"Be patient towards all that is unresolved in your heart.. and try to love the question themselves."
Ranier Marie Rilke
John Dewey, referred to by some as the Father of Experiential Education, identified four factors of reflection as:
1. A meaning-making process
2. A rigorous way of thinking
3. A communal act
4. A set of attitudes
Educators see reflection as a means of refining one`s understanding and ability to reach all learners. We are all aware of the power of reflection. Indeed, as Caleb Gattegno said, "only awareness is educable."
But when to reflect, how to reflect, and on what to reflect sometimes escapes us as we hurry through one class period to the next, the copier to the classroom, and the lunch room to the playground.
David Kolb built upon Dewey`s voluminous works and developed the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) as a model to capture and capitalize on experience and reflection. He proposed the following four stages that represent the cycle of learning:
• Concrete Experience
• Reflective Observations
• Abstract Conceptualization
• Active Experimentation
TESOL Trainers has years of experience with working with educational institutions in promoting reflective teaching practices. Reflection is normally reserved as a term to help teachers become better practitioners. Our organization provides the tools to not only help teachers inform and transform ™ their teaching practices but also gives teachers strategies and techniques to help their students become fully aware of their own learning and fully capable of sharing what is helping and hindering their success.
The main goal of this theme is to provide teachers and institutions with the necessary seeds to plant systemic change and the tools to care for them as they grow, adapt, and expand across the curriculum.
Participants who attend such a workshop can expect to:
• Refine their understanding of the role reflection plays in teaching and in learning
• Understand the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC), the process and its components
• Develop the ability to use the ELC as a vehicle for informing and transforming™ one`s practice
• Build the awareness and the tools to notice what is happening in and among students
• Gain strategies and techniques for promoting reflection within students
• Acquire strategies for observing one`s own teaching and peer`s teaching
• Enhance one`s ability to give and receive feedback in a constructive manner
TESOL Trainers can design a workshop on reflective teaching and reflective learning to meet the needs and constraints of any institution. As with anything, the following guiding principles always exist:
The driving principle behind all workshops is that the leaner must be 100% engaged in the learning process. Every workshop invites the whole of the participant into each stage of the experience.
Experiential
All activities are hands-on approaches to learning that give participants the opportunity to explore and experience the guiding principles and strategies behind each technique.
Adaptable
The techniques and strategies covered can be used the next day in the classroom without having to research , spend hours preparing, or energy considering how it can be done.
Research-Based
Every strategy and technique is based on sound research of learning and teaching in the specific context of the work-shop.
Needs-Based
Every workshop is designed and delivered with the specific needs of the institution in mind.
If you would like more information on this theme or any other theme, please contact us directly.
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