Reflective Group

In 2016-2020, Reflective Practice Group in Dnipro (Ukraine) had regular monthly meetings and even three professional conferences (Teacher Sharing Days, as we called them). Covid-19 paused our face-to-face meetings, and the war with Russia in 2022 brought even more changes to our lives (with many group members being abroad).

We resumed our meetings in 2022 (from June to September) and then in 2023 (from June to December). You can read about some of the 2022 meetings here and here. The 2023 topics are neatly listed in this post. 

In simple words, Reflective Practice Group are monthly meetings where teachers have tea or coffee and talk about their students, teaching, questions, ideas, challenges and solutions, etc. 

Our colleagues in South Korea, (Daegu, Seoul and Gwangju) Tokyo, Japan and San Francisco, USA have started such groups already. I am a founder and co-facilitator of RPG in Dnipro, Ukraine.

Such meetings happen once a month, on a Saturday or Sunday, and take about 2 hours. They are not ‘input’ sessions where you get new activities and ideas, but these are ‘thinking’ and ‘discussion’ sessions where the main learning is co-constructed with peers and colleagues.

These meetings are free, but we sometimes ask you to bring snacks or fruits (depending on the location for the specific session)

If you are thinking to join us, please read about reflection and the format we use: ELC or the Art of Experiential Learning (here). 

Hard to decide? Feel free to read about our Discussion Topics in the posts on this blog: 

• 2018-19 Meeting Topics
• 2016-2017 Meeting Topics
• 2017-2018 Meeting Topics

Another way to reflect 🙂 In Spain, the Pirenei.

Additional Reading:

My friend and colleague Josette LeBlanc, former coordinator of the group in Daegu, South Korea wrote about Forming and Sustaining such a group  in her post on iTDI.

Article by Thomas C. Farrell, TESL-EJ 19.4, February 2016 Practicing What We Preach: Teacher Reflection Groups on Cooperative Learning

Anna Loseva on Reflective Practice and Conferencing: Podcast with What Tim Feels by and with Tim Hapmson (the part about Reflective Practice Groups starts about 7’50” and ends at 17’31”)

About Reflective Practice

• Thomas C. Farrell’s website: http://www.reflectiveinquiry.ca/
• Wilma Luth’s blog: http://teachandreflect.com/ 

About Facilitating a Reflective Group

• Facilitator-less Meetings
• How to plan and run a reflective meeting
• Defining a Reflective Practice Group

About the Experiential Learning Cycle as a Reflection Tool 

On this blog:

• ELC Qs and As: pros and cons (here)
• ELC Qs and As (here)
• Is Reflection Boring? (here)
• Feelings and Reflective Practice (here)

On other resources:

• Generalization as a Reflection Stage (on John Pfordresher’s blog)
• Reflective Practice as a Way of Life (on iTDI)