Reflection Process: Coaches can help teachers look back on lessons.

Reflective questions provide a way for a coach to debrief a lesson with a teacher. Share questions with the teacher in advance of the lesson, so that he or she will be more aware of key behaviors, and perhaps allowing him or her to adjust a response during the lesson.

1. What Happened? (Description)
What did I do? What did students do?
What was my affect at the time? What was their affect?
What was going on around us? Where were we? When and where did this occur?

2. Why? (Analysis and Interpretation)
Why do I think things happened this way? What are my hunches?
What was I feeling and thinking? How might this have affected my behavior?
How might the context have influenced the experience? Was there something about the activities? Something about the timing or location of events?
Are there any potential contributing factors? Was there something about what was said or done by students that triggered my response? Are there past experiences-mine or the school’s- that may have contributed to the response?

3. So What? (Overall Meaning and Application)
Why did this seem like a significant lesson to reflect on?
What have I learned? How might I improve?
How might this change my future thinking, behaving, interactions, and lessons?
What questions remain?

4. Now What? (Implications for Action)
Are there others to include in my reflecting on this lesson? If so, who and what would we interact about?
What do I want to remember and think about next time a similar situation arises? How do I want to behave?
How could I set up conditions to increase the likelihood of productive interactions and learning?

Source: Adapted by Randall Deich, from J. York-Barr et al., 2001