Reflection: Why it is important?

Chapter 1 helped me to get a better understanding of exactly what educational psychology is and what it does for education. So much research is done using educational psychology everyday that we never think about where these ideas really came from and that they have been scientifically proven. One example from the book was brought up in the discussion board, "peer tutoring". This is a strategy that I really believe works if used properly. I also learned more about National Board Certification. We just recently had 2 teachers from our school to become Nationally certified but I really did not know what they involved until reading "Case in Print". It gave me a much more indepth knowledge about what it is and what it takes to reach that goal. It was also nice to read how many teachers nationwide have earned this level of education. Fads in education really concern me because we as teachers want to do our best but we must be careful of these fads.
I have a tendency when I journal to kind of jump around with my thoughts so I hope by doing it this way I can do a better job. Reflection and journaling is a way that I can write down the things that I feel are important to becoming a better teacher later. Everyday I read something or hear some idea that I really like but I have so much going on in my life that if I do not write it down I will never remember it later. This will be a way that I can save those ideas for future use. If I run across a lesson that I just really love I can put it in my journal to use later. I can also use this as a way to reflect on lessons that I have taught to determine if they were effective or not. We all live in such a busy society now days that we forget to "pause and reflect" on what we have done.