TECHNO PEDAGOGICAL
CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ANALYSIS- SOCIAL SCIENCE
CHAPTER II –TEACHER AS A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER
Reflective practice
Reflective practice is "the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of
continuous learning". According
to one definition it involves "paying critical attention to the practical
values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice
reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight".
Reflective practice can be an important
tool in practice-based professional learning settings where individuals learning
from their own professional experiences, rather than from formal teaching or
knowledge transfer, may be the most important source of personal professional development and improvement. Further, it is also
an important way to be able to bring together theory and practice; through
reflection you are able to see and label schools of thought and theory within
the context of your work. What is
important about reflection throughout your practice is that you are not just
looking back on past actions and events, but rather you are taking a conscious
look at the emotions, experiences, actions, and responses, and using that to
add to your existing knowledge base to draw out new knowledge, meaning and have
a higher level of understanding. As
such the notion has achieved wide take-up, particularly in professional
development for practitioners in the areas of education and healthcare. The
question of how best to learn from experience has wider relevance however, to
any organizational learning environment. In particular, people in
leadership positions have a tremendous development opportunity if they engage
in reflective practice.
Professor Emeritus Donald Schön
Reflective Practice was introduced
by Donald Schön in his book The Reflective Practitioner in 1983, however, the concepts
underlying reflective practice are much older. John Dewey was among the first to write about
Reflective Practice with his exploration of experience, interaction and
reflection. Other researchers
such as Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, William James and Carl Jung were developing theories of human
learning and development. Marcus
Aurelius' Meditations has also been described as an example of reflective
practice.
Dewey’s works inspired writers such
as Donald Schön and David Boud to explore the boundaries of reflective
practice. Central to the development of reflective theory was interest in the
integration of theory and practice, the cyclic pattern of experience and the
conscious application of that learning experience. For the last 30 years, there
has been a growing literature and focus around experiential learning and the development and application of
Reflective Practice. Reflective practice also contributes to learning and
expressing our own and others' stories (Ivan, 2012).]
Donald Schön’s 1983 book introduces
concepts such as ‘reflection on action’ and ‘reflection in-action’ where
professionals meet the challenges of their work with a kind of improvisation
learned in practice. Reflective Practice has now been widely accepted and used
as developmental practices for organisations, networks, and individuals. As
Boud et al state: "Reflection is an
important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think
about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that
is important in learning." Reflective Practice can be seen and has been
recognised in many teaching and learning scenarios, and the emergence in more
recent years of blogging has been seen as another form of
reflection on experience in a technological age.
Models of reflective practice
The concept of Reflective Practice
centers around the idea of lifelong learning in which a practitioner analyses
experiences in order to learn from them. However it is important to note that
events experience and events retold hold their own importance. When
experiencing something (reflection-in-action), we are learning, however it can
be difficult to put emotions, events, and thoughts into a coherent sequence of
events. When retelling/rethinking about events we are better able to categorize
events, emotions, idea, etc. and be able to link our intended purpose with the
actions that we carried out. Only from here can we remove ourselves and your
direct emotional attachment from an action, and look at it from a critical
standpoint; when retelling it is as if we are taking ourselves out of the
action and are telling a story of a sequence of events. Reflective Practice is
used to promote independent professionals who are continuously engaged in the
reflection of situations they encounter in their professional worlds. Several
models of reflection exist and are used to draw lessons out of experiences.
Argyris and Schön 1978
Adaptation
of the single and double loop learning model by Argyris and Schön
Adaptation of the reflective model by Schön
Argyris and Schön pioneered the idea of single loop and double loop learning in 1978. The theory was built around
the recognition and amendment of a perceived fault or error.[10] Single loop learning is when a
practitioner or organisation, even after an error has occurred and a correction
is made, continues to rely on current strategies, techniques or policies when a
situation again comes to light. Double loop learning involves the modification
of personal objectives, strategies or policies so that when a similar situation
arises a new framing system is employed.
.
Kolb 1975
Adaptation of the Kolb's reflective model
Kolb was highly influenced by the research
conducted by Dewey and Piaget in the 1970s. Kolb’s reflective model highlights
the concept of experiential learning and is centered around the transformation
of information into knowledge. This takes place after the situation has
occurred and entails a practitioner reflecting on the experience, gaining a
general understanding of the concepts encountered during the experience and
then testing these general understandings on a new situation. In this way the
knowledge that is gained from a situation is continuously applied and reapplied
building on a practitioners prior experiences and knowledge.
Gibbs 1988
Adaptation
of the Gibbs Reflective Model
Graham Gibbs discussed the use of structured debriefing to facilitate the reflection involved
in Kolb's "experiential learning
cycle". He presents the stages of a full structured debriefing as follows:
Rolfe 2001
Adaptation
of the Rolfe Reflective Model
Rolfe’s reflective model is based around Borton’s 1970
developmental model. A simplistic
cycle composed of 3 questions which asks the practitioner, What, So What and
Now What. Through this analysis a description of the situation is given which
then leads into the scrutiny of the situation and the construction of knowledge
that has been learnt through the experience. Subsequent to this, ways in which
to personally improve and the consequence of ones response to the experience
are reflected on.
