Reflectiveness

It has been said that many teachers and students when asked to, find it hard to reflect upon many things. After doing a whole reflective paper on our own learning experiences through the years, even though the previous statement seems bizarre, I would have to agree. When looking back to the early years in school for many, they may remember the people, school plays, school parties, but when asked to think about previous teachers teaching styles many are stumped. When I reflect upon elementary school years, I just remember many creative activities that were done during class time. Then moving into middle school, I for the most part remember classes that interested me and many extra curricular activities I participated in to find my calling. It really was not until high school that I remember specific teaching styles. For example, the "laid back" teacher that showed many movies, power-points, and had more busy work than anything else or the "strict" teacher that gave long meaningful projects where students really had no choice but to understand the material. Some find that reflection is the heart of the teaching process. This is true, because teachers have to try out many things within their classroom to find what works for the students and what they connect to the best. Once one style of teaching or one assignment is given, the teacher must then go over everything and reflect upon the students performance and think about changes that could be made to help. Reflecting can be done almost anywhere I believe. For most effective reflecting, I feel that when what is being reflected upon is fresh in your head and you have an open mind to critique things that is the best time.