Reflecting in Communities of Practice

Enhance the quality of your teaching with collaborative, critical, and reflective thinking

Teaching young children is complex work. While you manage the day-to-day events that unfold in your classroom, you also have to keep up with the demands of assessment and documentation. With all of these challenges, how can you maintain the equally important tasks of encouraging children’s curiosity and supporting their joy of learning? How can you sustain your own curious mind and joyful spirit in your work? Reflecting with other teachers in a community of practice can strengthen your ability to respond to the children in your classroom and share meaningful experiences with them.

This workbook is designed to be used with a group—a community of practice—but it can also be a self-study tool. The exercises help you understand and practice the key elements of reflective teaching. Ten study sessions provide opportunities to engage with peers as you collaborate and connect theory and best practices in your classrooms. These experiences will help you

• Evaluate and grow your reflective teaching skills
• Use the Thinking Lens™ protocol to align your daily work with your larger goals, values, and vision
• Gain a heightened sense of self-awareness and a stronger image of children
• Examine the details of your environment
• Challenge yourself with new perspectives

Deb Curtis has been in the field of early childhood education for more than thirty years in a variety of settings as a teacher of children and adults. As a co-founder of Harvest Resources, a partnership to inspire early care providers and educators to engage fully in their own learning, she consults with programs to help grow reflective practices among teachers.

Debbie Lebo has over thirty years of experience working with children in a variety of settings: as an infant/toddler and early childhood educator, a hospital child life specialist, and a child care director.

Wendy C.M. Cividanes, a former preschool and school-age teacher and administrator, has over thirty years of experience working with young children and families. Wendy currently works as a training specialist and consultant for a variety of preschool and school age programs throughout the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, and is a senior associate with Harvest Resources.

Margie Carter has more than thirty years of experience in early education and has been a preschool and kindergarten teacher, a child care director, and college faculty, and is the producer of a number of early childhood training videos.