Reflecting on your teaching will help you to become a better teacher and learn from your experiences. As a teacher, when you are planning your lesson you will be thinking: “what do I want my learners to learn and how can I achieve this?” After each activity or lesson, you should also reflect on whether the learners learned what you wanted them to. If they did not, why was this? Can you do something different next time?

Reflection is a key tool in your role as a teacher. Being reflective means that you don’t only need to rely on being observed by others in order to learn from your experiences. Make sure you take time after each lesson, or at the end of the day, to think about what worked well or what did not. Use your Teacher Notebook to make notes. You can also take pictures with your phone about how you presented information on the chalkboard, on a display you prepared, or on a group of learners’ work. This will help you to reflect when you share your experiences with colleagues. Try to find time between TGMs to speak with colleagues about your thoughts and reflections. Asking a colleague to observe your teaching and give you constructive feedback can also complement and reinforce your own reflections on your teaching.

Below are a few questions that can help you to reflect on your teaching. As you use these questions more regularly you will not need to refer to them as often, as the reflection process will happen naturally after lessons. You might want to write them in your Teacher Notebook to help you refer to them regularly. It is important to be honest in answering these questions.

1. How did the lesson I planned work in practice?
2. Which activities worked well in my lesson? Why?
3. Which activities did not work as well as I planned? Why? What can I do to improve this next time?
4. Did I have all the materials I needed? What else would have been useful?
5. Which learners worked/participated well in the lesson? Why?
6. Which learners found the activities difficult? What can I do to help them?
7. What do I need to remember next time when I am planning a similar lesson?

To support your reflection and progress in the programme we suggest you create a table in your Teacher Notebook for you to complete regularly: My record of using the teaching approaches. You can find more information on how to use the table to support your own professional development later in these training resources.