An On-going Exercise in Reflexivity
ENGL 505B: Blackmon
One of
the main objectives for our mentor group is reflecting on our teaching
practices. In order to facilitate our weekly meetings and to make sure that
everyone has an “opportunity” to share their teaching stories I would like
for you to begin keeping a teaching journal. This journal will give you the
opportunity to document and reflect upon what happens in your classroom.
You
entries may be as long or as short as you like but should minimally discuss:
| Your
goals for that day (what did you want them to get out of class today?) |
| What
technology do you plan to use, if any, and why did you choose this over
others? |
| A
description of what happened in class (what writing was done for or in
class? what was discussed?) |
| A
commentary on the day’s events (How do you feel about this day? What felt
good about it? What troubled you? What stood out most for you? What would
you change if you could redo this day?) |
| Other
observations and thoughts |
For
this assignment you will only need to document one class per week, but you may
want to keep notes for yourself on a more regular basis. I will read your
journal and provide either a written response or talk with you about them during
conferences. Each week these journal entries will be submitted to me during our
Thursday mentor group meeting. Please be sure to date them (date of class and
date of submission) so that they are easy for me to keep track of. This is a
mandatory and on-going assignment for ENGL 505B.