Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION

Reflective Planning and Instruction

Sarah Ingerson
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

Introduction

Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION

Feedback is the breakfast of champions (Blanchard, 2007, p. V). This oft-quoted

statement represents the competencyreflective planning and instructionquite well. Teachers
must be life-long learners as they maintain the attitude that they can always improve their
teaching. This somewhat humble attitude is essential as it will inspire students to follow in their
teachers steps. This reflection also extends to lesson-planning and assessing the strengths and
weaknesses of ones instruction. For Christians, this competency is specifically important as we
are to commit fully to our responsibility as a teacher, mentor, and life-giver to our students, And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17, ESV).
Rationale for Selection of Artifacts
For this competency, I selected several of my 4th grade students feedback surveys from
my time as a student teacher in their classroom as my first artifact. As a second artifact, I chose a
formative-assessment on decimals accompanied with a morning work decimal worksheet,
designed to strengthen the students weak areas, displayed in their formative assessment.
The student surveys connect well to this competency because they caused me to evaluate
my strengths and weaknesses as an emerging teacher. My two lowest rated categories were,
Students behave in this class and My teacher helps me know how I am doing in this class.
From this feedback, I know I need to implement techniques for student reflection within my
instruction, so that the students will be aware of their knowledge, or lack thereof. Also, I have
been able focus on the development of classroom management skills through their feedback as
well as the feedback of my cooperating teacher and director of student teaching.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION

The formative decimal assessment and corresponding worksheet exemplifies the

reflective aspect of planning. Using pre-assessments and formative assessments, teachers are
able to recognize the weaknesses of their students and plan the following lessons accordingly.
Grading the three question formative assessment on decimals, I noted that only six out of
seventeen students answered all questions correctly. As a result, I implemented a Decimal of
the Day worksheet as the students morning work. In this way, they students could practice in
their areas of deficiency as we continued to move forward in the curriculum.
Reflection on Theory and Practice
According to the Classroom Teachers Survival Guide, Listening to your students views
will help develop an inviting classroom (Partin, 2009, p. 174). During my studies in
Elementary Education, several of my professors stressed the importance of soliciting feedback
from students and remaining teachable. Teachers must avoid the attitude of adultism. This
attitude makes teachers feel that they must know more than their students in every area and shuts
down the students from ever feeling like the professional. In my student teaching experience, I
witnessed my teacher humbly asking her students for help if there was an issue with the
technology in the classroom. Because the teacher was willing to ask for help, one of the
students, who was proficient in computers, experienced a surge of confidence. Displaying
students strengths is an excellent way for Christian teachers to live out their faith in the
classroom. All students possess value because they were created in the image of God and
deserve to feel successful as caring teachers expose their talents.
The second primary aspect of Reflective Planning and Instruction is basing future
instruction off of students prior knowledge. Helping students reflect and make their own
thinking visible, are excellent ways to accomplish this feat. When we talk about making

Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION

thinking visible, we are generally referring to those specific thinking strategies and processes
students use to build deeper understanding. These are the processes that need to live at the center
of classroom activity, directing the work of both teachers and students. (Ritchhart, 2011, p. 21).
This visualizing of learning can be fulfilled using pre-assessments, formative assessment, journal
writing, and closure techniques.
The greatest teachers embrace feedback and reflection because they know that the joy of
learning is contagious and they want to infect their students.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION

References
Blanchard, Ken. (2007). Giving Feedback. Retrieved from:
http://www.kenblanchard.com/getattachment/solutions/by-offering/skill-trainingmodules/giving-feedback/giving-feedback-pw-look-inside.pdf

Partin, Ronald L. (2009). The Classroom Teachers Survival Guide. San Francisco, CA: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ritchhart, R., Churchm M., Morrison, K. (2011). Making Thinking Visible. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION