where I have many choices in my repertoire for each teaching
situation. Sometimes I do not take the time to think through
which is the right choice for the occasion. I am finding it easy to
excuse impulsive behavior by thinking of it as flexible behavior.
Because I am an “in the moment” teacher, I need to pay atten-
tion to this more than I have been recently. I am grateful to you
yesterday for reminding me of the importance of this dynamic in
order for me to continue to be the teacher I imagine I would like
to be!After this particular reflection, Kallick worked with the teachers to
design their next session to better meet everyone’s needs. Sharing parts of
the reflection brought them to another level of understanding as they
worked together in a learning community. Reflection can bring the same
spirit of community to your classroom, too.
Students also learn much when they see examples of reflection from
other students’ journals. You might want to cull a variety of examples to
share. Here is a reflection from a group journal written by students from
the Communications Academy at Sir Francis Drake High School in San
Anselmo, California:
To d a y o u r g r o u p s p e n t m o s t o f t h e t i m e r e a di n g a r t i c l e s a n d
the ballot info pamphlet. We have all participated and have been
open and informative. Our goal seems to be execution of the
actual set of criteria for our project....
We a r e p a s s i n g a r o u n d o u r w o n d e r f u l j o u r n a l t o w r i t e d ow n
what we want to do or improve on for ourselves. I want to work
on reading. I find myself reading enough to slide by but not
enough to be fully educated in the subject. It takes a lot of time,
so I need to find some of that, too. I want to be able to answer the
questions I have asked with precision and accuracy. My stretch
goal would be to do everything assigned to me completed and
on time. If I start to slack off, just kick me back into place....
I want to be more patient. I also feel I talk a lot and don’t
mean to. I want to try to listen with understanding and empathy.228 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind