We have this remarkable tendency to remember the things we like, and forget the things we don’t. It’s a form of confirmation bias that, if it goes unchecked, ensures that we will likely make the same mistakes over-and-over again.
Though this cognitive bias did not have a name in his day, Charles Darwin was quite aware of this tendency. In fact, to avoid the pitfalls of this mistake, he developed his own “golden rule” of reflection: if there is contradictory or inconsistent data, immediately write it down. In his own words, “I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than favourable ones” (Darwin,1887).
I think this problem is magnified in the classroom, where we make so many decisions each day. Sometimes to just survive, we have to forget those things we don’t want to remember, and remember those things we don’t want to forget, as Zora Neale Hurtson writes in the opening lines of Their Eyes Are Watching God. It isn’t that we should give each piece of bad or contradictory news equal footing. Let’s face it, sometimes that information just isn’t helpful. But, when we continually bump our heads against an obstacle and wonder why this keeps happening, then perhaps a more careful study of our mistakes is necessary.
I have two types of “after-the-fact” reflection. One is real quick. At the end of a day, if I notice that something did not consistently work within a lesson plan or activity, I will go into my lesson plans and make a note and highlight it so that my next time through, I can make any necessary adjustments. This is important! There have been too many instances where I have been midway through a lesson when I am suddenly reminded of its flaw.
The second type of “after-the-fact” reflection happens at the end of units and courses. If I have enough time, I will simply write out a paragraph or two of my observations for the trimester. If not, I will at least make a few bulleted observations at the top of my course document, so that I am not starting again from the ground level on the next attempt.
Here are some tips for “after-the-fact” reflections:
Write It Down. For as much as we would like to think that our memory can hold these thoughts for a few months or more, it just isn’t a very reliable system.
Write It Down Somewhere that You Will Find It. It is amazing how easy it is to lose documents-- even when they are digital.
Topics to Consider. If you need structure or guidance on how to reflectively look back on a lesson or course, here are some helpful suggestions. Start with general observations and then move down to specific details that seem to support those general observations. (Sometimes in the actual writing of your reflection, you discover that things might not have gone as dismally as you had initially thought.) In the cases where I administer class surveys, I acknowledge some of the thoughts and criticisms of students. If working with a co-teacher or a para, I will often have some type of “exit” interview with them where we discuss how the class can be improved. Be sure to ground your observations in hard data when possible. I had one case where my most ill-behaved class had the best homework completion rate, a data point that shocked me when I sat down to look at the numbers. So sometimes, we have to be careful with our impression of things. And no matter how awful I might feel about a given lesson or class, I force myself to also acknowledge what had gone well. In closing, I try to offer solutions to the struggles that I might have mentioned earlier in the reflection. Even if they are simple or superficial, they offer your future-self a starting point for making adjustments.
Darwin, Charles, and Francis Darwin. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter. Publisher Not Identified, 1887.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper & Row, 1990.
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