Making Reflection An Action – 5 Practical Activities You Need To Try

Martyn Clarke has worked in ELT classrooms as a teacher and trainer for over twenty years and in more than fifteen countries. He has taught English at all levels and in many contexts from one-to-one in financial institutions to rural schools with classes of eighty students.

We learn how to be a teacher in many different ways. We have our initial qualification courses, we go on INSET training, and attend conferences. We might even read a few books on the subject. But perhaps one of the most influential sources of learning for us is in the daily experience of actually doing the job. The problem is when we are in the classroom there is no time for us to stop and think about what we’re learning.  Then between classes we are probably marking students work, gathering resources, or preparing for our next lesson. We probably all think that reflection is a useful process in our development. But many of us probably wonder when we will find the time to do it.

Making the process of reflection an explicit action can sometimes help here. These five activities are designed to help us stop and capture this elusive, but extremely important every day learning. They can be done by an individual teacher, or together with a colleague or with a group of peers. They are also very useful if you are building a portfolio of CPD activities and outcomes as evidence of your own professional development.

The procedure for each activity is the same, but of course you can change things to fit into your context.

Suggested Activity Procedure

1. Set aside 30 minutes.
2. Use the Recalling Prompts to guide your exploration
3. Use the Reflective Questions to guide your analysis of the data and record your conclusions and future actions.
4. If working with colleagues share your outcomes in weekly meeting and use the questions to explore what you have noticed.
5. Consider recording the outcomes of your meetings on a poster in the staffroom for other colleagues, and to use as a springboard for discussion professional development sessions.

1. What’s different?

Professional learning often involves ‘noticing’ when something changes, and reflecting on the causes and the impact this might have.

Recalling Prompts

Look back over the week and note down:

• Something you know about your students that you didn’t before
• Something that happened in your lessons that hasn’t happened before
• A skill that you now have
• A way of explaining grammar/vocabulary
• An opinion that has changed over the last week
• A way of working with colleagues that was different

Reflection Questions

• What caused the change?
• Why do you think this might be important?
• How will this change impact on the way you teach/work?
• What opportunities/dangers does it bring?
• What can you do to engage with the change?

2. Back on the Bike

The expression ‘to get back on the bike’ comes from the idea that when we are learning to ride a bicycle and we fall off, the best thing to do is to get back on the bike immediately and try again.  This way our mistakes become an impetus for renewed effort and learning.

Recalling Prompts

If you try something that doesn’t work well, note down as soon as you can what you wanted to do and what actually happened.

• Where did this happen and who was involved?
• What was your objective?
• Why did you choose this action to achieve this objective?
• Have you tried this before with different results?
• What happened as a result of this action?

Reflection Questions

• What made you notice that it didn’t work?
• If you’ve tried this before with different results, how do you account for the change?
• Why do you think the results of the action didn’t meet your expectations?
• What do you know now that you didn’t at the time?
• What is the next opportunity for you to try this again?
• What changes will you make to the action to account for your new understandings?

3. Why it Worked

Reflection often starts with problems all areas of difficulty, but this activity focuses on the learning we can gain from our successes, and possible apply to other areas of our practice.

Recalling Prompts

Identify something you are involved in that was successful this week.

• Where did this happen and who was involved?
• How do you know you were successful?
• Have you tried activity before with different results?
• What effect did the success have on the people involved?

Reflection Questions

• How do you measure the success?
• Does everybody involved share your evaluation? If not, why?
• How replicable is this success – can you repeat the activity with the same results?
• If you’ve tried this before with different results, how do you account for the change?
• What aspects of the activity (in planning or in delivery) could you use with other activities?

4. Needs and Wants

Our colleagues play a significant role in our daily school life and our development as a professional. In this activity you can analyse what relationships you have with your colleagues.

Recalling Prompts

Identify key colleagues from different areas of the school.

• What does X need from you? What’s your role in X’s eyes?
• What do you need from X?
• What are the features of your professional relationship?

Reflection Questions

• How much does your colleague know already about your opinions above?
• If they answered these questions, what would you be unsure about?
• What do you want to stop/change/continue about your professional relationship?
• What steps could you take to make your professional relationship more productive?

5. Ups and Downs

Teaching is an emotional activity, and even the most experienced teacher will have both good and bad moments during a week. This activity uses these responses as a way of accessing development.

Recalling Prompts

• What moments of positive & negative emotions have you felt during the week?
• What categories of emotions would you place the different emotions in?
• What particular moments stand out either in a positive of negative way?

Reflection Questions

• How did you respond to the emotion? What could you do to increase its learning impact?
• Which emotions have been caused by external factors over which you had no control? How can you exploit these external factors in the future?
• When were your actions responsible for your emotions? How can you avoid/repeat these?