Reflective Practice & Mentoring

Reflective practice is essential to teacher development. Every teacher takes their own development path based on their experiences and feedback received from others. Brookfield's Four Lenses: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher explains why.

Creating a Digital Portfolio is one of the most insightful and powerful things you can do to improve your teaching.

• This interview with Dr. Erika Kustra, University of Windsor, explains why this is so. Note: (1) The real interview starts after 2 minutes. (2) Although reflective of the university context, it is highly relevant to teacher development at any level.
• The introductory video to the course How to Create your own Digital Portfolio is a testimonial on the value of creating a digital portfolio.

Having a Mentor is another. "In the literature of faculty development, mentoring is usually mentioned as a vital contribution to a successful academic career..." The 2007 paper, From Mentor to Mentoring Networks: Mentoring in the New Academy, maintains its relevancy today, as evidenced by University of Windsor's Peer Collaboration Network, which is run by faculty members.