We recently participated in a workshop series lead by Susan McDonald, who authored the book, Inspiring Professional Growth. Our cohort of directors and education coordinators met monthly for 6 months. In addition to creating a vision for our programs and professional growth, we spent time reflecting on our current practices and supervision of teachers. We discussed what is working, what is not, and supported each other in how we work with challenging staffing dynamics.
Throughout our time at this workshop, we learned that the most powerful changes for our programs, our teachers and ourselves, came when we engaged in reflective practice, listening to and supporting each other.
At this time of year, we are meeting with teaching teams or with teachers individually, reflecting on the school year and developing goals for next year. We want to share some of the reflection questions from this workshop that we found meaningful, in hopes that you will find them helpful.
Because our time with our teachers can be limited, we suggest you choose no more than 5 or 6 questions from the list below that you feel are relevant to your staff and school.
What to consider before you begin:
- How will you gather information from your staff?
- When will you plan to do this?
- What concerns do you have about asking for feedback?
- How will you share your results with your staff?
Educator Reflection Questions:
- What dynamics in your classroom are working for you?
- What are the most important lessons you have learned as an early childhood educator, and how do you apply these lessons in your daily work?
- What are your super-powers? How are you using them in the classroom?
- What challenges are you facing? How can I, your director, support you in meeting those challenges in making your work more rewarding?
- What do you hope to achieve professionally?
- Step outside yourself: If someone else was writing a (professional) reflection on you, what would they write? Your response should reflect how you believe you are perceived by others. Include aspects of your collegial partnerships, sharing teacher responsibilities, and your interactions with students and families.
- As a follow up, are you open to the perspective of others? Share how your demonstrated willingness to shift your thinking, based on an idea or perspective that may have been different than yours.
As we ask our teachers to reflect on this past school year, we encourage you to take the opportunity to do the same. Use their responses as a roadmap to shape the ways in which you will build professional development or create the vision for your program for the coming school year.
Stacey Gabriel
Education Coordinator
Temple Beth Avodah
Newton, Ma
Stephanie Lerner
Early Learning Center Director
Temple Shir Tikva
Wayland, MA
