The Reflective Principal: A Taxonomy of Reflection (Part
IV)
Reflection can be a challenging endeavor. It's not something that's fostered in
school - typically someone else tells you how you're doing! Principals (and
instructional leaders) are often so caught up in the meeting the demands of the
day, that they rarely have the luxury to muse on how things went.
Self-assessment is clouded by the need to meet
competing demands from
multiple stakeholders.
In an effort to help schools become more reflective learning environments,
I've developed this "Taxonomy of Reflection" - modeled on Bloom's approach.
It's posted in four installments:
1.
A
Taxonomy of
Reflection
2.
The
Reflective Student
3.
The
Reflective Teacher
4. The Reflective
Principal
It's very much a work in progress, and I invite your comments and
suggestions. I'm especially interested in whether you think the parallel
construction to Bloom holds up through each of the three examples - student,
teacher, and principal. I think we have something to learn from each
perspective.
4. The Reflective Principal
Each level of reflection is structured to parallel Bloom's taxonomy.
(See
installment 1 for more on the model)
Assume that a principal (or
instructional leader) looked back on an initiative (or program, decision,
project, etc) they have just implemented. What sample questions might they ask
themselves as they move from lower to higher order reflection? (Note: I'm not
suggesting that all questions are asked after every initiative - feel free to
pick a few that work for you.)
Bloom's Remembering
: What did I do?
Principal
Reflection:
What role did I play in implementing this program? What
role did others play? What steps did I take? Is the program now operational and
being implemented? Was it completed on time? Are assessment measures in
place?
Bloom's Understanding:
What was