Teacher Self-Assessments

Proof Points...

Schon (1983) coined the expression “reflective practitioner” to describe people whose professional or work behavior is characterized by the habit of critical self-reflection. Referring to teachers, Schon said that, "When the practitioner reflects-in-action in a case he [she] perceives as unique, paying attention to phenomena and surfacing his intuitive understanding of them, his [her] experimenting is at once exploratory, move testing, and hypothesis testing" (1987, p.72).

Self-directed teaching, then, consists of using one’s existing repertoire of skills to reflect upon any momentary event as an opportunity for reframing future responses to similar situations.

Self-monitoring of all aspects of instruction enables a person to take ownership of their own development. Progressing through the stages of building teaching expertise (sometimes described as “survive, succeed, and excel!”) is heightened by a disposition toward careful analysis and evaluation of one’s teaching performance. Self-awareness, learning more about we like, what works and what doesn’t, offers a strong foundation for on-going professional improvement.

STEMResources.com contains a number of tools for designing standards-based curriculum materials and assessments. For each type of lesson builder or assessment there is a corresponding self-assessment to guide the practice of critical self-reflection. Alternately, the following assessment tools can be used for external evaluation of teacher-generated materials in professional development settings or in teacher preparation programs.

REFERENCES

• Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
• Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.