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Understanding Teacher Reflectivity in Contemporary Times: A (Re)Review of the Literature
Abstract
The Association of Teacher Educators Reflectivity Commission was established in 2004. This literature review updates the Commission’s work by examining 24 empirical research articles published in the Association’s national journals, The New Educator and Action in Teacher Education, since the commission’s inception. We report three contemporary trends regarding the incorporation of reflectivity in teacher education: (1) the use of diverse frameworks for reflectivity, (2) innovative pedagogical tools for reflectivity, and (3) culturally responsive reflective practices. This article defines, summarizes, and discusses each trend. We also discuss potential avenues for future work in studying and facilitating reflection.
... Así mismo, esta se configura a través de un proceso dinámico fundamentado en las vivencias, un ejemplo de ello es la reflexión crítica (Playsted, 2019) y meditar en enfocarse menos en ellos mismos y más en los compromisos de enseñanza (Rigney et al., 2019) puesto que, no se trata de acumular habilidades y estrategias orientados a educar, sino a la comprensión y toma de decisiones de los factores que ocurren en el aula, es decir, el docente en formación pasa de novato a experto (Clark et al., 2021), por consiguiente, el saber en la acción son los saberes estudiados por el docente en formación que le permiten pensar su práctica (Schön, 1998). Sin embargo, para llegar a esto, y generar mayor asertividad y conciencia en la planeación (Fletcher et al., 2019) es fundamental que ellos desarrollen su práctica pedagógica en situaciones próximas a la realidad. ...
... Sin embargo, para llegar a esto, y generar mayor asertividad y conciencia en la planeación (Fletcher et al., 2019) es fundamental que ellos desarrollen su práctica pedagógica en situaciones próximas a la realidad. En virtud de lo expuesto, esto es posible cuando los estudiantes se centran en mejorar su quehacer (Rigney et al., 2019) y participan en las actividades propuestas por los docentes en formación. No obstante, se observa que en algunos docentes en formación existe dificultad en la evaluación de su propia práctica y de los estudiantes (Ong et al., 2021). ...
The main objective of the present study is to characterize the experiences of teachers in training during their pedagogical practice when applying reflexive practice. The sample consists of teachers in training enrolled in two different physical education degree programs from the city of Bogotá (Colombia). The methodology is narrative, qualitative, and descriptive. The analysis techniques applied are structured interview and content analysis. The results show that the most significant theoretical categories are course objectives, content development, planning, and reflection on practice. It is concluded that experiences in pedagogical practice are related to: 1) professional training, since it links theory, confidence, and resolution of unforeseen events; 2) reflective capacity to develop critical and self-critical thinking; and 3) social actors immersed in education that reflect on teaching tasks.
... Because of the layered nature of author involvement in Project Linpilcare, it is important to explicate the specific role each of the authors played in this research and the generation of this case. The first author came to this research project simply as a result of a growing interest in teacher reflectivity and professional learning (Rigney, Ferland, & Dana, 2019). Having published several articles and books on practitioner inquiry, the second author was invited to deliver a one-week course on the subject early in the project's inception for consortium members by the third author, the creator of the proposal submitted to fund Linpilcare and the project leader. ...
While job-embedded professional learning shows great promise at the school and district level, little is known about how it can be fostered on a grand scale. In 2014 participants from six European Union nations developed and implemented a job-embedded professional development program centered on practitioner inquiry, professional learning communities, and teachers' use of scholarly literature. This case study provides insight into designing cross-country professional development. Facilitators included collaborative development of the conceptual framework, shared learning experiences, and the use of technology tools for task and time management. Inhibitors included language differences and divergent levels of commitment among the partner nations.
This evaluative case study explores how mentors or coaches, called Associates, support beginning in-service teachers in developing reflective teaching practices, as well as which practices are most effective in supporting beginning teachers. Using a definition of effective reflective practice and a tool for gauging progress toward becoming a reflective practitioner taken from previous research, researchers conducted an evaluative case study of one Associate and two beginning teachers across two school years. Findings suggest Associates should meet beginning teachers where they are on the reflective continuum. Implications include that Associates need meaningful professional development to support teachers in growing as reflective practitioners.
