Reflective Journaling

The process of reflective journaling is used extensively in pre-service teacher education programs for very good reason - it gets teachers into the habit of continually examining, reflecting on and improving their teaching practice (from planning to delivery). This process is not designed to emphasize the deficiencies in one's teaching, but rather to help identify strengths and help capitalize on those while selecting areas that an individual would like to grow in.

Just about any format can be used for reflective journaling (from a traditional journal with regular entries to something more formal with a consistent format). The format is much less critical than the types of information that chosen for writing. Some key areas to consider when journaling are:

  • context - day, date, class, class size…

  • planning - preparation prior to class (key concepts, presentation material, supporting resources, readings…)

  • assessment - how will you assess the students’ understanding of what you covered?

  • delivery - strategies (lecture, interactive lecture with questioning, large group work, small group work…)

  • comments - comments and observations on how it all went. Did your planning and delivery match the content? How did the students’ receive the material and method of delivery? How was the pacing (too fast, too slow)? What worked really well? What did not seem to work the way you expected it to?

  • recommendations - how would you change this class (if at all) for future delivery? Was there something that you observed in this class that is applicable to other classes/courses that you teach (positive or negative)? It is important to keep your recommendations focused to a few areas (2-3 positive things to continue to use and grow and 1-2 negative things that you would like to improve) so you can set attainable goals and realize observable results in a short amount of time. The ultimate goal is not only a record of thoughtful reflection on what is being done in the classroom from day-to-day, but also a list of planning and delivery methods that work well for both teacher and students on a consistent basis.

Below are a few possible journaling templates (in Word and PDF format) if you prefer to use something more structured:

References: