Reflection Paper: Critically Analyzing Teaching Practices

This reflection paper critically analyzes the author's preparedness for a teaching career. The author identifies weaknesses, particularly in oral English communication and student engagement, while recognizing strengths like a commitment to continuous improvement. The paper explores learning theories, including behaviorism and constructivism, and their application in the classroom. The author reflects on diverse student types and their interactions. Finally, the paper emphasizes the multifaceted roles of a teacher, including creating a positive learning environment, mentoring students, and the importance of continuous self-reflection and improvement. The author demonstrates an understanding of various teaching methodologies and a commitment to enhancing their teaching practices to effectively address the needs of a diverse student population. The paper highlights the importance of ongoing professional development and the integration of learning theories to create an effective learning environment.

Running head: REFLECTION PAPER 1
Reflection Paper
Name
Institution

REFLECTION PAPER 2
Reflection Paper
Critically Self-Analyze Yourself As A Professional In The Field Of Teaching And
Learning.
It is true that speaking is the most difficult skill that most of us students who are planning
to be good teachers in the future experience problem to master more so for the majority of
English learners. According to some researchers, the use of English more so in oral
communication is one of the common complex activities necessary to be taken into consideration
when teaching the EL (English Language). I am extremely incompetent in speaking orally in
English. Indeed, I lack the motivation to communicate in English because I tend to use my
mother tongue since it is easier than the use of English. I think this will become one of my
greater challenges in future because I shall face problem in getting my student to speak English.
This shall also prevent me from preparing some of the essential activities in class for the right
lesson. Though research has indicated that engaging learners in the process of learning increases
their focus and attention, and encourages them to practice critical thinking, something that shall
become a challenge for me in future when starting out my work as a teacher is lack of skills in
engaging students. This is because I experience difficulty in adopting a student-centered
approach which mainly increases the opportunities for engagement of students. One of my
strengths, though, is that am constantly looking for ways to improve. I am sure once I become a
teacher in future I shall be able to easily identify both weaknesses and strengths.
According to me, learning theories can easily tell us how learning takes place. This is
because learning theory explains how learners process, absorb, as well as retain knowledge
during learning. To me, cognitive, emotional, prior experience as well as environmental
influence all plays essential part in explaining how learning takes place. Learning is often view

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as change in rate, or form of response or behavior which occur mainly as a function of key
environmental factors. It is true that learning includes the creation of association between
responses and stimuli. For instance, Behaviorists describe learning as observable phenomena. So,
learning takes place when there is a change of behavior in an individual which is often initiated
by the environment like in this case school environment. Also, the ability of the student to learn
depends largely on what the student already know as well as understand. So, when there are
changes in learners in the way they view the world, and then we can say that learning has taken
place. This argument is supported by constructivism which proposes that knowledge remains not
passively acquired but actively created by the cognizing subject. Using this theory, it is true that
humans generate meaning and knowledge from an interaction between their ideas and their
experiences. Therefore, learning can be said to have taken place when the students can learn
different things on their own. In this process, the teacher only acts as a guide to assist them along
the way. Additionally, learning process can be explained by use of cognitive theories. These
theories seek to describe how the mind works more so during the process of learning. Many
researchers argue that the in behavior of a person is often caused by particular mental processes
that can be measured as well as enhanced. So, when the mind is capable of processing
information and then uses that information to generate learning outcome then we can say that
learning has taken place.
In my class, students are extremely different, and they all work in class at their own pace.
There are those students that remain highly motivated. These students know what they want as
well as how to attain their goal. Although they remain not always the smartest in my class, they
often try to work hard to get what they want. Most of these students remain not afraid to take any
change. Instead of seeing it as a judgement of their intelligence, these students approach failures

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as an opportunity for growth. Then there are students who are underachiever. These types of
students are more interested in napping as compared to learning. Other things they often find
more interesting than class work include YouTube, as well as Video games. They always want to
graduate first to allow them proceed with their daily lives. There are those students who always
have comment to make and questions to ask. These types of students in my class always post
questions to teachers and comment to every questions post by the teachers. Also, Students in my
class are extremely tolerant toward one another. Everyone I have met remains different in their
own regard. Because of this, I feel that most of the students respect each other for it. In my class,
I see different types of students hang out together. This is because there are many students in my
class and this brought in different cultures. So, in my class, there is a big mix of learners because
they all come from different culture. Some students in my class remain introverted, withdrawn,
and shy. They have few close friends as well as interact very little with other students. They do
not always participate in class since working with other students is a problem to them. Lastly,
there are students that are gifted and talented. They bring an exciting dynamic to class. These
students incline to move more swiftly via material as well as exhibit skills beyond the
requirements of the class. So, most of the students in my class rely on these gifted and talented
students for academic help.
Indeed, teachers remain best known for their role of educating learners that are put in
their care. Beyond that, teachers perform numerous roles in the classroom. They create a warm
environment, set the tone of the classroom, mentor as well as nurture students. Being a tutor is
not an easy task, as some individuals might think. To be a tutor does not only require a person to
understand the subject to be taught, but it also involves being willing to improve oneself
integrally persistently. It also includes updating materials and resources one uses in teaching.

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Reflecting as well as analyzing over again is one of the best ways to make students reflect on
what they have learned in class. It is also true that the numerous hours spend in the various
classroom shall never be enough to prepare materials, plan lessons, review students exams and
tasks, and all the administrative requirements an individual has to cover for whatever school we
work. Apart from this, a good tutor shall have time to discuss issues that affect our societies. Let
me make a stop to talk about how effective my teaching is in the classroom. Am sure that most
of the things I'm doing in class are adequate as well as suitable to take future students to another
level.