Teacher preparation programs are facing an alarming drop in enrollments around the country. Our university, The State University of New York at Albany, has not been exempted from decreased enrollments. Low enrollments have led us to initiate direct attempts to recruit quality applicants to our master’s programs. As part of our overall recruiting plan, we created a survey of our applicants to determine how they discovered our programs and why they want to attend our programs so that we can better utilize our limited advertising resources. Survey results and implications for recruiting teacher candidates are discussed
Drawing upon discursive psychology as a theoretical and methodological framework, the author analyzes a set of five postobservation debrief conversations between novice teachers and their mentors. The author presents analysis and findings by highlighting how the interpretative repertoires of the rubric and protocol documents may be used to shape and limit what counts as reflective practice. Next, the author highlights contrasts in the ways in which participants oriented to reflection protocol documents either as authoritative or irrelevant. Finally, the author consider the implications of these orientations in terms of varied versions of reflection on practice.
Conventional teacher education programs follow an apprenticeship model and, in so doing, aspire to provide student teachers with pedagogical skills and techniques derived from a preexisting body of knowledge. In this contribution to HER's special series, "Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Education," Kenneth M. Zeichner and Daniel P. Liston argue that the conventional approach inhibits the self-directed growth of student teachers and thereby fails to promote their full professional development. Illustrating an alternative model, the authors describe and assess the elementary student teaching program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison — a program oriented toward the goals of reflective teaching, greater teacher autonomy, and increasing democratic participation in systems of educational governance.
In this article, two teacher educators reflect on their experiences teaching a diversity course for preservice middle-school teachers. The first author is an African American male teacher educator, and the second author is a White female teacher educator. While the authors bring distinct experiences, backgrounds, and epistemologies to this work, both seek to prepare preservice teachers with the skills and dispositions needed to meet the needs of culturally diverse students. Including their narratives in their own words, the authors share their experiences teaching this course and make recommendations for those doing this work in their respective spaces.
After briefly reviewing the unequal opportunities outside schools that contribute to the disparities in educational achievement, attainment, and various indicators of adult success, this chapter zeroes in on addressing inequities within K-12 education. We argue that disparities within the educational system are the product of institutional structures and cultures that both disenfranchise certain groups of students and depress quality overall. Systemic causes require systemic solutions, and we envision a three-pronged systemic remedy: a continuous improvement approach for addressing the quality of educational opportunities for underserved students as well as of the system as a whole; targeted high-leverage interventions consistent with the overall approach but focused on key transition points and needs; and stronger connections between schools and other institutions and systems affecting the development and well-being of children and youth. We then outline a change strategy that incorporates both pressure and support for improvement from three distinct but interacting sources: government and administrative policy (federal, state, and local); professional accountability and networking; and collective engagement of parental, community, and advocacy organizations. We end the chapter with a consideration of recent developments in California and the degree to which they lay the groundwork for moving an equity agenda in the state.
Teacher-education programs are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the effectiveness of their graduates at a time in which many states have adopted a new generation of formal teacher-evaluation systems. Despite the current emphasis on the evaluation of teacher proficiency, the opportunity to reflect upon practice remains a vital aspect of teacher education. This exploratory study investigates the potential that video-stimulated recall (VSR) holds for promoting preservice-teacher reflection in conjunction with a state-mandated evaluation instrument. Results indicate that VSR holds promise for improving specific and growth-oriented reflection though there is potential for more.
We present a micro-analysis of post observation conversations between classroom teachers and mentors. Using the approach of conversation analysis, we show how the sequential organization of an episode (i.e., who initiates the interaction, question format used by mentors) could potentially serve to provoke or hinder teacher reflection. Our analysis reveals the different stances adopted by mentor and teacher during potentially discomfiting episodes, the relationship between the structure of initial questions, and the impact of question types on elicited teacher responses/reflections. Implications for handling this type of interaction for more effective professional development collaborations are discussed.
