Reflective Practice – Part 2 : Reflective Practice – Part 2 Research:
Beyond the pages of Dewey and Schon Smyth (1989) : Smyth (1989) Empowerment through reflection
Four forms of action
Describe – What do I do?
Inform – What does this mean?
Confront – How did I come to be like this?
Reconstruct – How might I do things differently? Cruickshank (1985) : Cruickshank (1985) Reflective Teaching – experiential education
Goal – help participants evaluate their own teaching behaviors in order to become more effective teachers
Used in various contexts –( ie preservice education, inservice training, graduate education, research as teaching, selection and retention of preservice teachers)
Teach specifically designed lessons to small group of peers
Determine extent to which learners learn
Reflect on teaching/learning experience
Benefits Killen (1989) : Killen (1989) Responded to criticism in relation to
Contends that Cruickshank’s approach
Advantages over other peer teaching experiences Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin (1995) : Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin (1995) Professional development to fosters teacher reflection has a number of characteristics:
Engage teachers in concrete tasks including reflection on the processes of learning and development
Must be grounded in inquiry, reflection, and experimentation
Must be collaborative
Must be connected to teachers work in classrooms and students
Must involve other areas of school change Sparks-Langer & Colton (1991) : Sparks-Langer & Colton (1991) Three elements important to reflective thinking
The cognitive element of thinking
The critical element of thinking
Narratives: the third element of reflection
Highlights of research indicate practices
Video based reflection can help foster cognitive reflection
Examination of cases can foster critical reflection
Teachers need to create narratives to develop context-based meaning
Teachers need to interpret, give meaning to, and make decisions about their own experiences. Moving on… : Moving on… Where is the field of reflective practice in teacher preparation?