Reflecting on what you’re learning

Through the course there are a number of activities where you are asked to write down your reflections and thoughts about your experiences of managing behaviour.

Some of these are shared openly with other participants in discussions; some may be things you keep to yourself.

We recommend that you keep a personal record of all your work on the course, as a resource for refreshing your memory and continuing to refine your practice in the future.

Exactly how and where you do this is up to you. It could be a private ‘digital scrapbook’ file. If you have a blog or other online space where you share ideas, you may choose to put selected work there (always respecting the privacy and confidentiality of others, of course). You may wish to use the 4-cell Reflection Grid described below.

Reflection Grid

Trying to take in new ideas and embed them into your practice is not easy. But we would stress the importance of critical reflection if you want to translate these ideas into practise, and also if you want to be effective in making changes in what you do.

To help support you with the process, we have designed a four cell Reflection Grid [PDF]. Each of the cells has a particular name and function.

For your convenience, here is a blank copy of the Reflection Grid [DOCX] you can edit. On some occasions we will prompt you to use it, but feel free to use it whenever you want.

You’ve got Successes at the top, then underneath “Eureka” moments.

“Eureka” moments you may or may not have had in your lesson. These are when either you suddenly understand why particular strategies work or why suddenly a student understands something. Or why perhaps your pupil or your student is having problems.

Alternatively, “Eureka” moments may happen to you in your own learning, as you progress through the course. You may want to write them down so that you have them for later.

Also, you might have some Questions on managing behaviour for learning and they’ve arisen long-term or maybe in the classroom as you’ve been working.

These are important to record, as well as are your Problems.

On some occasions we will prompt you to use the Reflection Grid, but feel free to use it whenever you want. We hope you find it a useful tool to help you in your learning journey – so that when you go online and you start to talk with others, you’ve got ideas to share.

The Reflection Grid should serve both as an aide memoire and a record of how your thinking develops during the course.

Professional development is essential for teachers to progress as teaching practitioners. But there are many challenges in integrating professional development into regular practice.

In particular:

• We stress the value of collaborating with peers – both at your own place of work and online – to put into practice the ideas and approaches suggested by Paul and the Course Team
• We emphasise the value of experimenting, with a view to adapting methods to your own classroom or lab settings.

If you are doing this course with colleagues from your school or cluster of schools, we would encourage you to ‘follow’ each other. Then you’ll easily be able to see comments from the people you know.