The notion of reflection nowadays is considered crucial in the field of teaching and teacher education. However, although the great majority of approaches to reflection are grounded on the same main theoretical sources, the meaning of this notion is unanimously recognized in the field to be ambiguous. This article aims to look for clarity about what reflection is, what it is not, and how it works, by closely revisiting the seminal works of Dewey, Schön, and Wertheimer. It is argued that reflection is a descriptive notion—not a prescriptive one—and that it refers to the thinking process engaged in giving coherence to an initially unclear situation. The article then identifies some aspects of how reflection works, and some current widespread assumptions about reflection which are insufficiently warranted, either theoretically in the writings of Dewey or Schön or empirically in the observations of reflection processes.
The purpose of this study was to determine the capacity of teacher candidates to facilitate and reflect on classroom discourse in the context of an early field experience. The classroom discourse and reflections of 10 teacher candidates were examined through interviews, audio and video recordings, and written reflections. The findings indicated that teacher candidates employed the most complex discourse and the highest level of reflection when they worked with individual or small groups of students and understood the instructional goals for the lesson. The implications for supporting teacher-candidate learning during early field experiences are discussed.
The article describes the integration of inquiry, reflective practice, and child-centered teaching approaches in preservice teacher education at the early childhood level. The article reviews relevant literature on the forms and functions of inquiry and reflection as a form of professional development and teacher learning and also describes the current state of Palestinian teacher education and early childhood teaching and learning. The article then describes the preservice program at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, the West Bank (Palestine) for students pursuing a BA in early childhood education and highlights the program's emphasis on child-centered, discovery-based teaching and learning. To illustrate how the Al-Quds program emphasizes reflection and inquiry at the preservice level, the article presents examples of the student teachers' projects, perspectives, and experiences in implementing an inquiry-based approach to teaching. Taken as whole, the article helps crystallize key issues and advances in teacher education in the West Bank (Palestine) and contributes to the growing awareness in teacher education at the global level of the professional and research benefits of cross-cultural and cross-border dialogue and exchange
This year-long qualitative case study explores the ways in which one teacher intern reflected upon her knowledge and experiences within two sometimes dichotomous domains: the elementary school classrooms in which she taught and her university coursework. Data collection took place over a period of eight months and consisted of twenty-two weekly email journals assigned as part of graduate coursework during a fifth year internship program. Detailed analysis of these entries revealed the power of reflection and independent thinking in negotiating the complexity of influences on this teacher's beliefs about teaching and learning.
The purpose of this research was to investigate instructional conditions aimed at improving future teachers' reflective thinking, to systematically trace how features of a guided instructional procedure influenced these teachers' pedagogical reasoning. The reflective thinking protocol that formed the basis of the instructional approach was built on a clear definition of reflection as a process, individual and collaborative, involving experience and uncertainty about teaching situations, dilemmas, and problems. Based on a mixed-methods design in Study 1, the analyses revealed the differing effects of genre (article, case study, and field teaching experience) and type of engagement (individual and group). In Study 2, analyses of several data sets examined the power of the instruction to enhance teachers' reflection and problem-solving abilities. Taken together, these studies, formative in nature, provide protocols and assessment tools that can support teacher educators' intentional and guided reflection instruction and inform future research.
The reflective judgment model (RJM) describes the development of complex reasoning in late adolescents and adults, and how the epistemological assumptions people hold are related to the way they make judgments about controversial (ill-structured) issues. This article describes the theoretical assumptions that have guided the development of the RJM in the last 25 years, showing how these ideas influenced the development of assessment protocols and led to the selection of research strategies for theory validation purposes. Strategies discussed here include a series of longitudinal studies to validate the proposed developmental sequence, cross-sectional studies examining age/educational level differences, and studies of domain specificity. Suggestions for assessing and promoting reflective thinking based on these findings are also offered here.
