Ready, Set, Reflect: 3 Questions to Ask Yourself as the New School Year Begins

Photo: Desert View Elementary, Gadsden Elementary School District #32, AZ

As summer break wanes, the time to sharpen pencils and minds in the classroom is here. While teachers, school, and district leaders turn their attention to the start of the school year, now is a key moment to reflect on how educators can best support effective instruction and position students for success in the classroom.

To best improve learning outcomes for students, we know it is important for educators to remain reflective and regularly check in on their practices. As noted in my latest book, Unleashing Teacher Leadership: A Toolkit for Ensuring Effective Instruction in Every Classroom, regular engagement in reflection can help educators see the connection between instructional decisions and student learning outcomes. When teachers better understand how an instructional strategy can support student learning - and why a particular instructional decision is most effective for maximized learning - students reap the rewards. 

To gear up for a reflective and responsive school year, here are three reflective questions all educators should ask themselves: 

How are my lessons data-driven?

When educators are intentional about teaching based on data collected from student work, they can leverage lessons to further support the needs of students. Data-driven instruction lies at the foundation of student progress by offering educators a clear picture of where students are, and how to get them where they need to be. Student work that offer insights into how educators can propel student learning include assignments done in class, regular formative assessments, or standardized tests at the end of the year. 

In decades of working with schools nationwide, NIET has also found that learning accelerates when students do four things:

1. Understand the criteria for how their work will be measured, 
2. Interact with the criteria through labeling and tracking, 
3. Set their learning goals using the criteria, and 
4. Analyze their own work.

To enter this school year mindful of student data and its impact on learning, teachers can ask themselves guiding questions during their lessons: 

• What information can be collected through formative assessment that will inform instruction in subsequent lessons?
• Where in this lesson is the best opportunity to gather evidence of progression toward the learning intention?
• How might students engage in evaluating their own progress toward mastery during this lesson?

Evaluating data before, during, and after instructional practice is not only beneficial for classroom response and future instruction, but helps students visualize how they can succeed in the classroom. Intentional reflection on what data needs to be collected and how it reflects student instruction sheds light on how schools can better student outcomes.

How can I promote student ownership and agency in the classroom? 

Learning is most effective when students are the drivers of their own learning. Reflective educators ensure that lessons are filled with opportunities for student engagement - and facilitate an environment where students own their learning. When students engage with classroom lessons, teachers see them articulate what they are learning, and why and how they know they are successful. This shift, from ‘doing’ to ‘owning,’ opens up students to interact with their peers and propel their own learning through goal-setting, work analysis and adjusting their own course of work to meet their goals. 

Teachers can help promote this level of work in their classrooms by examining their instructional content, standards and curriculum through the eyes of their students. Then, teachers can effectively craft moments for engagement and ownership in their lessons. This may look like prompting students to answer exploratory questions, make personal connections to the learning, develop their own criteria, or articulate the purpose of a lesson for future application.

One of many great examples of this we have seen is in Lebanon Special School District in Tennessee. Students practice ownership of their English lessons by working in groups to share their answers to questions and by supporting their fellow students throughout the assignment. Instead of the teacher providing answers, the students all worked together to find the answer and support each other’s learning. The teacher acts as the facilitator of their learning. When educators enter their classrooms with student ownership in mind, it creates a rigorous and thriving learning environment for students from day one. 

How will I collaborate with colleagues this year to elevate instructional practice? 

We know that educational excellence doesn’t happen in a silo. With data-based learning and student ownership in mind, teachers can start the school year off on the right foot - but collaborating and growing with other educators is just as important as individual professional development. Teachers consistently rate collaborative professional learning as the most effective form of professional development - and by supporting effective implementation of collaborative professional learning, school leadership can drive system-wide change.

Regular opportunities for collaboration with colleagues - particularly when formalized into a weekly plan - ensure that teachers continue to grow and adapt throughout the school year. The fact that the majority of day-to-day work for teachers happens in the classroom makes peer collaboration even more critical. When teachers work together, they can refine their own thinking - and ultimately their craft - by honing complex instructional practices and behaviors that are most effective with all students.

School and district leaders play a key role in facilitating moments for collaboration and professional development for teachers, which supports the development of high-quality instructional practice across groups of teachers. School and district leaders can optimize professional learning structures within schools by reflecting on how to best provide resources for collaborative learning, use observations for effective feedback and support to elevate instruction, and intentionally protect teacher and leader time for collaborative learning. 

Ensuring that reflection is a regular part of an educator’s practice will lay the groundwork for a successful school year. Through deliberate reflection on these three key items, teachers and educational leaders alike can enter the school year better prepared:

1. How to use data and student work to drive instruction, 
2. How to provide opportunities to drive student ownership, and 
3. How to establish moments to make collaborative professional learning happen. 

By considering these three questions, educators can build on their reflections and insights to best prepare students for the year ahead.