Reflecting On Your Year: World Language Teaching End of Year Reflection Prompts
Toward the end of each school year, I like to spend some time reflecting on how the year went: What were my triumphs? My tribulations? My strengths? My weaknesses? How did my students do, and what can I do next year to move the needle forward in my teaching?
This practice has been really critical to my teaching practice. By the end of the year, I’m usually pretty burnt out, and I need to sit down and reflect on all of my wins as a World Language teacher to help me through the last few weeks, and to sort of validate why I do what I do and why I have signed my teaching contract for the next school year! On the flip side, I think it’s important to evaluate some of our classroom struggles: after all, how can we expect to move forward and improve if we don’t know where we might have fallen short?
In this post, I’m going to share some reflection prompts that you may want to consider thinking about as we wrap up this school year and evaluate what sorts of changes might be needed for the upcoming school year.
Before we begin, a few notes on reflection…
Being a reflective practitioner is critical in the education field, but there is no one-size-fits-all approach for how you should reflect on the school year. Some teachers may choose to spend some time thinking about the reflection prompts over a nice cup of coffee; others may choose to bring up these reflections to their team teachers / PLCs and have a nice discussion; and still, others may choose to jot down some notes in a Google Doc, in their teacher planner, or in a physical notebook or journal so that the information is readily accessible at the start of the next school year.
There’s no right way to reflect on your school year, so choose a format that speaks to your personal needs, interests, and style!
End of Year Reflection Prompts
What are three elements of your teaching that you are proud of this year?
What are two areas of your teaching that you feel like you could improve?
What are some strategies you implemented this year that worked really well for your students?
What strategies would you like to try next year to move the needle forward in your teaching?
Were there any professional development opportunities that you found particularly helpful? Are there similar offerings available over the summer or during the next school year to help you continue to hone your craft?
How much target language did you use in your classes this year? Was it enough? Was it too much? Was your use of target language intentional and comprehensible? (Check out the following blog posts for more information on teaching comprehensibly!)
Were there any pieces of the curriculum that you did not get a chance to cover with your students? Why not? What would need to change next year to help you cover the full curriculum, or does the curriculum need to be modified to reflect timing/pacing issues?
What self-care practices did you implement this year to help manage the stress of teaching? Were they successful? What would you like to try next year to help take care of yourself?
What kinds of technology did you use this year, and how did it work for you? Did you use technology intentionally? (Check out my blog post, Revolutionize Your Classroom: Top 7 Tech Tools for World Language Teachers, for some ideas!)
Which of the following areas would you like to work on next year: lesson planning and pacing, curriculum development, instructional strategies, classroom management, comprehensible input, proficiency-oriented tasks and activities, technology integration, assessment & grading practices, time management?
What did you do to build strong relationships with students this year? What could you do next year to help build rapport with your students?
What did you do to maintain (or improve) your target language fluency? (Check out my blog post, How to Keep Your Language Skills Sharp as a World Language Teacher, for some ideas!)
Fill in the blank: In order for me to be more successful next year, I need _________.
And finally, what are you most excited for about next year?
Hope these prompts help you to reflect on your year! I wish you a fun, safe, and relaxing summer break, and I hope that you find the time and space to recharge so that you can be the best version of yourself for your students at the start of the next school year!
Happy language teaching,
~ Michael
