One thing I learned quickly in my first year of teaching was that a great teacher is one that is constantly reflecting and working to better themselves (along with other things of course). However, it can be difficult to know how to reflect when you don’t practice it on a regular business. With time – now seven years – I’ve been able to come up with a list of questions for teacher reflection that I try to answer and consider when I can take the time to reflect.
Can I ask every question, every day? No. But I do try to consider these concepts in my planning and then quickly reflect for a couple of minutes. You can focus on one section to focus on or pick and choose the questions that you feel are ones that you want to really reflect on. It’s what you feel will help you be your best!
Questions for Teacher Reflection – Focus: Learning
- What went well today?
- What’s one thing you would change if you were to teach the same lesson?
- Do I feel that students met the learning objective?
- What assessments did you use today?
- What are the assessments telling you? Do you need to review the content?
- Did every student make progress today?
- Do students have ample background knowledge to be successful?
Questions for Teacher Reflection – Focus: Teaching
- Did you need to change your lesson on the spot? Why?
- What strategies did you use? Did they work well with your students? Why or why not?
- How would you describe behavior today?
- Why do you think the behaviors seen today happened? Is there anything weird or different happening in the school or world?
- What classroom management strategies did you use today?
- What is an issue that you can identify that you’re not sure how to handle?
Questions for Teacher Reflection – Focus: Grading
- How are you grading the assignment? Standard-based? Points?
- Do you have a rubric?
- What are you looking to see?
- Does that demonstrate the learning objective?
- Does that demonstrate the standard(s)?
Questions for Teacher Reflection – Focus: Professional Development
- What is a skill that you would like to develop more?
- Where can you look to get fresh ideas?
- I highly recommend Instagram for teacher ideas – there’s a whole community of teachers Instagrammers that provide lesson ideas!
- Is there something that you need to work on more?
Questions for Teacher Reflection – Focus: Social-Emotional Learning
- How did you build relationships with students?
- Who did you connect with?
- Who did you not connect with?
- How did your classroom community develop today?
- Did you provide an opportunity for choice or student voice during the lesson?
Questions for Teacher Reflection – Focus: Teacher Mental Health
- What have you done to keep yourself excited about teaching?
- How have you taken care of yourself recently?
- What boundaries have you established for yourself?
- Are you holding those boundaries?
