Classroom Practice Reflection Paper

Classroom Practice Reflection Paper

All teaching staff in your school are required to:

a) Use reflective thinking skills to identify effective aspects of their own high school math classroom practice and those that require further improvement.
Reflective thinking skills are used to identify more than 4 ( 5 is enough) effective aspects of the teacher’s own classroom practice and those that require further improvement with more than 4 evidence

b) Identify personal growth goal to improve own practice through the reflection process.
More than 4 smart personal growth goals are set to improve the teacher’s own practice through the reflection process

c) Produce a personal development plan to achieve the goals
A clear personal development plan is created with more than 4 (5 is enough) action points based on the previously identified successes and areas of development in an identified timeframe
Complete these tasks in accordance with the school requirements.

Reflective Teaching of Mathematics 

The introduction of critical thinking in classroom instruction helps teachers to experience various opportunities that essentially develop their capacity to process the information on higher thinking levels. Most teachers only know the computational aspect of mathematics, and they only include this aspect in their curriculum of the school. However, there are other mathematical teaching aspects of classroom practice that enhance the effective learning of the students, and some of them require further improvement. The ideas of the teachers about teaching and learning mathematics directly affect their view about what they should teach as well as how to deliver the teaching. Reflection is an important procedure that educators use to examine their teaching practices and improved them according to the learning needs of the students (Gregson et al., 2020).

Teachers Reflective Thinking Skills

Observation Skill

The observation tools take account of the teachers’ behaviors and feelings and involve marking, recording, and noticing to differentiate something from its environment. It involves recording clear details of the classroom that allows educators to recognize effective teaching aspects. There are several ways in which educators observe there teaching and learning strategies of the students and include drawing, photography, and video and audio recording. Teachers employ these tools to specifically focus the mathematics curriculum to specific skills intended to be achieved (Disu, 2017).  The use of reflective observation tools in teaching mathematics requires further improvement, and this is because some teachers and colleagues participate in peer observation just because it is obligation and not to re-examine their teaching practice of the mathematics.

Communication Skill

The reflective practice communication tools have been designed in various ways, which include through a formal professional portfolio, or through keeping personal learning diary or journals. A teacher diary is an important reflective tool that teachers can use to improve the teaching and learning environment. It enables teachers to beware of their strengths and weakness in their teaching practice of mathematics (Mitchell, 2017). The use of teachers’ diary in reflective teaching of mathematics requires further improvement because there is the possibility of briefness in writing what happens in the mathematic lesson, which sometimes makes it hard to interpret.

Decision making Skill

Under this skill, there are different types of reflective teaching strategies that are crucial and allow educators to see, as well as coping well with the difficulties of teaching. The reflective practice makes teachers understand the weakness and strengths of the lesson through dialog. The reflective tools are used to collect reliable information or data about the learning and teaching environment to make decisions (Nagro et al., 2019). Also, effective teaching of mathematics requires teachers to understand the pedagogy that identifies how their learners successfully learn.

Team working Skill

Teachers work in various groups in their profession; for instance, they work in the curriculum team, cross-curricular group, and pastoral team.  The collaborative practitioner inquiry and co-teaching in mathematics are some of the tools that improve the team working skills of the teachers. The reflections about the learning and teaching styles improve the professional development of teachers.

Judgment Skill

Under this skill, teachers analyze classroom situations or events and provide clear judgment to clear the situation. Teachers can identify certain class participation aspects and their teaching styles and make judgments that are important in improving the learning process of mathematics by the students (Mitchell, 2017).

Personal Growth Goal to Improve Own Practice

My experiences or understandings of reflective learning as a student have positively impacted my teaching styles of mathematics. The following table shows my personal growth goals and actions to achieve the goals:

Personal growth goals	Action activities	Timeframe
To create a learning environment that encourages independence, self-motivation, and interdependence.	To utilize educational projects, study groups, professional workshops, and taking university courses.	2years
To focus on student assessments as a vital tool for teaching and learning.	To utilize educational projects, study groups, professional workshops, and taking university courses.	1 year
To integrate an understanding of the mathematical thinking skills levels of the learners into my teaching practice.	To utilize educational projects, study groups, professional workshops, and taking university courses.	1year
To be knowledgeable about students ‘diversity to establish lessons so that learners s’ success will be increased.	To utilize educational projects, study groups, professional workshops, and taking university courses.	1year
To develop mathematics skills and knowledge or insights that will develop student knowledge	To utilize educational projects, study groups, professional workshops and taking university courses	1 year

Through my experience with reflective learning as a student, I learned about mathematics reflection and its impact on learning, developed new understanding into critical mathematics reflection, and identified aspects that are important in effective teaching of mathematics. It allowed me to understand reflective learning and teaching from both the context of a teacher and a learner. My experiences or understanding of reflective learning as a student have positively impacted my teaching styles. I now know that teachers must create mathematics lesson plans around problems, case studies, and questions that encourage critical thinking to meet the learning needs of the students. It is, therefore, important to note that reflective teaching plays a crucial role in developing the professionalism of the teachers, hence the need for reflection on their mathematics teaching methods.

References

Gregson, M., Duncan, S., Brosnan, K., Derrick, J., Husband, G., Nixon, L., & Jones, R. W. (2020). Reflective teaching in further, adult and vocational education. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Disu, A. (2017). A phenomenological study on reflective teaching practice.

Mitchell, D. (2017). ‘Curriculum making,’ teacher and learner identities in changing times. Geography, 102, 99-103.

Nagro, S. A., Fraser, D. W., & Hooks, S. D. (2019). Lesson planning with engagement in mind:   Proactive classroom management strategies for curriculum instruction. Intervention in School and Clinic, 54(3), 131-140.