The Value of a Reflective Journal

Many teacher education and training courses include assignments based on developing a reflective journal as a means of encouraging the trainee to reflect on their own teaching and learning practice. This is aimed at developing a reflective practitioner that learns and improves through analysing their own practice in the classroom, workshop, studio, sports field, salon and so on.

Why keep a journal you may ask, I don't have time! Well, it is the act of reflecting soon after the event that allows you to truly look at what went well, what could have been better and analysing why your practice was successful or not.

Zulfikar & Mujiburrahman (2018) found that in service teachers believed that keeping a reflective journal enhanced their understanding of reflective practice and was a useful tool that helped to improve their teaching skills.

Of course for a reflective journal to be successfully utilised, a teacher must take time to look back at the journal entries from time to time, however, the act of writing the journal entries is in fact the reflection itself, instilling it into the teacher's memory and as literature suggests, the pre service teacher can be taught how to reflect with purpose, and create a meaningful teaching experience. (Beeth & Adadan. 2006: 103-120)

According to Marie Doyle (1997), the pre-service teacher benefits through observing teaching practice and honestly reflecting on what was seen and heard through writing a reflective entry. Reflecting on their own experiences, preservice teachers are able to "think about their attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions...to promote self-evaluation and change (pp. 519-532)."

The honesty of reflection, in order for it to have best value and influence positive change, is essential and as a teacher I have often thought, "Oh, I shouldn't have said it like that", or "That was not the right thing to do". Acknowledging what did not go very well, the teacher can begin to build up experiences where learning through practice encourages immediate improvement.

Personally, I have kept lots of notes rather than specific journals, however, I am beginning to use this blog as my reflective space and in time it will grow and hopefully receive others opinions and feedback.

I have found creating these blog entries less time consuming than I had assumed and it has also improved my EdTech and creative digital skills, so, yes it is a positive exercise with value and purpose.

Think of it as part of your learning journey and another skill you are mastering, and you can then share your findings with the next group of learners you can inspire and empower on their adventures in education.

References

Beeth, M.E. and Adadan, E., 2006. The influences of university-based coursework on field experience. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 17, pp.103-120.

Doyle, M. (1997). "Beyond life history as a student: Pre-service teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning." College Student Journal, 31,519-532.

Teuku Zulfikar & Mujiburrahman(2018)Understanding own teaching: becoming reflective teachers through reflective journals,Reflective Practice,19:1,1-13,DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2017.1295933