Of course we have all read about the powers of reflection and reflective practice in education. Teachers should reflect on what they have taught and how they have taught it in order to improve instruction, but how often does it really occur? How many teachers are truly reflecting on their practice? Does anyone realistically have time to be reflective with all the other required segments of the job? And, more importantly, do administrators reflect on their practice and share it with teachers as a model? I have a feeling that we know the true answers to these questions, but avoid those answers. The fact of the matter is reflection needs to be encouraged, modeled, and time must be provided for it to occur in a meaningful way.
Here is a short collection of some of the reflections I am currently working on.
1 — The Phoenix Film Festival — The festival hasn’t even happened yet, but Greg and I have thought of some improvements for next year. First, we plan to start promoting and planning from the beginning of the school year with a calendar of dates with different tasks that need to be accomplished and time frames for finishing those tasks. Greg and I want the festival to live beyond our time at KIS, so this type of planning is necessary for the future of the festival. Second, we plan to offer clubs at the middle and high school levels, so student can begin to take over the process. After all, it is their festival. Third, we plan to reflect on the festival once it is over.
2 — Recent communication — I had an unfortunate communication with one of my colleagues recently where I inappropriately communicated my frustration with a situation involving a duty schedule for our parent-teacher conferences. Due to the great demands on my time as the Dean of Students and the Technology Integration Specialist, I try to plan ahead at least one or two weeks in advance so I can focus my time correctly. Robin Schneider, my principal, had came up with a great idea of having a showcase of digital work done by students on display during the conferences. Sadly, his idea came the week before the conferences, but because I felt the idea was great, I told him we should move ahead with the plan. It required me to collect a lot of student artifacts in a very short period of time and then compile those artifacts into presentations. We looked down the road at what else was coming and saw the Middle Matters staring us in the face. At that point we both felt that it was manageable because during conferences I could work on the layout of the Middle Matters. On Wednesday, the beginning of the conferences, I received an email with a duty schedule for the conferences. I was surprised to find that I was listed on the duty schedule with 12 hours (four hours per day) of supervision duty during the conferences. Instead of taking a deep breath and counting to ten, I exploded and shot off one of those emails that you aren’t supposed to write when you are angry. I have apologized to Jamie Otis, but still can’t believe my own behavior. We all make mistakes and the best thing to do is to admit the mistake and apologize to the appropriate people. In addition to my unprofessional response, I do feel that the problem highlights one of the major concerns at the school — time lines and planning. Why was the duty schedule handed out on Wednesday morning of the conferences? It should be out at least one week before the required work so people can plan accordingly. This doesn’t excuse my behavior, but it does place a framework around it.
3 — KIS Podcast and KIS YouTube Channel — Both are off and running and the important point now is momentum. We need to continue interviewing teachers, students, and administration about the 1:1 program for the podcast and continue uploading student samples to the YouTube channel.
4 — Discipline — I am currently trying my best to add a guiding and mentoring approach to our behaviorist/control discipline policies. This is an example of merging two philosophies together to make a livable situation for everyone concerned. Our school-wide discipline approach is very much from the behaviorist philosophy of education — a system of rules and punishments. My personal philosophy is more to the guidance or constructivist approach, so each major discipline case is coming with some serious discussion of appropriate behavior and what can be learned from the situation. I’m feeling better about the situation, and the students involved so far seem to leave the room feeling better about receiving discipline.
Reflection is an important part of education and we must all engage in it.
