When teaching or making decisions, it is easy to consider only your own perspective. Reflective practices ask the teacher instead to put themselves in the shoes of other people involved. In order fully evaluate the effect of a lesson consider how the student reacted. When sending memos to parents, keep in mind how you would respond if you were in their place. Consider your fellow staff members when making decisions that affect the department.
The purpose of reflective practices is to improve oneself as an educator. The first step is to identify the problem. Educators tend to be optimistic and often rush to discussing solutions before amply pinpointing the reason for the difficulty. Personal problems, such as a teacher's own shortcomings, can be even harder to diagnose. Part of becoming sensitive to the process of reflective practices is to make a sufficient effort toward concretely identifying a problem before trying to address it.
In order for an educator to become sensitive to the guidance of reflective practices, they must make time for daily reflection. It is best if the teacher schedules time--perhaps after school or during a lunch break--to evaluate what has happened during the day. If a lesson went well, the educator must try to determine what made it successful or, conversely, why it failed and what could have been done differently.
One of the cornerstone objectives of reflective practices is to get beyond your comfort zone and consider new ways of completing tasks. One way to do this is to ask "What if?" and then potentially try the new idea. This type of professional development encourages exploration in both thought and practice, forcing an educator out of their comfort zone in hope of learning something new about their teaching methods or themselves personally.