This article draws on a recently completed study in which preservice teachers identify aspects of their initial teacher education that act as hindrances or aids to developing reflectivity. It articulates the concept that reflection must be seen not as something to be done or acquired but rather as a disposition or way of being. Also identified are key components of preservice teacher education that confront initial reliance on technique and tools and contribute to change from technicist to authentic reflective practice. Preservice teachers' initial and influential beliefs and practices related to teaching are well established in the literature. However, this study clearly indicates that they have equally influential beliefs and practices related to learning and what it means to learn. These beliefs and practices influence the degree to which preservice teachers access desired learning outcomes within coursework and, therefore, the process of becoming reflective.
Reflective practice has an allure that is seductive in nature because it rings true for most people as something useful and informing. However, for reflection to genuinely be a lens into the world of practice, it is important that the nature of reflection be identified in such a way as to offer ways of questioning taken-for-granted assumptions and encouraging one to see his or her practice through others’eyes. The relationship between time, experience, and expectations of learning through reflection is an important element of reflection, and to teach about reflection requires contextual anchors to make learning episodes meaningful. This article examines the nature of reflection and suggests how it might become effective reflective practice that can be developed and enhanced through teacher preparation programs.
Research and practice going back to the 1960s support the use of videotaping to facilitate preservice teachers' development of reflective teaching skills. Emerging research suggests that additional video-based activities, including editing video vignettes of teaching, can deepen preservice teachers' reflection. This action research study describes the incorporation of a video-editing activity in an "Introduction to Reflective Teaching Practice" course. Key features of the video-editing activities included (1) active videotaping of preservice teachers' field teaching by university supervisors, (2) self-directed video review by preservice teachers to support writing a reflective lesson analysis, (3) selection and editing of video vignettes by preservice teachers to illustrate their written reflections, and (4) posting of video vignettes on the students' electronic portfolio pages. Analysis of students' perceptions revealed considerable nervousness with the videotaping process but an appreciation of having video for personal feedback and to support reflective analysis. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables, and 3 notes.)
In this article, the author illustrates how the Descriptive Process can assist teachers in shifting relationships with students because it requires both associative and reflective processes. Drawing on discussions from a teacher study group, she illustrates how associative processes can lead to a strengthening of connection with self. Similarly, she demonstrates how the process of reflection, which requires a synthesizing of the external world with the coming to know of self, can trigger a shift in thinking and a change in action. These intertwined processes, embedded in an interpretive community, and a keen attention focused on a student, can activate a deepening of relationship.
After an overview of the characteristics of professional learning communities (PLCs), this manuscript presents a review of 10 American studies and one English study on the impact of PLCs on teaching practices and student learning. Although, few studies move beyond self-reports of positive impact, a small number of empirical studies explore the impact on teaching practice and student learning. The collective results of these studies suggest that well-developed PLCs have positive impact on both teaching practice and student achievement. Implications of this research and suggestions for next steps in the efforts to document the impact of PLCs on teaching and learning are included.
A primary goal of teacher preparation programs should be to develop the reflective and critical problem-solving capacities of preservice teachers, especially social justice–oriented programs that prepare teachers to work in urban schools with historically underserved youth. Through an analysis of participants’ biweekly posts to discussion boards, this qualitative case study examines common dilemmas for a group of 11 racially diverse undergraduate preservice middle school teachers and descriptions of their process during Critical Friendship Group protocols. Results reveal that most dilemmas revolved around relationships with others, curriculum and instruction, and perceived deficiencies of students. However, through the process of engaging in reflective conversations supported by classroom activities, some participants reenvisioned the initial dilemma, such as reframing deficiency views as pedagogical or relationship issues. In addition, all participants articulated benefits of the Critical Friendship Group meetings in their reflections. Implications for improving supports for critical, collaborative reflection during student teaching are discussed.
In this qualitative study, five student teachers engaged in dialogic viewing of video of their own teaching with their university supervisor. The questions guiding this research included: (1) What do teacher candidates notice as they watch videos of themselves teaching in the company of their university supervisor?; (2) How does dialogic viewing affect teacher candidates’ noticing?; and (3) What are teacher candidates’ attitudes towards watching themselves teach, independently and in the company of their university supervisor? The findings reveal an increase in the depth and shift in the focus of student teachers’ reflections on their own teaching, and positive attitudes toward the process. Additionally, it points to potential implications for practice and future research around the use of dialogic viewing.
