Week 2: What is Critical Reflection?
Not all reflection is created equal. Discover how critical reflection goes deeper—and why it matters for meaningful teaching.
Listen to the week 1 podcast for more in-depth discussion of why critical reflection matters. Starting in week 3, I’ll have a guest join me for the podcasts to talk about their use of critical reflection.
In teaching, reflection is often encouraged—but critical reflection is what transforms our relationship to our teaching. It helps uncover the often-unseen assumptions that shape our decisions, our interactions with students, and our understanding of what teaching is for. Teaching is never neutral; it’s embedded in cultural, political, and social contexts. Critical reflection can help us make those contexts visible.
At its core, critical reflection is the process of examining and questioning one’s assumptions—especially those related to teaching, learning, and power. These include not only our day-to-day choices but also deeper beliefs we rarely name: what counts as "good teaching," how students learn best, or what success should look like. These assumptions are often both hegemonic, in that they are widely accepted and rarely questioned, and paradigmatic, in that they shape our fundamental worldview. Our assumptions are very often the foundation of the day-to-day choices we make in our teaching. How do un-examined assumptions - even the ones that seem benign - limit us? Brookfield offers the example of teaching as a vocational calling to illustrate how we internalize foundational, shared beliefs about what is means to see teaching as a vocation.
When service to a vocational calling becomes the metaphor you choose to construct your teaching career, then you open the door to hegemony. This is because institutional notions of what it means to be in vocational service subtly co‐opt what fulfilling one’s vocation looks like…
A sense of calling becomes distorted to mean that faculty members should deal with larger and larger numbers of students; regularly teach overload courses; serve on search, alumni, and library committees; generate external funding by winning grant monies; and make regular forays into scholarly publishing. What started out as a desire to be in service to students’ learning becomes converted into a slavish adherence to promoting institutional priorities.
So what seems on the surface to be a politically neutral idea on which all could agree—that teaching is a vocation calling for dedication and hard work—becomes distorted into the idea that teachers should squeeze the work of two or three jobs into the space where one can sit comfortably. Vocation thus becomes a hegemonic concept—an idea that seems neutral, consensual, and obvious and that teachers gladly embrace, but one that ends up working against their own best interests. -Brookfield, p. 17-18
Critical reflection pushes us to interrogate our foundational beliefs, to speak them out loud and ask whether we, our students, or our institutions are really being served by these beliefs. It invites us to resist the comfort of routine and ask, “Why do I do things this way?” It’s also a justice-oriented practice: one that helps us build more democratic classrooms and disrupt the reproduction of oppressive norms. At its core, critical reflection keeps us learning—and that’s what makes it central to effective teaching.
The Process of Critical Reflection
Critical reflection is not a one-time event, but should be an ongoing process that invites us to revisit our beliefs and remain open to change. To support this kind of reflection, we need more than just intention—we need structure. Time, tools, and community support help turn abstract insights into meaningful change. This week, I hope you will explore with me what makes critical reflection different from simply thinking about teaching—and to begin naming some of your own unspoken assumptions.
🔍 INQUIRE
Start your week with a few questions to prompt deeper thinking.
What’s the difference between “thinking about teaching” and “critical reflection”?
Have you ever realized you were wrong about something in your teaching? What led to that insight?
What kinds of feedback make you question your approach?
✏️ APPLY
Engage in a short reflective practice to explore this week’s theme.
This is your core reflective activity for the week. Set aside 10–15 minutes for freewriting. Start with this question: What are your current assumptions about what makes someone a “good teacher”? List out any practices, behaviors, or attitudes you associate with effective teaching. Then, pause and ask yourself: Where did these ideas come from? Maybe they came from your own schooling, a mentor, your institution’s culture, or professional norms you’ve internalized over time.
Next, find a quote about teaching or learning—something that resonates with you. It could be from a book, article, syllabus, or even a poster in your office. Write briefly about why it speaks to you. Then ask: What assumption might this quote affirm or reinforce? Do I still agree with that assumption?
Finally, identify one standard practice or routine in your teaching that you’ve never really questioned. This could be anything—how you handle participation, how you open class, how you grade. Write a few lines about why you do it that way. Then ask: What might happen if I tried a different approach?
💬 CONNECT
This week, invite a colleague into a reflective conversation by asking: “What’s a teaching practice you’ve never really questioned?” You might share your own example to get things started. Or, if you found a quote that challenged your thinking, share it and ask how it lands with them. Conversations like these can disrupt auto-pilot and spark new ways of seeing what we take for granted in our teaching.
🧩 SCALE
Bonus for faculty developers: Choose a resource from your own practice—a workshop description, teaching guide, or consultation template—that refers to “reflection.” Look closely: Are you inviting faculty into critical reflection, or just encouraging a casual review? What could you revise to prompt deeper questioning? Then, revise just one sentence to better align with the goals of critical reflection—surfacing assumptions, promoting growth, and disrupting the status quo. Even subtle shifts in how we frame reflection can lead to more meaningful engagement.
If you listen to the podcast that will be published later this week, I’ll share my responses to these prompts there. For access to the weekly podcast - and to support the work of Tips in providing free faculty development opportunities - consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Next week, we’ll start to outline what a reflective process can look like and explore how reflection becomes a habit. Thanks, as always, for reading!
My own reflection, thanks for your piece.
He tastes.I see.He remembers.I dissolve. https://thehiddenclinic.substack.com/p/the-one-who-tastes-the-smoke