D. A. Schon in The Reflective Practitioner (1983) states
that “our principal formal institutions – schools, hospitals, government
agencies, courts of law, armies – are arenas for the exercise of professional
activity. We look to professionals for
the definition and solutions of our problems, and it is through them that we
strive for social progress.” (p. 3)
Reflection-on-Action
And if we consider teachers to be professionals, then they
should be able to serve society in the best possible ways. Professionals, such as teachers, must be able
to reflect on their daily endeavors so that they might improve and become the
effective teachers that we expect them to be.
“Reflection – on – action” (Paulsen, Kenneth, 1995), or reflecting on
lessons taught after they have occurred is a skill that teachers must
develop. With their relative lack of
experience, it is important for preservice educators to be able to learn to
analyze their teaching and “reflect-on-action” and make any necessary
adjustments that will help them to learn and mature from the experience. The
first source of informative feedback available to most instructors is
themselves. Teachers gain information
about their teaching from their own observations of themselves, coupled with
their own reflections (Paulson/Kenneth, 1995).
John Dewey (1933) defined reflection as “turning a subject
over in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive consideration, thereby
enabling us to act in a deliberate and intentional fashion. Reflection involves
active, persistent and careful consideration.”(p.9)
How can we help preservice educators to be “active,
persistent, and careful” in their consideration of their teaching and their
thinking in regards to becoming an effective teacher? How do we help and what is our role, as
teacher educators, to prepare preservice educators in becoming reflective
practitioners? To move toward improving one’s teaching, educators must systematically
reflect on lessons before, during/after teaching. Freece (1999) believes that,
by using a reflective framework, preservice educators develop and actively
think about their teaching and strive for improvement in their
teaching/students’ learning.
Reflective Journals
Teaching is a complex activity and, on any day, a teacher
could be faced with a wide assortment of demands, expectations, and
possibilities (Good, Whang 2002). We, as teacher educators, need to be able to
help pre-service teachers to be able to handle and learn from these daily
challenges. It is important that these pre-service teachers learn to become
reflective practitioners. One important tool of this lifelong endeavor is the
reflective or response journal. The
daily journal responses of undergraduate early childhood majors as part of a
language arts methods class and field experience were analyzed. What is it that these students include in
their daily reflections? What can we (and they) learn about teaching within the
process of daily journaling? How do we, as teacher educators, teach the skill
of reflection with our pre-service educators?
These are the questions that need to be answered.
“Today I taught my first whole group
lesson. It could have gone so much
better…. This class has a very short attention span so it is difficult to keep
them occupied and focused, I think my
next activity should be “hands-on” so that they can stay more focused.” (Ally,
Fall, 2007 ~ analyzing the class/making changes for future lessons)
Sometimes, teacher educators do not purposefully teach the
skill of reflections and what they are looking for in their journals. This can
be a challenging task. Teacher educators need to be able to facilitate the
transformation of pre-service educators into reflective practitioners as they
progress from their classes/field experiences into full time teaching (Good,
Whang, 2002). As in the above journal
entry, Ally was disappointed in the lesson but was already making plans for
change. Journal responses from preservice
educators as part of a field experience have been included throughout this
article. They serve as n assortment of
responses and a window into their thinking processes as future teachers.
The response journal is used to give students a chance to
think about the what but also the how and the why of teaching. What did we do?
How did it go? How could it be better? Why were we doing it, anyway? It allows
the preservice teacher to pause and try to “make sense” of their thinking
regarding the theories/practices of teaching. (Good/Whang, 2002)
“My main lesson today was a failure!...
I need to think about what went wrong and how I can improve.” (Eddie, fall,
2007, learning from mistakes)
Good/Whang (2002), in their study of the use of response
journals with preservice educators, provide our overview of an instructional
tool or formal to use when attempting to teach the skill of being a reflective
practitioner. They divide the process into these areas:
1. Assigning – the
task of responding each class period in an 82x11” loose-leaf binder was clearly
explained/assigned.
2. Responding/reacting
– students were asked to respond/react to various journal prompts – after
related to outside reading material students also worked with a “journal
buddy”.
3. Grading –
Instructors responded to journal entries twice during the semester, grades were
partially given based on the length of the entries (40 papers for an A.)
(Good/Whang, 2002)
“Everyone did a good job of staying on
task. I think they really understood the
concepts, but it will be interesting to see if it transfers to tomorrow.”
(Ellen, Fall, 2007, a successful lesson and yet skeptical)
In our teacher education program for early childhood and
special education majors, pre-service educators (our students) have two
semesters of methods courses and coupled with field experiences prior to the
internship (student teaching) semester. In the first semester of methods
courses, in which I teach, students are required to keep a reflective journal
for the entire 15 weeks. In the first 10 weeks, students are required to write
entries on a weekly basis reflecting on class activities, readings, assignments
and discussions. For the final 5 weeks, students are placed in area schools and
work with a classroom teacher all day, every day.
