The aim of this guide is to stimulate professional reflection, dialogue and debate about learning. Education professionals in Scotland are already aware of the key issues relating to learning through the series "Curriculum for Excellence: Building the Curriculum," the recent publication "Learning Together: Opening Up Learning"…

The hectic pace and rigid structures in many of today's schools make it difficult for educators to take time to reflect and learn. Experience is not enough. Reflection on experience is the pathway to improvement. Reflection provides a means for examining beliefs, assumptions, and practices. It can also result in the discovery of incongruities…

Presents a classroom teacher's reflections on her personal experiences with reading and how she incorporated what she was learning into her teaching. Describes how she reads to renew her spirit, to dispel some of the worry of the school setting, and for new insights and inspiration. (SG)

Expands the reflective process into the author's unique learning community to intimately involve parents in their child's learning and academic development. Explores new ways to gather information about her students by inviting parents to become members of her reflective learning community. Describes the benefits and challenges of having parents…

An effective teacher must continue to learn, problem-solve, and respond to the evolving needs of his or her students. Ideally a culture of inquiry, reflection, and self-evaluation should develop. Voluntary inquiry-based reflection identifies problems and issues within a school and allows teachers and administrators to develop professional study…

This article identifies questions and strategies to help teachers become more self-aware regarding their interactions with students with behavioral and emotional disorders. Strategies address: (1) identifying and defusing emotional triggers; (2) shifting focus; (3) reducing burnout and nurturing teacher mental health; (4) assessing ability to use…

Discusses how student teaching is supposed to use all the elements of the learning cycle. Considers the realities of student teaching experiences and illustrates models of student teaching. Presents four profiles of student teachers that are drawn from semester-long reflections. Discusses supervisors' reactions to the reflection cycle. Concludes…

In this book 100 dynamic educators share some words that are important to them and what those words mean for teaching--here are the ideas that can start a teacher's day or stimulate new ideas for class activities. According to the book, each educator was asked to select a term that reflected an important idea for teaching; the terms appear in…

This paper suggests that self-evaluation should be a significant component of teachers' daily work, presenting a model of systematic self-evaluation to help teachers generate classroom solutions through self-study (thus leading them to more complex forms of classroom inquiry). After a historical and theoretical perspective, the paper proposes a…

This small book presents a collection of wisdom-based guidelines for teachers who are working in inclusive settings and is based on the authors' many years of experience as educators. The brief aphorisms are grouped under the following principles: (1) Effective Teachers Have Positive Expectations for Success; (2) Effective Teachers are Good…

Offers strategies teachers can use to keep their teaching fresh. Discusses what gives teachers energy and what takes away energy. Notes that when teachers had strong emotional connections with colleagues their teaching energy was high. (SG)

Reflective teachers look at classroom problems from many perspectives and consider others' viewpoints when they choose instructional strategies. Reflection is beginning to be treated as an essential part of a teacher's repertoire. Sidebars recount an exercise in reflection. (MLF)

This paper explains how teachers can set up good research problems to study in their classrooms. The purpose of the research is to provide teachers with a tool for reflection, change, learning, and renewal in student-centered classrooms. Teacher-researchers learn to ask critical questions, collect data, document findings, and share results with…

This 19-minute VHS videotape introduces the structured reflection protocol, a tool designed to help teachers learn by working together and by using student work as a beginning point for their learning together. The videotape shows scenes of the structured reflection protocol being used in diverse school settings (elementary, secondary, rural,…

The first volume in a series and the foundation on which future volumes will build, this book explains the goals of the "Kids InSight" series, then highlights the threads that will run throughout all the books in the series. The goals of the book are to: encourage teachers to reflect on and reconsider their instruction; change their…