As social-justice mathematics teacher educators, we have always engaged and supported the prospective and practicing teachers in our classes in critical reflection about mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics (Felton, 2010, 2012; Felton & Koestler, 2012; Koestler, 2012). Although there are different notions, purposes, and traditions of reflection (Zeichner & Liston, 1996), critical reflection goes beyond teachers simply recounting their experiences and instead engages them in attempting to unpack and make sense of their experiences in terms of the social, political, and cultural contexts in which their work takes place. We believe this can support them in taking up more progressive pedagogies that can lead to more equitable and just mathematics education for all students.
While we did not originally think about our work in terms of teacher agency, writing about this here and elsewhere (Felton & Koestler, 2012) has provided an opportunity to consider what role agency plays in our work, what agency in mathematics teacher education means to us, and how we may better support developing this form of agency in our future work as mathematics teacher educators. We have been collaborating as “critical friends” (Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 2007) for the past eight years by discussing the content and pedagogy of our courses, our theoretical frames, and our research methods. While, in this article we discuss data that were generated in one semester of a mathematics content course for prospective teachers taught by Felton, analyzing and theorizing about the data was a collaborative effort.
An interpretation of the concept of the practical for the field for curriculum must pay critical attention to the philosophies of knowledge in which the interpretation is grounded. The main traditions of social science (broadly conceived as the empirical-analytic, the hermeneuticphenomenological, and the critical-dialectical) each have associated with them quite distinct ways of knowing and distinct modes of being practical. This paper seeks to demonstrate that it is only through such critical reflection that the questions of greatest significance to the field can be adequately addressed.
Preparing teachers to be reflective practitioners is the goal embraced by most teacher education programs. Reflective practitioners infuse personal beliefs and values into a professional identity, resulting in the development of a deliberate code of conduct. They challenge assumptions and expectations that may limit their potential for tolerance and acceptance, vital tools for thriving in today's diverse classrooms.This article discusses the need to prepare reflective practitioners and the essential attributes required. Additionally, the article reviews the research on creating a learning climate conducive to facilitating the development of teachers as reflective practitioners.
Although proponents support portfolios’ value to enhance the reflective thinking of novice teachers and imply that such thinking improves teachers’ practice, few studies have confirmed these assertions by directly measuring in-depth reflection or describing conditions that develop it. In this study, reflective thinking in preservice teachers’ portfolios was measured and compared with their perceived reflection. Qualitative research design was used for this study. The participants were preservice physics teachers. Data were collected through the participants’ portfolios and interviews. Their portfolios were evaluated based on the rubric developed by the researcher focusing on personal reflection, artifacts, professional development, and organization. Findings show that most of the preservice teachers gained expertise in reflecting about their teaching skills in their portfolios. These findings also indicate that the instructor’s supervision and help throughout portfolio preparation may have assisted the preservice teachers with creating more reflective portfolios.
This multiple case study examined the reflections of elementary teachers as they taught science to English language learners (ELLs). The six participants in this study developed explanations about their science teaching with ELLs as they engaged in reflective practice using video-based tools during a professional development experience. Open coding was used to analyze the data and cross-case comparison identified similarities and differences among the participants’ cases. Participants’ reflections indicated that knowledge of their students’ culture and backgrounds influenced their teaching practices and the focus of their reflections. Themes that emerged from participants’ reflections related to navigating the school world, managing the technical classroom, negotiating barriers, nurturing all students, and understanding learning. Findings illustrate the importance of examining teachers’ reflective writings in order to develop an understanding of how they use students’ backgrounds to inform their teaching practice and how they develop their science teaching practice with ELLs.
