The end of the school year is a time for teacher self-refection and action.  

What is teacher self reflection? It is the capacity of a teacher to exercise introspection . The action comes with the willingness to make changes to what hasn't worked in the classroom and reflect on what has. 

The idea of teacher reflection is not new.  John Dewey criticized education as "fad-driven".  He stated that teachers were learning only "how to do things" but were not learning "why they did things", or how to learn to improve from their own experience.  Most especially in How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process (1933), Dewey encouraged "reflective" or "thoughtful" action instead of "habitual" action. He believed that teachers should use a great deal more reason and apply the scientific method a great deal more than they do. Dewey’s criticism of educational practice reads as validly today as it did when he wrote it, and it applies to teacher’s world wide. Georgia has taken Dewey’s concept and applied it to students as well. The following instructional plan is part of a GaDOE collection of Unit Frameworks, Performance Tasks, examples of Student Work, and Teacher Commentary. Many more GaDOE approved instructional plans are available by using the Search Standards feature located on GeorgiaStandards.Org.

Sometimes it helps to plan to be thoughtful. The following checklists from Teachnet can help you begin.

Ultimately, self-reflection will result in insights as to:

1. How and why you think the way you do about teaching, learning and assessment
2. What actions you took, what choices you made
3. The meaning of your actions and choices
4. What learning and growth has occurred
5. How you can change your practices in the future
6. What you believe is the social value of  education
7. What you believe is your role as a professional in the field of  education

Successful reflection enables self-awareness, personal and professional growth and improved teaching practices.

I have included several links below of reflections….

Language arts teacher talking about the teaching/learning process

Special ed teacher talking about keeping students focused

 Active Learning: Overview of the Lesson and teacher reflections. Great site for online publications and products for technology minded teachers.

17 Years in the Seventh Grade and I Still Haven't Learned    Poems by David Puckett

I leave with this thought….In a Special Light by Elroy Bode   Excerpt from:  ''Nobody Whistles Anymore.''  

''A person whistles when his psyche is in equilibrium,'' Bode concludes, ''when there is simplicity in his heart and buoyancy in his soul. 

I beleive teachers just need to whistle while they work….

                    I spent the morning getting paperwork together in order to certify several of my teachers. Georgia is very fortunate that we have a very viable Teacher Alterative Certification program, we call GaTAPP. Teachers can be considered Highly Qualified ( 5.01.5 Intern Certificates—(IT) )  if they are have the content courses or take a state content test: ( GACE).  This basically means that if someone with a 4 year college degree wants to be a teacher, they can enter a state approved program and learn the pedagogy of teaching without having to start all over. This has been extremely helpful with the growing teacher shortage in Georgia.

                        The Oconee RESA GaTAPP program is web based with on-line courses. This has been extremely helpful for the adult learner and busy professional.  We also have a goggle newsgroup called GaTAPP that sends out information for members. For anyone interested in hearing from GaTAPP teachers they can go the TAPP Webcast. Alternative Preparation programs were also discussed on GPB’s Achieving Excellence Inside Georgia Schools.

                        As we begin to look for teachers for next year, I get a lot of inquiries. I tell everyone the best place to look is on the Teach Georgia website. The job search function gives you a quick look at job openings. If you want to find out about which RESA is in your area, I would suggest he Georgia RESA’s website. I want to encourage anyone who wants to be a teacher and has the skills, willingness, & love of children, please look into the possibilities.

One Hundred Years from now 
(excerpt from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft)

One Hundred Years from now 
It will not matter 
what kind of car I drove, 
What kind of house I lived in, 
how much money was in my bank account 
nor what my clothes looked like. 
But the world may be a better place because 
I was important in the life of a child.