The Impact Self-Reflection Has On Creating a Positive Environment
Education is about growth. Growth of skills, learning, and communicating. When Pete Hall, founder of educationhall.com was an educational leader, growth was his priority. The problem was, no one else seemed to know where to start. Hosts Ron Stefanski and Ceasar Mickens sit down with Hall to discuss his role in education as a disruptor and what he learned along the way.
Hall was shocked when he transitioned from teaching into an administrative role. Some teachers had brilliant methods of course design and concepts, others were decades behind. To challenge this, Hall recongized the need for growth in educational faculty. A school of great teachers comprises of positive self-reflection, “It’s how we oriente energy towards what we’re doing that makes the greatest impact,” said Hall.
Though, finding the time to implement and reflect as a teacher is hard-pressed, Hall said that it’s pertinent others learn to look at it like a necessary exercise for growth, afterall, you can’t build muscle if you’re not in the gym. He said, “We need to take our teachers to the reflective gym.”
In this, administrators must make it explicitly clear how self-reflection is a great learning tool. Using methods like free-journalling or assigning specific reflective writing prompts helps create strong and empowered teachers.
In utilizing these methods, Hall learned that educators threw away words of doubt like “but” or “should” and replaced them with action, which, in turn, created a positive learning environment for the students.
These methods can be actioned individually, but to really transform an education, schools and districts must work together and make self-reflection a cultural habit.
To learn more about Hall’s work, check out his authored and co-authored educational titles: “Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice” and “Building Teacher’s Capacity for Success” as he continues to disrupt education in a positive way.
