is the reflection that occurs after lessons. Again, for me, this includes reflection against a variety of aspects and compares the actual lesson against the initial lesson plan; including:
- What went well?
- How did particular students handle the lesson?
- Could I have done anything differently and what?
- How do I feel after the lesson?
- Do I need to find additional resources or research a particular example to follow up on any questions raised in class?
- How will this lesson impact the next lesson with this class; is it too soon to move onto the next topic?
- How does this feed into modifying this lesson plan for next time I teach this topic or a similar lesson?
I have been fortunate, in that my mentor is required, for safeguarding purposes, to be present in all my lessons. The 2- 3 minute informal debrief with my Mentor at the end of each lesson has been an invaluable part of my reflective process. Generally, this helps me assess if I have judged the success of the overall lesson correctly, as well as briefly discuss students to help us both continually assess their progress. Specifically, it also helps to assess my reflection in action, as I can get reassurance or advice with regards to how I could have done things differently. In our weekly mentor meetings, we also have more time to discuss and reflect on past lessons as well as plan for future lessons. This dialogue feeds into my reflection on action as in situations where something didn’t go as planned, I can put forward solutions for how to address this in the next lesson, ask questions and build in advice and suggestions from my mentor’s experience.
“If teachers don’t engage in these types of conversations, they stagnate. They need to be able to be open and honest with someone and for this to, ultimately, lead to a kind of change.” (Harris, 2019)
References:
Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith
Harris, C. (2019) Every teacher needs a reflection buddy to keep them sane [online] Available from: https://www.tes.com/news/every-teacher-needs-reflection-buddy-keep-them-saneLink opens in a new window (Accessed 11 October 2019)
Writing guidance
Can I write about anything in my blog post?
Yes pretty much. Academic cultural critique (Thomson and Mewburn, 2013) is always a good source of content for academic blogs. This can include (but is not limited to) comments and reflections on funding; higher education policy or academic life. You might also want to consider blogging about:
- Academic practice (Saper, 2006)
- Information and/or self-help advice
- Technical, teaching and careers advice
- Your research or practice
- How you’ve undertaken research
- The impact of research on your practice
- An area of research/practice that interests you
- Your teaching experiences/reflections
How long can my blog post be?
Each individual blog post should be no longer than 500 words. Long blocks of text are sometimes hard for readers to digest. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also include a list of keywords or tags as this makes it easier for Google to find your work.
Do I need to use citations?
No, this is a reflective piece so it does not need to include citations (but you obviously can include them if they are relevant).
Can I include links or images?
We would encourage you to include links to any articles that you have considered whilst writing your blog post. We also welcome the use of images (as long as you have permission to use them) as they can often help to illustrate a point and obviously will not be included in the word limit. Please remember this is a public site so if you want to include images of your students in your classes then you will need permission to do this.
What is the process for submitting a piece of work?
Your blog post should be emailed to A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk. Once the submission has been reviewed it will either be uploaded at the beginning of the next available week or sent back to you for editing if it requires amendments. You should then send the amended work to me once again and I will then upload it.