During this time of observation, teaching daily lessons and
serving to aid the cooperating teacher, the students are required to write
entries every day, reflecting on the day and specifically the lessons that were
planned and taught. Students are instructed and encouraged to write about what
happened, think about changes that could be made, how the lesson could be
improved, what the preservice teacher is learning about teaching and to include
questions they may be pondering about the art/science of teaching. Journals are
read/graded by the instructor (me) at the beginning of the semester (after a
couple of weeks) and just before field experience and at the end of field
experience and the semester.
Beyond Mere Description
Students generally are very good at describing what is going
on in the classroom but find it more difficult to dig deeper into the way of
teaching. Why did it go the way it did? How could I improve on the lesson? Why
did they react in that way? When you begin to ask questions and dig to the
deeper reasons and analyze your teacher (on a daily basis), then, that is when
you begin to grow/mature as a professional educator.
“Overall, I thought the lesson went
well. I know I had the students’
attention when… Next time we play this game, I’ll make sure I give clearer
directions pertaining to student behavior…” (Catie, Fall, 2007, a successful
lesson but making adjustments)
On what do preservice teachers reflect? We know that simply
providing opportunities for teachers to reflect is insufficient because the
reflection may not be productive (Davis, 2006). I know, from experience, that preservice
educators in my classes do not necessarily learn to reflect just because it is
assigned. I read their journals and comment, we discuss reflection in class and
they also read each other’s entries – all of which, hopefully, lead to better
reflection.
“I really appreciated getting to read
my buddy’s journal entries. It helped me
think of some things that I hadn’t considered.” (Jenna, fall, 2007, commenting
on journal buddy reading)
Davis (2006) distinguishes between productive and
unproductive reflection. Unproductive is mainly descriptive without very much
analysis, usually listing ideas rather than connecting ideas. Preservice
teachers may not analyze their teaching very well. Productive reflection is likely to promote
effective learning and involves questioning assumptions and seeing things in
many ways.
Davis (2006) offers a number of recommendations:
1. Encourage preservice teachers to move beyond description
2. Help preservice teachers consider learning processes,
learners, and content
3. Look for integration of ideas
4. Teaches learning as knowledge integration.
I think this is one of the things I look for the most – that
preservice teachers in my classes learn to not only describe what is or has
happened but going beyond more description. The “going beyond” includes an
analysis of what could have been done differently, making connections with
other experiences and on understanding of how to interpret teaching ideas. This
is a process of stepping back and reflecting on the action that took place in
the teaching experience. The better the preservice educator learns to do this
the quicker they mature as they gain more and more experiences with students.
“I did not have enough time… I wish I
had more time to work with a few of the students who struggle with the
concepts. I might give an activity, the
next time, for the more advanced students and spend more individual time with a
few of the students.” (Nick, Fall, 2007, problem with time/ a possible
solution)
Teacher Educator Roles
Hudson – Ross and Graham (2000) identified four primary
roles that we, as teacher educators, play as more experienced teachers in a
community of learners:
1. Teacher researcher
2. Reflective practitioner (especially revealing how we
teach as teacher educators)
3. Member of a professional and collaborative learning
community
4. Assessor in a constructivist classroom
These are extremely important roles that we, as experienced
teachers, perform. On the issue of reflection, we must analyze our own teaching
as we model what it means to be a reflective practitioner. It may be very
important for pre-service educators to understand what we have decided is important
to teach, how we have decided to teach the concepts and whether or not we
considered the activity to be effective, not only after the fact but even while
we were engaged in the teaching experience. This metacognitive process can and
should be explained to the best of our abilities. The preservice educators
could learn a great deal from this instruction/reflection. The other roles
identified by Hudson-Ross/Graham (2000) are also very important but for the
purpose of this article, the process of being a reflective practitioner as a
teacher educator is the most pertinent to this discussion.
“One student that I thought had lost
respect for me was in a respectful, cooperative mood today. I was able to have a brief chat with him… He
is a brilliant child… his intelligence causes him to be bored in school…
Someone needs to challenge him to use his gifts to benefit society…” (Kathy,
Fall, 2007, relationship with an individual student)
A Reflective Practitioner
“The first source of informative feedback available to most
instructors is themselves.” Teachers gain information about their teaching from
their own observations of themselves, coupled with their own reflections. If a
teacher thinks reflectively about an episode of teaching after class, he or she
engages in “reflection – on – action,” but if he or she thinks about the
episode while in the midst of teaching, then “reflection – in – action” takes
place. (Paulson/Kenneth, 1995 p. 40)
Self Assessment
“The ultimate foundation of all reflective practice or
self-reflection is the ability and opportunity to engage in self-evaluation or
self-assessment.” A great deal of self-assessment is done “automatically.” (Paulson/Kenneth
(1995)
To become an excellent, reflective professional, as a
teacher, a person needs knowledge but probably more importantly, experience. As
you gain experiences as a teacher, hopefully a person gets better at what they
do. I do not believe that that comes automatically, though. I believe that a
person must step back regularly and analyze lessons, procedures/experiences and
determine what was the result. Am I happy with that result or can I make change
for future encounters? Sometimes, preservice educators can stimulate their own
thinking about their teaching experiences. Sometimes, reflecting in a journal
as a required (or not required) assignment can cause a person to
reflect/analyze. Sometimes, it might take an evaluation by/or conversation with
a university supervisor/cooperating teacher to stimulate that reflection.
