Savvy Strategies: The Benefits of Reflection

As we close out on another academic year, we tend to lean towards reflection. Graduating students, retiring faculty and staff, and ending another year makes us stop and look at times gone by. We often share these memories with each other or with groups of people. Something else that we can reflect on, though, are lectures and presentations we shared.

Why is this important? It helps us get better! I encourage you to go back and look at some of the presentations and lectures that you did this year and jot down some notes for yourself. What went really well? What could have been improved? Can I add something interactive? Do I need to go into more detail on this? Did I go into too much detail on that? Did I really cover the objectives well? What does my test data say, and does it support my reflection? This may be getting to a vulnerable spot, but you can even ask a colleague to review things with you! Ask others for their opinions on how they would deliver on a specific topic or add an activity or describe a particularly challenging mechanism.

It is so important as educators that we are modeling being a life-long learner to our students and colleagues. When we stop learning, we stop growing. When we stop growing, someone passes us along the way. Let’s continue to strive to be better than we were the day before.