I talked before about reflection and how keeping a journal can help you as a TEFL teacher. It’s a vital part of personal development. There are many ways to keep that journal, but I thought I’d share with you the one I use. Voila!
The TEFL Teaching Hub Class Reflection Journal
This is the journal I use for reflection in my TEFL classes. It’s broken down into four main parts.
- Class Description – All the basic info about your class
- Lesson Plan – Your plan for the class and how well it executes
- Notes – How the class went
- Reflections – 3 simple questions for growth
How to fill out the journal
I use the Class Reflection Journal mostly in two different situations.
The first is when there is some aspect of a class where I am definitely struggling. This could be anything from classroom management, to when students are struggling, to when an activity falls flat.
The second situation is just when I want to do a periodic check-in to make sure I’m keeping up with my own pedagogical goals. Assuming I’m not having any issues, I’ll usually pick one class per month randomly and see how I’m doing.
Either way, I fill out the form the same way.
Class Description
At the top of the page you put the basic classroom information: the date of the class (in the top right corner), the name or level of the class, the materials or curriculum used in the class and the number of students in the class. These are more for recordkeeping purposes; to help you keep track of the class week over week.
You’ll also track the goals and targets for the class. This includes targets for the class and goals for yourself as the teacher.
If you’re really struggling, you may feel there’s so much you need to work on. There might even be a lot for you to work on, but as Confucius said, “The man who chases two rabbits, catches neither.”
Even if everything is wrong with your teaching (and it won’t be), pick only one or two things to focus on in that class. By keeping focus on those one or two things, you’re more likely to see positive improvement over time.
So, fill out the language target for the class, and then one or two goals for yourself and one or two goals for your students, depending on who you feel needs more work.
Lesson Plan / Activities
I’ve said elsewhere that failure to plan is planning to fail, and it’s true; if you want to make sure you’re providing the best possible lesson you can, you have to have a lesson plan.
If you have enough experience, you might not need it written down. But if you’re new, or if you’re working on improvement, having it available to see can be helpful.
What I do here is I write down each activity or part of the lesson plan bit by bit. I’ll also use the box on the left side to note if I got the activity done – I tend to plan too much for my lessons, so the last couple of boxes in my lessons tend to get unchecked. That’s fine.
But another thing I’ll do is note how the activity went. How you want to do that is up to you, but I’ll usually mark it on the right hand side of the activity with a +, |, or – to note if the activity went well, went OK, or fell flat.
Notes
The notes section is exactly what it says; where I keep my notes on the class. Usually, if something comes up during class, I’ll try to jot it down real quick there, so I use this section both during class as things come to me and after class. You don’t always have a lot of time between classes, but if you can, try to write some overall notes immediately after class finishes while it’s still fresh in your mind.
I’ll note that it’s important to try to be as detached as possible. You want to avoid using terms like, “Student A was an asshole to Student B.” Instead, I would try to note, almost clinically, what happened. For example, “Student A said ‘You’re stupid’ to Student B.”
This detachment helps keep you focused on events, not feelings.
Reflections
Finally, after class is the time for reflection.
For that, I have 3 questions.
First, what went well? This both applies to the class overall, the activities we did, but also how far I (or the students) were able to get towards the goals I’d set at the top.
Second, what could have gone better? I’ll especially focus on the goals here: if the goals were not achieved, how far did we get? What were some of the issues I (or the students) struggled with in reaching those goals?
Finally, how can I do it better? We didn’t reach our goal? That’s OK, as long as we’re seeing some progress. But how can we do better next time? If an activity didn’t cover the skills or targets I wanted to, what could I do instead? If the students struggled with an activity, how can I make it easier for them to do it? What are some concrete steps I can take the next time I’m with the class to make it better?
Let’s Sum Up
This reflection journal is what I use these days to help myself improve. I hope it helps you improve as well. Remember, we all fail; we tell our students that it’s good to make mistakes and it’s true. They’re really only learning when they are trying new things, and that comes with risks.
Don’t forget that it’s true for us, as well, though. We’re going to have a bad lesson now and then. I’ve lost track of the number of bad classes I’ve had. We’re going to struggle with certain aspects of teaching or classroom management.
My first few years were hard. Even now, there are aspects of teaching that I struggle with from time to time because every class is a little different and it requires a little thought and reflection on how to move forward.
If we’re going to extend to our students that grace, we should extend it to ourselves as well. We’re only human, and as long as we continue to try and improve, it’s good enough for now.
Psst! The Journal is Down Here!
Below you’ll find embedded a copy of Class Reflection Journal for you to use in your TEFL classes. Feel free to print it out, download it, save it, etc., for your personal, non-commercial use. Just be sure that if you’re going to share it online, please link to this page instead of sharing it out. I appreciate it.