The Educator Reflection Tips book series is designed to deepen the knowledge and increase the skill set of professional educators. Each book in this series includes a multitude of resources, along with probing reflection questions designed to provoke readers to think deeply about their classroom experiences, past and present and to take specific actions aimed at refining and improving their craft which will enhance teaching and learning in our schools. After reading this book, you will begin to take charge of your own professional growth. No longer will you depend on the traditional method of waiting on feedback from administrators and colleagues. You will be equipped with instruments to routinely consider where you are on the self-reflection continuum and use the tools provided to create action steps for improvement. Volume II in the series takes readers on a deep dive to determine habits of effectiveness in these critical areas: Classroom CompetenceCritical LiteracyCyber ConnectionClassroom CultureThe ten reflection tips highlighted in Volume II invite readers to embark upon a journey of contemplation, heightened awareness, and action-oriented transformation. Each Reflection Tip is uniquely crafted to empower educators to think critically about key factors which influence student outcomes. Additionally, the accompanying infographics offer ready-made tools which can be used individually, in Professional Learning Communities, and school-based Professional Development sessions. As we continue to reconsider instruction during this ever changing point in time, it is vital for each of us to take an open and honest look at our methods for planning, teaching, assessing, and enriching academic systems to determine their overall effectiveness. Education is a life-long process. In the pursuit to help students achieve academic excellence, teachers must continuously seek out strategies to add to their instructional toolbox. Let's redefine how you approach instruction together.

In university teachers'' hectic lives, finding space to reflect, restore, renew, and recommit can seem impossible. Jean Koh Peters and Mark Weisberg believe regular reflection is critical and have designed A Teacher''s Reflection Book to help teachers and other professionals find that space. Growing out of the authors'' extensive experience facilitating retreats and leading teaching and learning workshops, the book builds on their discoveries in those settings, supporting and promoting teachers'' self-directed development. Inviting that development, A Teacher''s Reflection Book is a cornucopia of stories, exercises, and examples that will inspire teachers to make reflection a cornerstone of their daily lives. With its multiple suggestions and strategies, it offers something for every reader, and is responsive to teachers'' needs at all stages of their careers. The book''s six chapters offer readers several perspectives from which to reflect. Some sections offer glimpses of teachers in the midst of their daily teaching lives, while others step away, inviting readers to reflect on what it means to have a vocation as a teacher. The book explores how we listen, a crucial yet rarely taught skill, essential for reflecting, as well as for learning and teaching. And it invites teachers to reflect on their students: who they are, and what and how they learn. For those latter reflections, the authors turn the focus on fear, which so pervades university life and which can distort learners'' and teachers'' perspectives and responses. Throughout this book, readers will visit several classrooms and listen to the evocative voices of several thoughtful students. Revelatory, practical, and wise, A Teacher''s Reflection Book is a valuable companion and guide. "One key strength of the book is its authentic writing style, which engages the reader and builds the trustworthiness of the authors. Another strength is the book''s wealth of readings and the activities it offers to catalyze teacher reflection." -- Teaching Theology and Religion, Ryan S. Gardner "This excellent book should be part of every teacher''s professional library. It is a book pitched at all teachers in higher education and, through the processes of reflection, a book that advances important principles of good teaching practice that are usually introduced all too briefly in the basic texts on teaching in higher education. ...Several descriptive words come to mind when reading this book. It is a polite and gentle book. Politeness is revealed in the book''s sub-title - ''Exercises, stories, invitations''. It is the idea of invitation that characterizes much of the book. It is not didactic but rather invites us to use the book and the processes described in it in ways that work best for us. It does this through questions and inductive approaches to reflection. Through these approaches and the careful use of real-life examples, we are gently invited to explore the perspectives presented in the text and apply these to our personal and professional lives. It is also an accessible book. Most refreshingly, it is not burdened with unnecessary technical jargon and convoluted language that sadly cripples too much writing in education today and makes learning inaccessible to many, particularly for those readers whose first language is not English." -- Higher Education Research & Development (HERDSA), Robert Cannon "I was asked to write a book review but I find that, instead, I want to write a thank you note thanking Jean Koh Peters and Mark Weisberg for the gift of their book, A Teacher''s Reflection Book. ...The reflections, examples and exercises you offer in the book make reflecting about both challenging and positive moments in my life as a teacher feel like something I can do easily and regularly. ...In this book, you have found a way to model, encourage and help create a compassionate space where teachers can make the deepest connection between who they are and what they do. You give us permission to find our truth in and the courage to bring our hearts to our teaching and writing. You have made a home for reflection." -- The Law Teacher, Kimberly Kirkland, University of New Hampshire School of Law "We are all so busy. We race from task to task. We attempt to multi-task; dividing and depleting our energies. How many times do we arrive in class breathless with hardly a moment to think about what we have planned for the day? I harbor no illusions that a blog entry is going to change our lives, but I would like to use this one to reiterate the need to make time for reflection, for contemplation about what we do, and how and why we do it. The value of doing so is laid out clearly in [this] new book..." -- Teaching Professor Blog, Maryellen Weimer

This guide explains the importance of developing the habit and skills of reflective practice in order to meet student needs and grow continuously as a professional teacher.

