I have taught 4th grade for 18 years.
How will reflection help me to become a master teacher? Reflection will help me analyze my interactions with my students, my teaching, and my planning. Reflection will allow me to take another look at an interaction and decide how to proceed, fix-up, or behave differently in the future. Reflection will help me become a master teacher, because without it, my responses are as varied as the breeze. Students need consistent expectations, rules and follow through. I commented at our first class that I wish to be more “cut and dried”, more decisive. If I am more reflective, I will have a plan for how my students and I will function and what I will expect from my students and myself.
What gets in my way of reflecting? My first response is lack of time. There are many hours to the day, but never enough! My personal life has many commitments. Right now the new reading, language, and writing curriculum means learning and planning new material for half of my teach day. I have a promethean board, so there are interactive lessons to prepare and share with my team. My teacher webpage is new this year, and I want to update it to make it the best it can be. There is new technology to learn, and that can be very time consuming. This master’s program has added a new layer of time commitment, and assignments can get in the way of being reflective if I feel stressed by a deadline.
My second response is lack of know-how. Do I possess an efficient, correct way of reflecting? I can reflect on my day, but do I know how to do that effectively, efficiently and thoroughly to the benefit of my students and myself? The article I just read proves that I need to learn how to reflect.
What will I do to clear the barriers or get around them? I have asked my family to do more at home. I need to let them know what I need each day or week, step back and allow them to do it. I need to let them support me. I need to work through the stress with exercise. I have been walking lately, and find it is essential to new perspective and energy. I need to take care of myself with a healthy diet. I need sleep. This may impact how many lessons I will be creating with the promethean software. I need to be OK with that. I feel pressure within my team to do more, because they are always doing more. Figuring out how to professionally and successfully choose what is most essential and necessary will be key. The time commitment of the new curriculum can’t be changed. I do glean much from shared conversation and meetings at our building about our new curriculum, so I will continue to be involved in those interactions. I will try to complete each master’s assignment one week ahead of schedule.
