Closing the Semester with Intention: Finding Renewal Through Reflection

May 07, 2026

As we approach the end of the semester, many instructors have turned their attention toward their annual plan and taking stock of the 2025-2026 academic year. However, it can be equally important to pause and reflect in ways that remind us of our successes, bring us joy, embrace our capacity to grow as teachers, recognize that it is okay to struggle, and remind us that we can be our best self when we engage in self-care. Therefore, as we wrap up the semester, I thought I would share a few ideas of how we might do this. 

Reflection Prompts 

Use specific reflection prompts to assist with reviewing the teaching year. There are several reflective prompts to choose from. I have pulled a few questions from Will Pulgarin’s post Reflecting on the Experience in which he encourages teachers to take some time to process the year.  

• Celebrate the successes by asking the following questions: 

• What worked well this year? 

• What successes did I have? 

• How did my teaching improve this year? 

• Reflect on your growth as an educator by considering the next questions: 

• What brought me joy this year? 

• What did I learn about myself this year? 

• How have I grown as an educator this year? 

• Appreciate the struggles of engaging in the teaching process and make some plans by pondering these questions: 

• What were the most challenging situations I encountered this year? 

• Where did students struggle the most with the learning content and how might I approach their learning struggle differently? 

• Where did I struggle as a teacher in the classroom and how might I approach the struggle differently? 

Overall, these reflection activities — taking some time to celebrate your successes, see how you have grown, consider areas for recalibration and improvement in the next teaching cycle (connecting to old and new learnings), give yourself the grace to grow, and learn from your snafus — can help to gain perspective and reset. If you want to learn more about managing snafus and engaging in reflection, be sure to check out the this year's CFI May Symposium. 

Critically Reflect on Teaching Practice 

Stephen Brookfield, in his book Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, invites instructors to reflect on their assumptions surrounding their teaching practice to promote growth. He encourages faculty to review content from four sources: 1) student feedback, 2) peer observations and conversations with teaching colleagues, 3) reflection on the lived teaching experience, and 4) educational theory and pedagogical philosophy. Therefore, you may find it worthwhile to reflect on the following assumptions considering these four sources: 

• Paradigmatic assumptions (i.e., what can I learn from these sources about my foundational beliefs about teaching?) 

• Prescriptive assumptions (i.e., what can I learn from these sources about what I think should happen in teaching?) 

• Causal assumptions (e.g., in reviewing these sources, what if … then assumptions or other predictions am I making?) 

Interrogating assumptions can provide an opportunity to be more intentional in the planning and implementation of teaching practices in the future. 

Reflect on Rest & Recovery 

Reflect on how much you implemented rest and recovery this academic year. For example, consider how you might make changes over the summer to reset with an intention toward greater self-care and better work-life balance. Additionally, ponder how you might maximize your summer relaxation and take time to rejuvenate. 

I will end with a reminder from John Dewey’s thoughts on reflective thinking (or rather Carol Rodgers's helpful interpretation of John Dewey’s thoughts). Reflective thinking is about “meaning making,” to deeply understand how our teaching experiences integrate with other ways of knowing. Moreover, reflective thinking works best when done with intention, in community with others, and when one takes into consideration their emotional as well as intellectual self.