Even if your writing workshop hums with the sound of productive work most days, with time carved out for sharing and reflecting, how do you know whether your students are really learning from their writing experiences, or if they're just going through the motions of writing? What if you could teach your students to reflect-in a powerful, deliberate way-throughout the writing process? Teaching Writers to Reflect shares a three step process-remember, describe, act--to help students develop as writers who know for themselves what they are doing and why. The authors argue that teaching the skill of reflection helps students: - Build identities as writers within a community of writers - Learn what to do when there's a problem in their writing - Make writing skills transferable to more than one writing situation. With specific teaching strategies, examples of student work and stories from their own classrooms, Whitney, McCracken and Washell help you align the work of reflection with your writing workshop structure. After learning to reflect on what they do as writers, students not only can say things about the texts they have written, but also can talk about their own abilities, challenges, and the processes by which they solve writing problems.

Combining more than 30 years of facilitating, training and teaching experience, the authors use field-tested approaches to create a group reflection experience that maximizes engagment, participation and, most importantly, learning.The 5 Question Model takes the essential elements of classic learning cycles debriefing and presents them in such a way that they can be quickly understood, used and taught to a wide variety of skill levels.

Praise for What Our Stories Teach Us “In her new book What Our Stories Teach Us, Linda Shadiow invites college faculty to use their personal and professional stories to reflect more critically and meaningfully on their teaching practice. Guiding her readers with a gentle but sure hand, Shadiow painstakingly shows that by systematically examining our educational and pedagogical biographies from a range of perspectives, we gain deeper insight into the pivotal moments that enliven our teaching and sustain our commitment to ongoing professional growth. I expect to be learning from this humane book for many years to come.” —STEPHEN PRESKILL, Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and Leadership, Wagner College “Essential reading for every educator who strives to be a better teacher. Shadiow’s book offers us a fascinating process to mine our personal teaching and learning stories for the valuable lessons they contain.” —JIM SIBLEY, Centre for Instructional Support, University of British Columbia “In this well-conceived and well-written book, Linda Shadiow gently guides faculty along a path toward unearthing the rich stories of their lives that offer deep and enduring insight into their practice.” —DANNELLE D. STEVENS, professor and author, Journal Keeping: How to Use Reflective Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight, and Positive Change

A practical guide to the essential practice that builds better teachers. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher is the landmark guide to critical reflection, providing expert insight and practical tools to facilitate a journey of constructive self-critique. Stephen Brookfield shows how you can uncover and assess your assumptions about practice by viewing them through the lens of your students' eyes, your colleagues' perceptions, relevant theory and research, and your own personal experience. Practicing critical reflection will help you… Align your teaching with desired student outcomes See your practice from new perspectives Engage learners via multiple teaching formats Understand and manage classroom power dynamics Model critical thinking for your students Manage the complex rhythms of diverse classrooms This fully revised second edition features a wealth of new material, including new chapters on critical reflection in the context of social media, teaching race and racism, leadership in a critically reflective key, and team teaching as critical reflection. In addition, all chapters have been thoroughly updated and expanded to align with today's classrooms, whether online or face-to-face, in large lecture formats or small groups. In his own personal voice Stephen Brookfield draws from over 45 years of experience to illustrate the clear benefits of critical reflection. Assumptions guide practice and only when we base our actions on accurate assumptions will we achieve the results we want. Educators with the courage to challenge their own assumptions in an effort to improve learning are the invaluable role models our students need. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher provides the foundational information and practical tools that help teachers reach their true potential.

Use 80 reflection breaks as individual discussion starters or as part of a comprehensive professional growth plan that is perfect for teachers at all levels.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking history of 175 years of American education that brings the lessons of the past to bear on the dilemmas we face today—and brilliantly illuminates the path forward for public schools. “[A] lively account." —New York Times Book Review In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been embattled for nearly two centuries. She uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools—instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting “elite” graduates to teach—are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change.

Educators spend an abundance of time planning and preparing lessons, but how often do we as educators stop to think about and analyze the overall outcomes of our lessons--retention of knowledge, the appropriateness of the strategies, learner engagement, etc. The Educator Reflection Tips series provokes in-depth analysis of your everyday instructional practices, provides insights into what research says should be included within all aspects of instruction, poses reflection questions to help readers determine the effectiveness of the educational approaches used, and Fowler-White has even included tools to use as you craft a plan to adopt, adapt, or enhance your current practices. The distinctive format of the first volume in this series enables readers to choose their own path to attain knowledge. Unlike other educational books, each Reflection Tip is written independently from the others, so there is no need to read the text cover to cover as is the traditional method of content written for educators. The three distinct clusters found within this volume include: #1 Content-driven Concepts which focuses on the instructional core and content-specific knowledge. #2 Classroom Competencies that outline instructional strategies educators can incorporate into their practice. #3 Classroom Culture which provides guidance for developing relationships and meeting the diverse needs of students. Additionally, you will find the E.M.P.O.W.E.R. Feedback Framework which the author created to outline the steps educators should take to help students take ownership of their learning and a Summertime S.L.I.D.E. Toolkit to help combat learning loss. It's everything you need to elevate your instructional practice. Come reflect with me!!