In 2026, AJET is running a series of professional learning seminars aimed at supporting newly arrived and current ALTs as they transition into a teaching role. These series are as a result of feedback from JETs in the 2023 Opinion Exchange Survey that indicated a need for further professional development.
Collaborating with fellow Japanese teachers, Kurtis created feedback sheets across Grades 3 – 6 in Elementary School. In doing so, Kurtis hopes to promote critical thinking as well as developing skills in phonics.
In this presentation we look at:
1. The importance of Self-Reflection for Educators
2. The importance of Self-Reflection for Students
3. Feedback Sheets in Grade 3
4. Phonics Vs Phonology Vs Orthography
5. Implicit implementation of phonics practice
6. Feedback Sheets in Grade 4
7. Feedback Sheets in Grade 5 and 6
8. Decoding the data
9. Challenges
10. Future Considerations
You can access the presentation slides and self-reflection sheets here.
Feedback from participants who attended the seminar:
The content in this presentation will be immediately useful and I’m really looking forward to discussing this with my JTEs and seeing if it’s something we can implement at our school.
I also find reflection sheets useful to see what students seem to find important. Like what myself or the JTE think is important for learning English is great. But seeing what the kids think is important for learning/communicating/etc is really nice.
My JTEs are going to have many ideas thrown at them, I mean discussed with them!
Thank you so much!!! This was so informative and motivating! And really easy to digest and think of practical ways to put these ideas into action and things to consider and keep in mind!
If you have any additional questions or queries please email prof.edu@ajet.net
