Reflecting on Emotions During Teaching: Developing Affective-Reflective Skills in Novice Teachers Using a Novel Critical Moment Protocol

Abstract

Affective-reflective skills are an integral component of classroom pedagogy, providing teachers with emotional understandings and confidence that can improve overall classroom performance. This article presents a case study of early career primary school teachers, showing how such affective-reflective skills can be developed through iterations of a purpose-designed collaborative protocol. Use of this novel protocol allowed teachers to examine their classroom practices via critical moment analysis of affective responses observed from lesson videos. Findings demonstrate how teachers’ use of this non-judgmental and self-evaluative protocol contributed to an emerging understanding of the relationship between their affective-reflective skills and teaching confidence. Findings support an argument for reframing teacher professional learning, from a focus largely on curriculum content and pedagogy, to a focus that includes the teacher’s emotional experience and its subsequent analysis, as part of the learned content that supports the growth of teacher confidence.