What is it? Component 4A is all about educators reflecting on their teaching. Basically this component emphasizes the importance of teachers reviewing how a lesson or instructional event went in order to inform future planning and implementation. The classroom is a place where things are constantly changing and the way in which teachers instruct should be no different. We must always evaluate ourselves to see how we can improve our teaching in order to better impact our students.
Why do we need it? We need component A of Domain 4 because it reminds teachers of the importance of using the reflective teaching cycle created by educational psychology theorists McCown, Driscoll, and Roop. The reflective teaching cycle calls for educators to reflect on their knowledge base when evaluating what they have done. If it worked great! If not, then they must create a new plan. They then must take the necessary steps to implement that plan. Lastly, they must evaluate their new plan to see if it worked. Component 4A is essentially a bottled up version of the reflective teaching cycle. It is important because educators need it to ensure that we are reflecting on our work and consequently bettering our style and methods of teaching.
What are the elements? There are are two elements that component 4A consists of. The first element targets accuracy. What this means is that as teachers spend more time reflecting they gain experience allowing for their reflections to become more accurate. A distinguished teacher is one that can form unbiased assessments of their own work and pull specific examples from within lessons in order to support their observations. The second element centers on the use of reflection in teaching. In essence, reflection does not provide for a worthwhile outcome unless teachers are using it to make necessary changes in their lessons, practices, etc.
What does implementation look like? Implementation of component 4A can be accomplished by:
Using formative and summative assessments to track student progress. If there are commonalities among mistakes or frequently missed questions then changes to the lesson may need to be made.
Write down notes of reflection throughout the entire implementation of a lesson. That way it is easy to see where things turned to disarray.
Use student and parent surveys to gain insight on areas that need work.
At the end of every lesson write a lesson reflection summary.
Use McCown, Driscoll, and Roop's reflective teaching cycle.
Ask yourself reflection questions for example, "Were the students engaged? Did the transitions flow easily? Were there any common misconceptions? How can I improve?"
Have a mini conference with each student after they complete a project.
Use #observeme by posting three questions you want answers to such as the ones above. Put them on your door along with a QR code that links to a Google Form and any teacher who walks by can feel free to observe you and answer the questions online.
Sources: Danielson Group » The Framework. (2017). Danielsongroup.org. Retrieved 21 September 2017, from http://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/
Reflection. (2017). Pinterest. Retrieved 29 November 2017, from https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/411023903482396542