Below is a list of questions you can use when reflecting on a lesson:
- What did the students know by the end of the lesson that they didn’t know at the start? Is that what I expected them to learn?
- What did I learn about my students today?
- Did I set up activities quickly and efficiently, including a demonstration where possible? Did I end up repeating my instructions multiple times?
- Did I monitor for language as well as task completion? Did I make notes of new language the students produced or errors they made? How did I exploit this language? Could I have used it more?
- Were the activities challenging enough for all of my students? Or were they too challenging? How could I have adapted them to add or remove challenge?
- Was I fair in my classroom management decisions? Did I reward good behaviour and stop bad behaviour? Were students clear about which behaviour would result in rewards or problems before activities began? For example, did they know that I would give them points if they spoke English throughout the activity or worked together well? Did I remember to give them the points after the activity?
- Was the topic interesting to the students? Why (not)?
- Did I convey the meaning, form and pronunciation of any language clearly? Could the students use it successfully by the end of the lesson? If not, what was missing? Do I need to do any remedial work in later lessons?
- Did students get enough practice of the new language? Was there an opportunity for them to memorise it? To personalise it?
- Was my use of the board appropriate and clear? Did students have a chance to record information I wrote on it if they needed to?
- What was the pace of the lesson like? Were there opportunities for students to work with different people during the lesson? To stand up? To do tasks which weren’t centred around the book? To have some fun?
- Was there anything which didn’t go the way I planned? Why, specifically, did this happen? Was it due to instructions? Lack of motivation? Not having the number of students I expected? How can I reduce the likelihood of this happening again in the future?
- Was there anything which was particularly successful? Why, specifically, did this happen? Was it due to my planning? The way I set up the classroom? The fact that I chose a topic I know the students are interested in?
Can you add any more questions?
