On June 17, 2015 I gave a workshop of being reflective in teaching to the Saitama City ALTs at the Saitama Municipal Institute of Education. Within the workshop I asked teachers to recall and review important teaching concepts that had been developed over the course of the previous 5 years. Another major theme of the workshop was the development and implementation of systematic reflection on instructional efficiency. Many of the core principals of this workshop were based on the work of Elizabeth A. City, Richard F. Elmore, Sarah E. Fiarman, and Lee Teitel as found in their text, Instructional Rounds in Education.

Institutional Memory

Over the past 5 years the team dedicated to the development of the English Communication Ability Development Program (ECAD) piloted a number of instructional systems. The intent of each of these was to ensure that the many decisions surrounding teaching could be made effectively and efficiently . During this workshop I reviewed these and asked teachers to renew their understanding of them. This was especially important because of the somewhat transient nature of our staff. We reviewed the following:

• SIMPLE- an acronym that describes how we should develop materials for lessons. This concept was develop by myself and David Bailey. The letters ask that teachers make sure all materials comply with the following: Suitable medium; Intuitive to use; Meets the lesson goal; Produced easily; Light on text; Exciting to use.
• SII (Show, Include, Involve)- this concept is a part of my own development of effect modeling protocol. The original modeling protocol calls for teachers to develop models that motivate, instruct, and prepare students for activities they will be asked to do.
• 3D (Determine, Decide, Divide)- These three steps help teachers to develop effective links between instruction and assessment. First teachers must determine a detailed vision of what success in the lesson look like. Then they decide how they can provide effective, and formative feedback to students during their learning activities. Finally teachers divide the work of instructing/assessing students in a way that is suitable.

Reflective Teaching

During a majority of this workshop teachers were asked to give short instructional demonstrations, then practice reflecting on their teaching. The goal was to help teachers to both give teachers a chance to review lesson plans that will be used during the first term, and to  have them practice reflective teaching.

In order for teachers to teach reflectively the following key concepts were presented:

• Discussions between teachers should be based on the work of the institution and the program. Terminology and core principles from these sources make reflection objective and ensures uniformity across the city’s schools as well as within the school.
• Observations and discussions should start with factual descriptions of what happened in the lesson. Rather than observing to define the quality of instruction (This is an interesting lesson) the observers should work to objectively collect evidence and reserve such judgements for later (10 students gasped with surprise at the activity, all students worked to solve the problem until the time was up, 5 students asked for more time before answers were given).
• Any and all statements in reflective discussions must be well evidenced. Ideally the evidence is presented before the judgement. For example:

10 students gasped with surprise at the activity. All students worked to sole the problem until the time was up. 5 of the students asked for more time finish before the answers were given. So, this lesson’s activity was interesting for these students.

Workshop conclusions

As with any concept such as this, teachers will need practice at applying the concept in order for it to become an effective part of professional development. Many of the teachers need more experience in giving instructional demonstrations in a way that forwards discussions.