I was thinking this morning about the ways in which we are able to reflect and think about our our teaching. My newest teaching job entails guiding student teachers...and I must admit, I take this calling very seriously. And while it is difficult, it is also rewarding. In the past five years, I have had the privilege of guiding more than 25 student teachers, and some easily move into a self-reflective mode of thinking, while others depend on my evaluation, and everywhere in between. In order to be a better teacher-educator, I have to be able to analyze my own perspective. I started to think about how I reflect, the problems I have had learning to do so and judge my own effectiveness, and how I might actively assist my own students in doing the same. And it hit me that this is a habit of mind; perhaps a direct result of curiosity and the need to continue to learn about the world.
Teaching is not a cookie cutter discipline, nor is it easy if you simply 'like' children, adolescents, or adults. It can be much like herding cats, never sure which direction the feline is headed, or whether or not you will meet some sharp claws in the process. (And the hissing too!) But in order to teach, you have to be in-tune with the all the social interactions of the classroom. This is not just the personal interactions with each student, but with the entire classroom of students, the larger context of your teaching load, the department, the school, the central office, the community, and on it goes. Each of those create quite a unique scenario, changing daily, if not hourly. It amazes me that we want to train teachers as if we can go out and give the same commands and the students will respond. But I digress. So how do we KNOW our teaching is effective? How do we know it is working? How we reflect to address these questions is dependent on what I think are five tuning points.
First, we have to be in tune with who we are and the soul of why we teach (pedagogically, academically, theoretically grounded). It is a constant calibration for each of us. Like tuning in radio stations on a cross country trip, there are times when the channel is clear and steady, and then suddenly we lose it, and have to re-tune or change the station in order to continue. I believe that is not unlike how we determine who we are and how and why we teach. The deepest level of knowing who we are vital to the second point.
Second, we must be in tune with our students. It is a development of what I think is being called 'emotional intelligence' or perhaps in the past ten years more likely to be referenced as interpersonal relationship development. In order to begin to address our own effectiveness, we must be openly observing how our students respond, react, receive, and recycle the lessons we present. Teaching and learning never exists in a vacuum, and there have been times I am sure I learned much more than my students did. What they can share with us is priceless, and they come to us with a variety of experiences and assumptions about who we are as well. One way to begin to become in tune with our students is to listen twice and talk once!
Third, we have to ask questions about teaching and learning daily. We tune our attention to as many different techniques we can to assess our own effectiveness as teachers. Being in tune with ourselves and with our students is only one dimension of the process. Being in tune with the broader profession is important as well. How do all teachers determine what is appropriate and significant positive change in our students? How many perspectives might we take to examine our own teaching? I used to think that criticism from outside my field of music was unnecessary and an impediment to my personal teaching growth. If they are not musicians, what could they possibly know about what I do? I was terribly wrong! How powerful are voices when they can articulate what they see from the outside for us? It is possible they do not see the detail we do, but hearing what they DO see is powerful for our own growth with our students. After all, our students don't come in knowing what we know - but what we share might be most clear to those who do not know us. Don't discount the voices of our administrators and peers without first taking them into careful consideration.
Fourth, we have to find at least three ways to determine whether what we are doing is working. That means that funny word assessment needs to be applied. Not only do we have to use it, we have to fine tune our assessments to pick up on the details we are helping students construct, from examining portfolios to testing them on vocabulary or performance skills. We assess to determine how well our students can do something or what it is they know. We evaluate when we attach value or worth to something. Our evaluations are often a part of the assessment tool we use, so we have to develop and utilize multiple ways to examine what our students know and can do when we finish teaching. This has often surprised me as well, in that what I had thought I was teaching was not the central message my students took from the lesson or unit. Which begs to question whether the assessment tool was not aligned to the lesson/unit or whether my objectives were not aligned with my strategies in the classroom.
Fifth and finally, we have to reflect to be able to use what we have collected to navigate the next encounter with our students. We have to tune in to our daily rhythms and learn to read our context cues carefully. For some of us, the reflections may be written and for others, it could be an aural recording. It might take the form of a diary for some, a checklist for others, or a series of post-its attached to lesson plans. But that isn't really enough - reflection has to move into reflexivity. To be reflective is to examine the ways in which you practice the art of teaching. The goal of being reflective is to change or improve your own teaching. Reflexive response is bi-directional and can be thought of as a cause and effect, or a more circular response, with you and your views of teaching at the center.
For example, after watching myself teach during a rehearsal, I knew I needed to be more on target with my comments and have my students play more than I talked. So I used a 3 x 5 note card to help change some habits that I thought would make me a more effective and efficient teacher in this regard. I still use that technique when I am working on altering a habit I may have developed that I do not care for. The reflexivity - the small change for the benefit of all - was a result of reflecting on the tuning points I addressed above. There is much more to be discussed between reflexive and reflective thinking, but I will leave it simply stated for now. It caps off the point I am making in that the art of teaching is forever changing based on the context of the moment and the human beings involved. What could be more reflexive than that?
And my student teachers will grow and learn. I must find a way to affect their habit of mind first, and encourage the growth and development of these skills. The greatest compliment I have ever received came from a graduate student who told me he saw my philosophy of teaching in practice. I was honored and humbled by his remark...which has caused me to continue to reflect and respond to the needs of my students!
Didn't Ghandi say it best? "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
