Reflecting on Teaching Moment 1

This guidance and reflective questions are specifically designed for Teaching Moment 1, the moment that represents a strength in your practice. It draws on key principles from research into video-based reflection, including:

• noticing classroom interactions more accurately
• making tacit thinking visible
• analysing cause-and-effect in teaching
• supporting deliberate professional growth (e.g., Sherin & van Es; Blomberg et al.; Gaudin & Chaliès; Tripp)

Reflecting on a Strength

When reviewing a positive teaching moment, the goal is not simply to feel reassured or pleased with your teaching. Instead, video reflection helps you slow down, notice what made the moment effective, and understand the mechanisms behind successful practice. This enables you to repeat and transfer that success into other lessons.

Research into the use of video to support reflection shows that strong reflective writing includes:

• Reconstruction of intentions and thinking (what you aimed to do)
• Analysis of impact, especially on pupil learning
• Identification of transferable strategies that can be replicated or adapted
• Future-oriented planning based on specific evidence from the video

Use the questions below to help you dig beneath the surface of what went well, uncover why it worked, and understand how to build it into your developing teaching practice.

Explain

Understanding your intention and underlying assumptions

When reviewing the video, consider:

1. What were you aiming to achieve at this moment in the lesson (academically, socially, behaviourally)?
2. What teaching strategy were you intentionally using? Why did you choose that approach?
3. How does this approach link to your understanding of how pupils learn best?
4. What prior assessments, observations, or knowledge of your class informed your decision?
5. What did you hope pupils would think, feel, say, or do as a result of your actions?

These questions are intended to help you articulate your professional reasoning because research shows that making your intentions explicit deepens your reflective insight.

Assess

Analysing effectiveness using video evidence

As you watch the recording, focus on the impact of your actions:

1. What evidence in the video shows that pupils understood, engaged, or made progress in this moment? Consider answers to your questions, explanations they provided, their engagement and motivation.
2. What do pupils’ expressions, responses, talk, or behaviours tell you about their learning? (if available on the recording)
3. Did all pupils benefit equally, or did some respond differently? Why might that be?
4. What did you notice on video that you didn’t notice in real time?
5. How did your pace, modelling and questioning contribute to the success of the moment?
6. How did your tone, body language and positioning contribute to the success of the moment?

Research on video reflection emphasises the value of noticing children’s action and the cause-and-effect relationships that are easily missed in real time.

Modify

Building professional judgement and extending success

The content of your reflection in this section will mainly be informed by the conversation you have with your mentor at the Weekly Review. To help you refine and replicate successful practice:

1. Which specific elements of this moment would you like to intentionally use again?
2. How can you apply the same strategy or behaviour in different subjects or phases of a lesson?
3. How could you strengthen or extend this approach to benefit an even wider range of pupils?
4. If you replay this moment in a future lesson, what small adjustment could make it even more effective?
5. How will you know if this refined strategy continues to support pupil learning?
6. What does this moment suggest about the kind of teacher you are becoming?

Research shows that video reflection is most powerful when beginning teachers use insights to form deliberate, transferable next steps that influence future lessons.

Reflecting on Teaching Moment 2

This guidance and reflective questions are specifically designed for Teaching Moment 1, the moment that represents an area of development in your practice. It is grounded in research on teacher learning through the use of video, particularly work showing that video enables beginning teachers to:

• notice classroom realities they missed in the moment
• confront discrepancies between intentions and outcomes
• analyse pupil thinking more accurately
• generate specific, actionable changes to practice (Sherin & van Es; Blomberg et al.; Gaudin & Chaliès; Tripp).

The questions complement those for Teaching Moment 1 but guide the beginning teacher towards analysis and future improvement.

Reflecting on an Area for Development

When reflecting on a less successful moment, the aim is not to self-criticise. Instead, the purpose is to use the video to understand why the moment unfolded as it did, and what this reveals about pupil learning, classroom interactions, and your developing professional judgement.

Research shows that productive reflection on challenging moments involves:

• exploring the mismatch between intention and impact
• analysing pupil thinking, behaviour, or misunderstanding
• identifying how teacher decisions shape learning outcomes
• considering alternative approaches
• planning specific, practicable improvements

This process strengthens your ability to teach responsively and adaptively.

Explain

Understanding your intention and underlying assumptions

When considering what you aimed to do, reflect on:

1. What were you trying to achieve at that moment, and why was this important for learning or behaviour?
2. What teaching strategy or routine were you using, and what assumptions did you have about how children would respond?
3. How did prior planning, assessment, or expectations shape your decision at that moment?
4. Was there an alternative approach you considered, consciously or unconsciously?
5. What belief about teaching or learning influenced your choice (e.g., about pace, independence, behaviour, challenge)?

This helps you surface the deeper reasoning behind your choices which is a key element of professional growth.

Assess

Analysing what happened and why (using video evidence)

As you revisit the incident:

1. What does the video show that you did not notice in real time?
2. How did the children respond, e.g. verbally, non-verbally, emotionally, and what might this tell you about their understanding or needs?
3. Was the difficulty caused by pupil misunderstanding, lack of clarity, timing, pitch of challenge, behaviour, or another factor?
4. How did your pace, modelling or question influence the situation?
5. How did your tone, body language or movement influence the situation?
6. What chain of cause-and-effect can you identify between your actions and the children’s responses?
7. What have you learnt in analysing this moment ?

Effective video reflection involves slowing down the moment and analysing the micro-interactions that shaped it.

Modify

Planning targeted improvements and next steps

Use the insight from the analysis to design concrete changes:

1. What specific aspect of your practice could you adjust to change the outcome next time?
2. Which alternative strategies could you try (e.g., clearer modelling, more scaffolding, a different behaviour cue, a checking-for-understanding technique)?
3. How will you adapt your planning, explanations or routines to address this issue?
4. How will you check whether your improvement has been successful in future lessons?
5. What support, feedback, or modelling from your mentor might help you improve this aspect of your teaching?
6. How does this reflection contribute to your development as a teacher?

Research shows that improvement is strongest when beginning teachers commit to small, specific, observable changes linked directly to evidence from the video.