This article describes a seminar process in which poetry is used with student teachers to provide a focal point for reflection and introspection. Through this reflection process, students have been able to reflect deeply and personally on their student-teaching experiences, on their own personalities in the context of those experiences, and on their relationships with their own students and cooperating teachers. The article includes a description and example of the seminar process used as well as examples of students' reflections. The literature review includes descriptions of alternative methods of using poetry as a reflective tool.
This study followed 9 teacher candidates through a 3-week cultural immersion experience in which they volunteered in educational settings where they were not members of the majority culture. This learning experience was designed to help candidates better understand their culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse future students. A qualitative design with an ethnographic approach was used to explore the use of debriefing circles, based on Parker Palmer’s clearness committee structure. Debriefing circles were examined as a tool to facilitate self-reflection as a scaffold toward culturally responsive teaching. Candidate perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the debriefing-circle discussion framework are analyzed.
In an effort to promote a critical reflective stance in the beginning teacher, this study developed an instructional model for preservice teachers at the undergraduate level. Its sample consisted of students in two sections of a student teaching seminar course taken during their last semester of undergraduate course work. The work took place at a comprehensive medium-size university in south Texas, with 87% of the student population of Mexican ethnicity. This study evolved through an action research approach to develop the instructional model, which spanned three semesters. As such, the article focuses on a description of the instructional model that emerged from the process, and it presents an analysis of the out-comes, as well as implications for further study and practice in teacher education. We found that the participants engaged in high levels of reflectivity traditionally not found at the undergraduate level.
This mixed-methods study examined the use of web-based portfolios for developing preservice teachers’ reflective skills. Building on the work of previous research, the authors proposed a set of reflection-based tasks to enrich preservice teachers’ internship experiences. Their purpose was to identify (a) whether preservice teachers demonstrated evidence of reflective thinking throughout a semester and, if so, the types of reflective thinking indicators; (b) whether there was an increase in the number of high-level reflective indicators over time; and (c) the role of the web-based portfolio construction, as perceived by the participants, in developing reflective skills. The findings suggested that preservice teachers demonstrated high- and low-level reflective skills throughout a semester. There was a statistically significant improvement in the number of high-level reflective indicators in the second reflection task compared with the first. In addition, the web-based platform was perceived by participants as a medium that enabled easy access and the development of better portfolio artifacts.
This study examined whether teacher portfolios can be validly and reliably assessed by investigating the effect of an instructional tool on increasing the level of reflective thinking in elementary preservice teachers’ portfolios. It also examined whether reflective thinking in preservice teachers’ electronic portfolios represented sufficient quality to make them useful in practice. The Rubric for Evaluating Portfolio Reflective Thinking instrument developed for this study demonstrated moderate levels of interrater reliability (r = .66) and sufficient content validity to be used to measure reflective thinking. Also, members of the treatment group scored significantly higher on five of the six portfolio domains and on the total portfolio reflective score than members of the control group. Overall percentage levels of reflection were substantially higher for the treatment group (47%) than for the control group (6.7%). Implications for practice and further research are provided.
Documentation is sparse regarding outcomes associated with teacher education portfolios and the quality of the reflections contained within the portfolios. This collective case study of six teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary teacher education program at a large midwestern university explores the outcomes of developing a portfolio based on state standards. The first question focuses on the outcomes of the portfolio process for the teacher candidate; the second is an investigation of the critical events that facilitate outcomes associated with the portfolio; the third addresses the nature and quality of reflections that accompany portfolios. The constant comparative method is used to analyze data within and among the six cases. Data sources include electronic portfolios, observations of portfolio seminars, and interviews with teacher candidates, cooperating teachers, and center coordinators. A reflexive journal is used to increase the overall trustworthiness. The study identifies four outcomes of this portfolio process for the teacher candidates: It increased their understanding of standards; it supported the organization and articulation of their thoughts; it encouraged them to reflect; and it provided a snapshot of their professional growth.
