This document provides guidance on reflective writing for teaching experiences. Reflective writing involves analyzing a teaching situation and showing how the experience will inform future practice. Reflective thinking allows teachers to determine how they would approach similar situations in the future. Reflective writing should focus on why changes would be made rather than just describing actions. Teachers need to use specific evidence and details to explain their interpretations and identify improvements for their practice.

1. Reflective Writing

2. Reflection
 A thought process occurring after a
teaching situation
 In a reflection you must show the
assessors HOW you use what you learn
from teaching experiences to inform and
improve your practice in the future
 Do not just describe what you have done

3. Reflective Thinking
 Allows you to make decisions about how
you would approach similar situations in
the future.
 Do something the same way
 Differently
 Not at all
 Overlaps with analysis (WHY?) but not
identical.

4. Analysis Reflection
 Asks WHY the  Particular kind of
elements or events analysis
are described as  Always suggests
they are self-analysis
 Retrospective
consideration of
one’s practice in
terms of this
assessment.

5. Make Sure
 The subject of the analysis is available to the
reader. For example if you are reflecting on
Betty’s writing sample, provide Betty’s writing
sample for the reader to review.
 Focus of your writing is not on WHAT you have
done but on WHY you would make changes or
improvements.
 Show how you use what you learn from the
teaching situation/students to inform and improve
your future practice.

6. You Need More When Reflecting
 Do not just explain
what happened.
 Do not simply
state a conclusion.
 Do not simply
state that you
observed
fulfillment of your
goals (easy way
out)

7. Interpretation
 Assessors need to be aware of specific
details about why you interpreted the
results of the lesson the way that you did
 You need to explain the interpretation you
make
 Share your sense of WHY it happened
that way
and then reflect
 Your understanding of what should come
next

8. When to Interpret
 “When you are asked what student
performance suggests about your
teaching, you are being asked to
analyze and interpret.”
 Use the evidence of student work to
explain and illustrate your practice
 Use your practice to explain and
provide a context for student work.

9. Ask yourself…
 What did my students know before this
teaching experience?
 What did my students learn because of
this teaching experience?
 What did I know about my students and
their knowledge before this teaching
experience?
 What did I learn about my students and
my practice because of this teaching
experience?
 What would I do differently?

10. Critical Components
 Honesty
 Use concrete evidence to support
your statements of what went well/
not well and the explanation of why.
 Looks to the future
 Includes ideas about how to improve
what is already there
 Provides a rationale for the new ideas.

11. Refer Back to Goals or the Original Question
When Formally Reflecting
 Check alignment
to overall learning
goals.
 Address all goals
stated.
 Limit goals to
significant goals

12. List of Suggested Reflective Phrases
 After observation….
 The significance of this activity…
 This comment tells me….
 It is important for me to realize…
 In this situation I should have…
 This is significant because…
 Because of this activity I was prompted to…
 I acknowledge that…
 This is an indication of…
 I focused on….because…
 To promote continued thinking I…
 I realized that…
 The intent of my question…
 In the future…
 In retrospect…
 I have since concluded…
 After this activity I found….to be significant
because…