I think it’s vitally important that teachers are aware that they should be learning just as much in the classroom as their students. We may already know the  subjects up for discussion, but the hows and whys of what we teach are constantly changing, which makes it necessary for us to evolve with the student body. Students today are not the same as the type of students we were as undergraduate freshmen, and we were not the same as our teachers when they were 18.

I recently read a book called Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee, and a passage which really struck me was when the main character realized that he, as a teacher, learned the lessons, and those who came to learn learned nothing. I hope this is not the case for my students (although I hope that I do learn from them). Gauging how students are absorbing the material, if at all, as well as how my methods are reaching them, are all things I need to monitor and adjust as needed. I think that’s how teachers should be learning. Not only should we stay current on today’s new philosophies and theories (remember that Pluto was still a planet when we were in school!), but also how each new set of students works, how their world affects their learning style and values, and how to best reach and inspire them.

In terms of how to be a reflective practitioner, I actually had to look the phrase up, and it means reflecting on one’s own personal experiences in life (and in the classroom, for this situation), and developing one’s actions according to what those experiences teach us. To bring this down to overly simplified terms, I think this means taking what we learn from our students (i.e. how various activities/exercises/assignments work) and applying that new knowledge to later classes. Things that are successful are kept; things that bomb are put aside for re-evaluation and/or a group that might benefit better.