portfolio // disposition 2 | reflection 2

“Candidates will exhibit behavior that demonstrates a belief that continuous inquiry and reflection can improve professional practice.”

// interpret
This disposition emphasizes the importance of constant re-evaluation of one’s work.  The world in which teaching occurs is not a static one; from year to year, day to day, or even between first period and lunch, all members of the school community can change drastically.  Effective teachers must always seek to understand the nature of this community and change their practice to best serve its needs.  Only through a recursive process of inquiry and reflection—directed both inward and outward—can beneficial changes be made.

// select
To display this disposition in my own practice, I have included materials used at the end of my student teaching experience to obtain feedback from students in various ways.  Specifically, the artifacts are as follows:

·         Four examples of feedback surveys (one example from each class) that my students completed during my final week of teaching.  [D2.R2.A1 – D2.R2.A4]
·         My own focus group notes, taken during lunch meetings with select groups of my freshman students.  [D2.R2.A5]

// describe
During the last week of my student teaching, one of my mentor teachers recommended that I conduct some kind of focus group with my students to assess how well the experience went and what I needed to change.  If I selected a handful of students from my freshman classes to meet with, he said, he would provide pizza as an incentive for their participation.  I asked five students from both sections of Honors English I (ten students total) to join me in these lunch meetings.  All agreed, and the last two lunches I had at Carrboro High were spent discussing my teaching with students and taking notes on their thoughts.

To gather even more feedback, I also created brief surveys to administer to all of my students (i.e. all four of my classes—two Honors English I and two English III).  On my last day, I distributed the surveys and asked each class to give me their honest responses so that I might improve the quality of my teaching.  I assured each class that their surveys would in no way affect their grade.

// analyze
These artifacts show another dimension of the inquiry process in action.  While part of this process requires my own introspective reflection, part of it must also involve the students I work with every day.  Both the focus group sessions and feedback surveys were created with the goal of gathering and understanding information about student perceptions of my teaching.  My view of the classroom from behind the proverbial desk can be, unbeknownst to me, quite different from the students’ view.  Because my constant aim is to serve my students as best I can, I have to ask for their opinions so I can respond to them and meet their needs.

Not only do these documents provide an outside perspective on my teaching; they also offer specific suggestions for improvement.  Students often told me not only what they wanted changed, but how to go about doing so.  Some of these statements were less than realistic—like those calling for the abolition of essay-writing or assigned reading—but others were highly informative.  The following statements lifted from the surveys, for example, all provide specific ways I might alter my practice:

·         “Give a few prompts for the short story.”
·         “Have more concern[ed] thinking for individuals.”
·         “Push a little more when it comes to assignment deadlines.”

In the focus groups, as well, students offered such suggestions—give some preparation in speaking (for the Animal Farm oration assignment); model peer editing so students know how to make it useful; check more often for understanding during class.  Had I not asked for my students’ input, I might never have realized any of these topics even needed review.  After the surveys and focus group, I now have a plethora of helpful ideas for the future.

// appraise
By and large, the survey and focus group responses were exactly what I had hoped to receive.  As is inevitably the case with any survey of this type, some responses offered little in the way of substantive comments; advice for my future practice frequently included “Keep up the good work!” and “Do what you’re doing!”  Still, my notes and the majority of the surveys contain a wealth of helpful information.  I have yet to do any kind of systematic analysis of the data I obtained, but I can already envision changes in my practice based on the responses I have read.

These sorts of reviews also carry an additional benefit beyond the reflective process: communicating my investment in teaching to students.  When I ask students for their feedback, it tells them that I value their opinions, good or bad, and want them to be heard.  Conducting these surveys and focus groups, then, also serves to reinforce the classroom community and emphasize the students’ role within it.

// transform
The major transformation I have in mind for these reviews is simply to conduct them more often.  Because of time constraints, focus-group-style sessions might only be held at the end of the year, or possibly between marking periods.  Surveys, however, could conceivably be administered after every unit.  More informal types of feedback—journal responses, notes on scratch paper—could be collected on a weekly or even daily basis.  Overall, my goal is to obtain as much feedback from students as is realistically possible so that I can continually re-examine my teaching.