In this blog entry, I’d like to get a bit more practical in regards to reflective practice. I’ve written a number of blog posts on the advantages of reflection in teacher development, and I think it’s time now to focus on some specific questions that we should be asking ourselves as educators to begin the ongoing process of reflective practice. So, let’s move away from theory and look at some…

In my last entry, I wrote about the importance of our humanity in professional development and, specifically, its role in reflective teaching and connection to building our own practical theories. While critical, our humanity — a complex web of our personal experiences, beliefs, and attitudes — is only part of what constitutes reflective teaching. The other key element includes our understanding of and sensitivity to the contexts where we work as…

I spent quite a bit of time over the past few weeks reflecting on my previous entry. I want to build on it in this post because I have learned from experience that the kind of teacher collaboration I described there requires another important element that, unfortunately, is often ignored in many schools around the world. I’m thinking of reflective teaching. Reflective teaching is a complex field. To provide an…

Several years ago, I was invited to work with a school in Georgia to help the administration address very serious problems relating to student motivation and engagement, teacher burnout, and what they described to me as “quickly deteriorating atmosphere of resentment and disengagement among our staff.” I was asked to offer a series of teacher development workshops on 21st-century skills and student engagement. The principal sent me a rather comprehensive…

[…] inspiration is not the exclusive privilege of poets or artists generally. There is, has been, and will always be a certain group of people whom inspiration visits. It’s made up of all those who’ve consciously chosen their calling and do their job with love and imagination. It may include doctors, teachers, gardeners – and I could list a hundred more professions. Their work becomes one continuous adventure as long…