Implementing Reflective Practice in the K-12 Classroom: How to Easily Structure Teaching and Learning Reflections Into Your Day

This resource offers teachers a simple framework to seamlessly add reflective practice to their day and encourages educators to critically reflect on instructional planning and practice. Commonly used in other busy professions, the SOAP Notes structure makes it easy to reflect on student progress through any lesson or learning activity, regardless of grade band or content area. Each category―Subjective, Observation, Assessment, and Planning―allows for documentation of obstacles, difficulties, or challenges within a lesson so educators can address these concerns in subsequent lessons. Each chapter features an in-service teacher who used SOAP Notes reflections in their classrooms to improve their instruction and student learning. Contributors are from diverse teaching backgrounds, schools, and student populations. The authors include instructions for using the template in a variety of scenarios, blank worksheets, completed SOAP examples, and important take-aways. Whether there is an hour or only minutes in the day to focus on reflective practice, these teachers demonstrate how this framework makes this activity possible in any classroom. Ideal for preservice and in-service teachers, administrators, and other education professionals across K–12 settings, this accessible read demonstrates the ease of reflective practice while celebrating teacher voices. This simple structure makes adding reflection and intention to teachers’ routine immediately doable.

Joanna C. Weaver is an Associate Professor in the School of Inclusive Teacher Education. She is the Adolescence to Young Adult Integrated Language Arts Program Coordinator at Bowling Green State University, USA.

Cynthia D. Bertelsen is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green State University, USA.