Reflective Practice Prompt Generator

What This Skill Does

Generates structured reflection prompts calibrated to a specific teaching experience and reflection purpose — guiding the teacher from surface description ("What happened?") through analytical reflection ("Why did it happen?") to critical reflection ("What assumptions was I making?") and finally to action planning ("What will I do differently?"). The critical insight from Schön's research is that professionals do not learn primarily from experience — they learn from REFLECTING on experience. Without structured reflection, a teacher with 20 years of experience may have had one year of experience repeated 20 times. The output includes layered prompts at increasing depth, Brookfield's four-lens analysis (examining the experience from the perspectives of autobiography, students, colleagues, and theory), and concrete action prompts that ensure reflection leads to change, not just understanding. AI is specifically valuable here because effective reflection prompts must be precisely calibrated to the specific experience — generic prompts ("How did the lesson go?") produce generic reflections. Specific prompts ("You said the group work fell apart — at what exact moment did it break down, and what were you doing when it happened?") produce specific insights.

Evidence Foundation

Schön (1983) distinguished between reflection-in-action (thinking on your feet during teaching) and reflection-on-action (thinking back after the event). Both are essential, but reflection-on-action — the systematic, structured examination of practice after the event — is where professional knowledge is built. Dewey (1933) established that reflection is not simply "thinking about" an experience but a disciplined process of inquiry: identifying the problem, generating hypotheses, testing them against evidence, and reaching a conclusion. Timperley (2011) emphasised that the most powerful professional learning involves teachers examining the impact of their practice on student learning — not just reflecting on what they did, but on what students actually learned as a result. Brookfield (2017) proposed four lenses for critical reflection: autobiographical (examining your own assumptions and experiences), students' eyes (seeing the teaching from the students' perspective), colleagues' perceptions (how peers would interpret the event), and theoretical literature (what research says about the issue). Using multiple lenses prevents the most common reflection trap: confirming what you already believe. Kolb (1984) proposed the experiential learning cycle: concrete experience → reflective observation → abstract conceptualisation → active experimentation. This cycle shows that reflection without action is incomplete — the purpose of reflection is to generate a changed practice, not just a changed understanding.

Input Schema

The teacher must provide:

• Teaching experience: What happened. e.g. "I tried group work for the first time with my Year 10 class and it was chaotic — two groups worked well, three groups went completely off task, and one group had a conflict that disrupted the whole room" / "I gave what I thought was clear instructions for a task and then realised that half the class had no idea what they were supposed to do" / "A student told me that my lessons are boring and I don't know how to respond"
• Reflection purpose: What they want to learn. e.g. "I want to understand why the group work failed so I can do it better next time" / "I want to figure out why my instructions don't land" / "I want to process the feedback and decide whether to change anything"

Optional (injected by context engine if available):

• Teacher context: Experience level, subject, goals
• Emotional response: How they felt