The concept and practice of teacher leadership have gained momentum in the past two decades. Teachers are assuming more leadership functions at both instructional and organizational levels of practice. Empirical literature reveals numerous small-scale, qualitative studies that describe dimensions of teacher leadership practice, teacher leader characteristics, and conditions that promote and challenge teacher leadership. Less is known about how teacher leadership develops and about its effects. In addition, the construct of teacher leadership is not well defined, conceptually or operationally. Future research focused on the differentiated paths by which teachers influence organizational capacity, professionalism, instructional improvement, and student learning has the potential to advance the practice of teacher leadership. A conceptual framework is offered to guide such inquiry.
The Collaboration for the Improvement of Teacher Education (CITE) is a pre-student teaching program that promotes students' reflective thinking about curriculum, methods, and sociopolitical issues through blocked classes and structured field experiences. The Framework for Reflective Thinking, a coding scheme, was developed to evaluate students' ability to reflect on pedagogical principles underlying teaching decisions, contextual factors affecting the application of the princi ples, and moral, ethical, or political issues surrounding a teaching experience. The initial evalua tion indicated that CITE students were beginning to apply pedagogical principles in making teach ing decisions. Above average students were able to adapt these principles to a specific context. Two additional studies indicated that CITE students showed significantly greater gains in reflection than other methods students not in the CITE program and that the Framework for Reflective Thinking could be used with experienced teachers to note changes in reflective thinking in a year- long staff development effort.
Lee S. Shulman builds his foundation for teaching reform on an idea of teaching that emphasizes comprehension and reasoning, transformation and reflection. "This emphasis is justified," he writes, "by the resoluteness with which research and policy have so blatantly ignored those aspects of teaching in the past." To articulate and justify this conception, Shulman responds to four questions: What are the sources of the knowledge base for teaching? In what terms can these sources be conceptualized? What are the processes of pedagogical reasoning and action? and What are the implications for teaching policy and educational reform? The answers — informed by philosophy, psychology, and a growing body of casework based on young and experienced practitioners — go far beyond current reform assumptions and initiatives. The outcome for educational practitioners, scholars, and policymakers is a major redirection in how teaching is to be understood and teachers are to be trained and evaluated.
This article was selected for the November 1986 special issue on "Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Education," but appears here because of the exigencies of publishing.
The aim of this article is to provide insight into ways that a domain-specific model for reflection can support student teachers in reflecting on teaching experiences. According to the literature, the quality of reflection fundamentally depends on the conceptual repertoire that practitioners bring to bear on the situation. This process is referred to as framing. To improve student teachers' reflections, we have developed a domain-specific model for framing teaching experiences. In this article, we describe the design of the domain-specific model for reflection and the results of an explorative study in which we compared reflecting on experiences with and without the model. The results show that student teachers' use of the domain-specific model promotes better-quality reflections. When using the model, student teachers describe and explain their experiences with more detail; they reflect on a deeper level; and their resolutions are more productive.
Pour etudier le processus de developpement de la reflexion, necessaire a tout enseignant novice dans la pratique pedagogique quotidienne, l'A. utilise deux sortes de donnees: les productions ecrites des enseignants sur des sujets de reflexion donnees et des entretiens portant sur leurs idees et conceptions de la pratique pedagogique. Cette etude a abouti a trois conclusions: a) la reflexion est un processus qui se developpe avec l'experience; b) le caractere de la reflexion varie selon l'activite proposee; c) le developpement de la reflexion apparait mieux a l'aide des entretiens que des productions ecrites
This case study investigates the effectiveness of online peer dialogue journaling. The authors developed this learning strategy for elementary preservice teachers to reflect on their tutoring experiences and to provide support to their journal partners using an Internet discussion forum. The participants were asked to fill in two questionnaires, before and after they participated in writing online peer dialogue journals. The journal entries posted by the participants were also collected. The findings suggest that most participants responded favorably to this strategy. It facilitates technology integration, promotes interactive learning, and supports reflective practices in the dialogic form. The authors also raise several issues that need to be further addressed by teacher educators. (Contains 2 tables.)
