The beginning of a new year typically presents individuals with a designated time and opportunity to reflect upon the events of the past 365 days, to cherish the unforgettable moments, to learn from mistakes or disappointments, and most importantly, to set goals for the next chapter in this adventure we call life. In education, we call these types of behaviors “reflective practice”, or the manner in which teachers step back and evaluate the learning environment. As in any other profession, we assess what was successful, what didn’t work as planned and/or what needs to be adjusted the next time—all in an effort to improve our craft.

But reflective practice doesn’t have to be limited to the official start of new year. In fact, to be done effectively, the experts suggest that reflecting should occur on a continual basis—before, during and after instruction. Obviously, there is no one size fits all model, but one of the keys to this teaching strategy is to actually document your self-evaluations. Not only does this process help to clarify thoughts, but doing so will also provide written evidence to review and/or share with others at a later date.

That said, if you’re looking for some new ways to reflect on your teaching, here are a few suggestions: Recording thoughts on a blog, photographing exciting activities or even journaling the events of your day. Creating your own sticky note system to “jot a thought” is a pretty neat idea, too! Of course, it’s not necessary to utilize technology to participate in reflective activities, but if you’re looking to level up your learning, try a few of these “cool tools” while completing these tasks:

» Edublogs—The world’s largest educational blogging service. I’ve been using it for the past two years, I love, love, love this tool! It’s free, super easy to use and the support is second to none!

» ShutterCal—A calendar-based daily photo journal. I utilize this site/app to participate in the #edugood 365 Photo Project. Learn more about this very cool and meaningful classroom and/or school activity by reading my blog post here.

» Lino—A Web 2.0 tool that can be utilized to post sticky notes, photos and videos to a virtual corkboard—one that can be shared with others. A desktop application as well as iOS and Android apps are available.

» OhLife—A free online journaling tool that promotes writing fluency, technology use, and typing skills. Read more about utilizing this tool personally and/or with students by reading my blog post here.

All of these suggestions for reflecting on your teaching—plus 23 more—can be found on the infographic shown below. There are some really useful suggestions, so be sure to check ’em out!

Thanks to Mia MacMeekin who created this useful visual and for sharing these great ideas! Check out her blog for additional infographics here!

Classroom Connection:

Use one or more of these strategies to take your reflective practices to a whole new dimension!

BTW—Infographics make really neat posters! Use the Block Posters web tool to create one for your students!

Infographic of the Week is a series designed to promote the use of infographics and visual literacy in the classroom.