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         December 2016

         Being a reflective professional 

       Being able to interact with professionals who are involved in education from different backgrounds and from various countries is indeed a valuable experience and a very exciting prospect.
        It helps professionals gain a wider perspective on various challenges we face, but also realise how similar our concerns might be. Themes such as possible challenges of class  learning and teaching, managing time, incorporating technology in class, the importance of critical reflection and how that would help teachers develop professionally are issues I'd like to explore.  
        The idea of critical reflection is by no means new to me as a teacher. Actively engaging learners and helping them personalising and reflecting on new material is one of the main features our my EFL classes. The American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer, John Dewey, argues that ‘we don’t learn from experience, we learn form reflecting on experience’ (John Dewey, 1933 ) I feel very passionate about this notion as a teacher. It is evident in classes that learners’  engagement coupled with reflection on what has been learnt makes the learning process more productive.  And the educational process should be a ‘continual reorganisation, reconstruction and transformation of experience’ (available at http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1914/Dewey-John-1859-1952.html#ixzz4TVf9AMGo ) 
         Being a reflective professional is so much more than being a good teacher. (Jon Spence/ Roehampton University) A teacher can manage classes, follow the curriculum and be effective in helping learners achieve goals. A good professional practitioner is someone who can reflect and review what they've done and move it forward, analysing and constantly moving on

        My personal challenge is to apply this principle not only in my language classes but in my professional environment as a head of the department in our school

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