The purpose of this original quasi-experimental research was to investigate the potential for using case-based instruction during the student teaching seminar as a means for promoting practicum student teachers' critical reflection about facilitating children's learning. In addition, the study explored the impact of varied modes for delivering case-based instruction on the quality of student teachers' reflective narratives. Sixty-eight undergraduate students who were enrolled in the teacher certification program participated in the study as a member of one of three groups. During the 6-week instructional period, two groups learned using case-based instruction plus traditional instruction, and one group studied the same curriculum using traditional instruction only, without case-based instruction. Overall, trend analyses suggest that case-based instruction results in improved reflection about facilitating children's learning. Furthermore, there is evidence that computer-based cases that offer video vignettes and interactive discussion questions have greater impact on the quality of student teachers' reflection about children's learning than do paper-based cases.
Reflective practice is a major focus of teacher preparation programs (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1992; Putnam & Borko, 2000; Zeichner, 1986; Zeichner & Listen, 1987), yet Zeichner (1986) asserts that developing reflective practice in preservice teachers has focused primarily on short-term, less systematic interventions and that interventions must be successful with all prospective teachers, not just those who are reflective by nature. The following research explores the use of the reflective judgment model (King & Kitchener, 1994) to explain how preservice teachers reason about ill-structured dilemmas of practice and the potential impact of a multifaceted intervention to raise levels of reflective judgment during field experiences.
The current study compared the effects of video-based reflection versus a memory-based reflection (i.e., no video) on scores for written reflections of preservice teachers who were completing a special education method course. The results of a counterbalanced design show that the use of a videotape was associated with slightly higher mean scores on written reflections than those of the written reflections based on students' memories. These results are significant for individual questions on the reflection questionnaire. Social validity data show that students preferred video-based reflection over memory-based reflection. Implications for the use of videotaped lessons as a tool for teacher reflections are discussed.
The purpose of this 3-year investigation was to determine if a relationship exists between teacher reflectivity and the classroom performance of novice teachers when final evaluations are aligned with national standards. This study included 98 novice teachers enrolled in their final field-based teaching experience. Participants reflected over two constructs common to field experiences: Clinical interviews and written products of reflection. Procedures were advanced to determine level of reflection, which was then compared to teaching performance based on final evaluations. Among other findings, this study suggests that teaching performance is associated with teacher reflectivity when advancing van Manen's (1977) conception of reflectivity. The association did vary somewhat with each procedure and with certain teaching performance components. Furthermore, study results imply that the structure of the reflection may play a more important role than previously thought. Recommendations for further investigation on teacher reflection and teacher performance conclude the article.
Reflection has become an integral part of teacher education, yet its elusive boundaries make it difficult to define and teach. Examining the various facets of reflection with respect to teaching clarifies the concept, making it more accessible to pre-service teachers learning to reflect on their practice. This article explores those facets and provides a typology designed to guide teacher educators in teaching reflection to pre-service teachers.
This paper examines the use of peer-videoing in the classroom as a tool to promote reflective practice among student teachers. Twenty pre-service teachers from a variety of subject disciplines participating in a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education programme in an Irish university participated in the study. The practice of encouraging student teachers working in the same school to participate in structured video analysis avoids the impact of external observers whose role is largely evaluative and endorses a collaborative model that promotes dialogue and shared learning. This practice promotes a culture of observation and critical dialogue in a profession which has traditionally been characterised by isolation, while at the same time fostering and validating the voice and experience of the student teacher. Locating the discussion within the framework of the theoretical literature on reflective practice, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the international debate over best practice in supporting, encouraging and scaffolding reflective practice. It comments on the implications of reflective dialogue for the modernisation of teacher education and offers guidelines on how best to scaffold and promote reflectivity.
Reflection is claimed as a goal in many teacher preparation programs, but its definition and how it might be fostered in student teachers are problematic issues. In this article, a report is provided of a review of literature on reflection, in particular focusing on strategies which assist its development in preservice programs. Next there is outlined a research project where types of reflection have been defined and applied to an analysis of student writing. Finally, the authors propose a framework for types of reflection as a basis for further research development in teacher education.