“At this point in my experience, what I
have taken to heart the most is Mrs. B’s obvious interest and warmth toward her
students…. I want to be able to show
that love for learning and her students the way she does.” (Carol, Fall, 2007,
understanding the student/teacher relationship)
“Clearly, becoming a reflective practitioner is a desirable
goal. You will know that you are moving toward reflective practice when you
display the following characteristics, based on Dewey’s definition.”
(Eby/Kujawa, 1998).
1. Reflective Practitioners (R.P.’s) are active – search energetically for information and solutions to
problems that arise in the classroom.
2. R.P’s are persistent
– committed to thinking through difficult issues in depth and continue to
consider matters even though it may be difficult or tiring.
3. R.P’s are careful
– concern for self and others, respect students as human beings, and try to
create a positive, nurturing classroom
4. R.P’s are skeptical
– realize that there are few absolutes and maintain a healthy skepticism about
educational theories and practices.
5. R.P’s are rationale
– demand evidence and apply criteria in formulating judgments rather than
blindly following trends or acting on impulse.
6. R.P’s are proactive
– able to translate reflective thinking into positive action (Eby/Kujawa, 1998)
Eby/Kujawa (1998) have described six important traits that a
reflective practitioner should possess. Preservice educators can be taught,
guided/shown how to develop these traits: being active; persistent; careful;
skeptical, rationale and proactive. We must, as teacher educators, do our best
to model the characteristics of professional reflection and why it is so
necessary.
“But I think today was a great practice
for me! I learned that it is possible
for me to be more firm and authoritative… even though today was crazy, it was a
good learning experience.” (Ally, Fall, 2007, learning about classroom
management/self)
Good Teachers Are….
“Good Teachers….
Are able to view themselves as learners
Are willing and able to grow
Are keen observers
Know the community in which they teach
Possess a strong content background in child growth and
development
Have something they care to teach
Understand how young children learn
Need lots of energy
Ask questions that motivate children
Are able to take risks
Understand that organization and order are important
Are skilled at group management
Possess a willingness to explore
Are flexible
Are filled with a sense of wonder
Love teaching”
(Kramer, Goffin/Day, 1994)
Implications for Teacher Educators/Preservice Educators
Teachers need to be able to ….
1. Understand the
process of “reflection – on – action”
2. Go beyond mere
description of lessons (the what?)
3. Learn about
reflection through interaction with teacher educators, cooperating teachers and
fellow preservice educators (through journal buddy reading)
4. Learn to reflect
on learners and the learning processes as well as the content
5. Learn to integrate
ideas from others and experiences to improve teaching
6. Understand that
reflective practitioners are active, persistent, careful, skeptical, rational
and proactive.
In Closing….
As students reflected on their field experience after the
last day, some strong emotions surfaced.
It points out that the importance of stepping back and analyzing
teaching (reflecting) along with the overall experience of working with young
children. “Miss F__, why are you
leaving?” asked Ben, one of my first graders, in a very
matter of fact way. “I want to be a
teacher when I grow up, so I am going to a teacher school to learn how to do
that and school ends today, “ I replied. “Why do you want to be a teacher?” A
million reasons popped into my head. I
answered Ben by saying, “I want to be a teacher so I can help others grow up
and be what they want to be.” Hopefully,
this preservice educator can join the ranks of the teaching field, continue to
reflect and learn and be what she
wants to be – an excellent, effective teacher and , at the same time, an
excellent, effective reflective practitioner.
Another student expressed his final thoughts in this
way. “These past two days have been
bittersweet. I do not want to think that
this may be the last day I ever see any of these kids…. I tried my best not to
cry in front of the kids… but I couldn’t help it when nobody was looking.”
And finally… “Some of my students have such hard lives. They
are hungry for love and attention. Some
have already dealt with harder issues than I ever will. They are hurting. They are needy. I am only with them for four short
weeks. It makes me feel so
insignificant. It makes me feel so
sad. I am going to miss those kids.”
Reflection is a skill that we must help our preservice
teachers to develop. Becoming a
reflective practitioner can and should involve an analysis of teaching
practices and seek to improve those practices for the learning of our students
but it also involves the heart. While we
are analyzing our attempts at “reflection- on – action”, we are also engaged in
an intensely personal and emotional relationship with those we call “our kids”!
