Supporting Teacher Reflection with Lorraine Padilla, Ep. 103 Buzzing with Ms. B: The Coaching Podcast

The end of the year is HECTIC!

Teachers need to finish teaching required content, finalize year-end paperwork, complete assessments, and get their classrooms ready for summer break. Whew! That’s a lot!

The last thing on their minds is reflecting on their practice.

So, what can coaches and administrators do to encourage teachers to reflect on their practice?

On this episode of The Coaching Podcast, I’m talking to Lorraine Padilla from Apple Blossom Teachers about supporting teacher reflection. Lorraine is a teacher, mentor, and provides professional development in-person and online. During the call, we talk about ideas to help teachers reflect on their work, how to turn insights gained during reflection into action, and how to prevent a reflective conversation from turning into a gripe fest.

I really enjoyed this conversation because Lorraine was so excited about her work. She was honest about the things she had to work through and that every day isn’t going to be perfect. In education, like in life, there are hard days. That’s the nature of the job. Having support and making time for reflection will make it better.

Ultimately, reflection is a valuable tool for helping teachers grow both professionally and personally. That’s why it’s so important for coaches and administrators to encourage educators to take time for reflection at the end of the year and throughout the year too.

Think about how you can make reflection a regular part of your dialogue with teachers. One idea to try is to choose a question that Lorraine shared and make a deliberate effort to add it into your dialogue with teachers. Start with one and when it becomes part of your toolkit you can choose a new question to add.

Speaking of toolkits, I have a resource in my Teachers Pay Teachers store called, Coaching New Teachers – The Instructional Coaching Toolkit. It includes tools for debriefing and providing opportunities for reflection as part of the coaching cycle. You can get it by clicking the link below.

Topics and Questions Discussed in Episode 103 – Supporting Teacher Reflection with Lorraine Padilla

• Why reflection is valuable for improving teaching practices
• Common misunderstandings about reflecting
• Why coaches and reflection aren’t only for struggling teachers
• Reflective questions and prompts
• How to make reflections a habit
• The connection between relationships, being vulnerable, and reflection
• Opportunities to support teachers that are often overlooked
• The power in celebrating what’s going well and questions to ask to carry that win into other areas
• The difference between reflecting in groups and one-on-one
• How to set a purpose in pre-conference meetings and why you need one
• Building time to reflect in planning sessions
• Why teams need to develop a common language
• Differentiating what teachers need help with and what students need help with
• Leveraging strengths in one area into another
• Tips to keep reflective conversations from becoming gripe fests and how to find solutions to problems
• Being intentional about summer vacation to prevent burnout
• Ways to help teachers turn their reflections into action
• How small steps can lead to big success

Ready to listen? You can listen below with the media player, or search for Buzzing with MS. B: The Coaching Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts!

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