“Becoming a Reflective Practitioner: The Cycle of Reflection"

1. What is the meaning of the statement “Reflection is Cyclical in nature?”
Reflection is cyclical as it is a process whose steps are closely related one to the other, one starts where the other end; I mean, first, thinking about what is happening and why, after that, questioning the actions you have done and the way you should go to improve and increase students’ learning and you teaching strategy; after that, reflecting, on action and in action, that is thinking afterwards, and during the action, taking into account the past, present and future of the situations and experiences, so you can ‘finally’ and act, and implement new strategies which are more landed to students’ needs and expectation.
2. What is the “thinking cap” a symbol of? Are you willing to put on a "thinking cap?" Why so? or Why not?
The metaphor of the thinking cap is a symbol of the action of teaching reflectively, that is, to put on your thinking cap to consider education issues, themes, advances, form, habits, education processes, progress, needs, issues and practices to think and reflect so you can see what went wrong and how things can be different in the future. You develop sills to think, questioning, reflect and act, through deliberation and observation.
3. How do you consider teacher´s thinking can be made more purposeful?
Teacher´s thinking can be made more purposeful when they have into account students needs, environment and situations. Teachers should ask questions to help the of identifying relevant and irrelevant information, so reflective teaching help you answer those questions, solve the problems, and resolve the conflict.
Through reflection teachers have a look at teaching and learning, search meaning of class events, consider strengths and weaknesses, identify ways to improve, and formulate a plan of action.
4. What sort of questions would you ask yourself about classes?
What can I do to make this lesson more attractive and meaningful to my stdents?
What things are going well?
Is the class going according to plan? Why, why not?
How can I improve my teaching strategies so I can be a more effective teacher?
5. Concerning the fourth phase of the cycle of reflection, let's make comments on Freire's suggestive phrase "Reflection without action is verbalism. Action without reflection is activism"
When you act, you have to think first, so you have a clear vision of what you want to reach, in that way you are not going to waste your time doing things you don’t need, you are not going to improvise and the teaching is going to be more accurate and effective, in that way your students are going to learn better. It is not just doing for the sake of doing; it is doing with a purpose and a goal to reach. But also, if you just get stuck in the mere idea of thinking and thinking, without action, you are going to be full of thoughts, reasons and verbalism, you are doing nothing practical for your students, and you are not testing the theories you have reasoned out.