Reflective Journal: Feedback
Purpose
The purpose of the reflective journal assignments is to provide a space for teacher candidates to describe their experiences and learning processes, explore their questions, and identify what deepens their understanding. Each of the four journal assignments will have a specific topic related to the experiences of that week. Reflective practice fuels the development of a deeper understanding about the way teachers conduct their work. In order to become skilled and effective special educators, our reflection should involve connecting research to day-to-day practice, uncovering assumptions, and paying attention to the importance of continual improvement. In this way, we uncover the what, how, and why of teaching the way we do, allowing us to better understand the choices we make. Loughran (2002) puts it this way, “Effective reflective practice is drawn from the ability to frame and reframe our understanding through action, so that the practitioner’s wisdom-in-action is enhanced, and as a particular outcome, articulation of professional knowledge is encouraged.”
Loughran, J. (2002) Effective reflective practice: In search of meaning in learning and teaching.Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 33-43. uploaded
One of the important skills necessary for quality educators involves making instructional, management, and professional decisions by combining knowledge of research and evidence of your students’ individual and collective needs. This assignment is designed to assess your competency to synthesize research, reflect on practice, and describe that process in a clear, concise and cogent manner through your writing.
This journal assignment is designed to assess your competency to:
• Thoughtfully, thoroughly and fully reflect on and in practice
• Connect research to practice by examining and relating research to reflective practice
• Describe new knowledge or changed thinking as it influences future practice
• Write with organization, clarity and professional presentation
Instructions
Four times during this course, you will write a reflective paper. The first reflective paper is about feedback – what it is, what makes feedback effective, and how to deliver effective feedback to students and peers.
To prepare for this week’s reflective journal, you should read the following articles that are uploaded for you:
• Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven keys to effective FEEDBACK. Educational Leadership, 70(1).
• Hattie, J. (2012). Know thy impact. Educational Leadership, 70(1), 18-23.
• Brookheart, S., Moss, C. (2015). How to give professional feedback. Educational Leadership, 72(7), 24-30.
• Knight, J. (2014). What you learn when you see yourself teach. Educational Leadership, 71(8), 18-23.
Prompt: Please reflect on your understanding of feedback, what makes it effective, and how you can use feedback to support learners, peers, and your own personal growth by reviewing the different articles in each step of the Danielson Domains below. They will be uploaded for you.
DANIELSON DOMAINS
CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
• Second Look-Second Think
• Five Tips for Managing Mobile Devices
• How to Give Professional Feedback
• Peer Coaching
• Teaching in the Third Space
INSTRUCTION
• Best Practice-The Enemy of Better Teaching
• Planning Differentiated Multicultural Instruction for Secondary Inclusive Classrooms
• Tips for Differentiated Instruction
• Tired of Teaching to the Test
• What Teaching for Understanding Looks Like
PLANNING AND PREPARATION
• Formative Assessment Made Easy
• In Pursuit of the Expert Pedagogue
• Understanding Synthesis
• Monitor That Progress
• Classroom Assessment for Student Learning
• Video Based Assessment Approach
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
• Dialogic Concept of Learning- Collaborative Peer Coaching
• Learning Conversations to Support Peer Review in Online and Blended Learning
• Framing Discussions About Teaching
• We Must Get Together and Really Talk
Guidelines
• Journals are not research papers, but each submission should be thoughtful and reflective, and include evidence of what you have learned through your practice and your reading.
• Write a one page (approximately 500 word) reflection of your understanding of the topic and your experience related to that week’s topic. You will be expected to weave in research that resonates with you.
• Articles are provided for you under the four Danielson Domains: 1) Classroom Environment; 2) Instruction; 3) Planning and Preparation; 4) Professional Responsibilities. You are invited to incorporate any of the research from these articles as well as research you recall from previous courses or research you have read as part of your own professional development.
• You should write your reflective paper in APA format and include at least 3 citations from the articles provided or from previous course readings.
• To see the rubric, look below; it details how you may earn an exemplary score on this assignment