Application
Reflective Practice has been
described as an unstructured approach directing understanding and learning, a
self regulated process, commonly used in health and teaching professions,
though applicable to all professions. Reflective
practice is a learning process taught to professionals from a variety of
disciplines by practitioners, with the aim of enhancing abilities to
communicate and making informed/balanced decisions. The practice has
historically been applied most in the educational and medical field. When
reflection in action and reflection on action described by Donald Schon are
utilized in practice and when practitioners are able to identify these actions
they become better at reflective practice. Professional Colleges such as the College of Nurses
and College of Dental Hygienists
Education
In education, reflective practice
refers to the process of the educator studying his or her own teaching methods
and determining what works best for the students. It involves the consideration
of the ethical consequences of classroom procedures on students. The appeal of
the use of reflective practice for teachers is that as teaching and learning
are complex, and there is not one right approach, reflecting on different
versions of teaching, and reshaping past and current experiences will lead to
improvement in teaching practices. Schön’s
reflection-in-action assists teachers in making the professional knowledge that
they will gain from their experience in the classroom an explicit part of their
decision-making.
According to Paterson and Chapman (2013),
reflection and learning from experience is key to staying accountable, and
maintaining and developing aptitude throughout your practice. Without
reflection you as a practitioner are not able to look objectively at your
actions or take into account the emotions, experience, or responses from your
actions to improve your practice. Through the process of reflection teachers
are then held accountable to their teaching practice to students, parents,
administration, and all interested state holders; to the standards of practice
for teaching (in Ontario)- commitment to students and student learning,
professional knowledge, professional practice, leadership in learning
communities, and ongoing professional learning. Reflection is a vital process
of learning from experience that allow you to evolve as a practitioner; through
learning from past experiences, it allows you to develop a more through schema
for practice. Through reflective practice, you as a teacher are committing
yourself to students and student learning; you are looking back on your
practice and reflecting on how you have supported students through treating
them “…equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence
individual student learning” (2013, Ontario College of Teachers). By this, you
are asking yourself, have I to the best of my abilities supported student
learning, and provided all of my students with an entry point into learning.
Through reflective practice you are reflecting on your professional knowledge
and professional practice; you are looking at how you teach and the information
and forms of learning you are bring to your students, and taking a critical
look at whether or not you are current and if your ways of teaching are having
an impact on student learning that they will be able to translate into future
endeavors. If this is not the case you are then addressing the standard of
ongoing professional learning. Here you are looking at and trying to recognize
where you need to enhance your own learning so that it had a bigger benefit to
student learning. In addition, teachers are the leaders in their learning
communities; it is from their cues and attitudes that their learners develop
from. Through reflection, and sharing this with your learner, you are showing
strong leadership because it shows that you are willing to learn from your
mistakes and improve your practice for all of those affected by it (2013,
Ontario College of Teachers).
Davies (2012])
identifies that there are both benefits as well as limitations to reflective
practice:
Benefits to
Reflective Practice
·
Increased learning from an experience for situation
·
Promotion of deep learning
·
Identification of personal and professional strengths and areas for
improvement
·
Identification of educational needs
·
Acquisition of new knowledge and skills
·
Further understanding of own beliefs, attitudes and values
·
Encouragement of self-motivation and self-directed learning
·
Could act as a source of feedback
·
Possible improvements of personal and clinical confidence
Limitations of
Reflective Practice
·
Not all practitioners may understand the reflective process
·
May feel uncomfortable challenging and evaluating own practice
·
Could be time consuming
·
May have confusion as to which situations/experiences to reflect upon
·
May not be adequate to resolve clinical problems [33]
What is reflection?
Most of us would probably think of ‘what we see when we look in a mirror’
as the answer to this question.
The Oxford Dictionary does indeed have a definition very similar to that, but also includes
‘serious thought or consideration’ (OUP 2009)
This suggests something which is more than what we see or think about on the surface, and we believe that deeper, more thoughtful reflection is the key to Reflective Practice. We are not suggesting that there is one type of reflection which is the only one which works.
This set of resources intends to help you come to your own conclusions which approaches may suit you best.
Use the approaches and ideas which help you, your teaching and your students the most.
The Oxford Dictionary does indeed have a definition very similar to that, but also includes
‘serious thought or consideration’ (OUP 2009)
This suggests something which is more than what we see or think about on the surface, and we believe that deeper, more thoughtful reflection is the key to Reflective Practice. We are not suggesting that there is one type of reflection which is the only one which works.
This set of resources intends to help you come to your own conclusions which approaches may suit you best.
Use the approaches and ideas which help you, your teaching and your students the most.
Here are some ideas
about reflection from a variety of writers:
Moon (2004 p82), has coined the term ‘common sense reflection’ to describe one basic level of thinking:
Roffey-Barentsen and Malthouse (2009: p4) explain what they believe common sense reflection as below:
It is the thoughts that occur to us during our day-to-day living, perhaps following a different lesson or a particularly challenging student. It is the thoughts we cannot put down after a difficult encounter with an aggressive student or the muses we choose to have when we feel we could do better and try to work out exactly how. After these events you may think about the situation in terms of what went well and what did not. You could consider the behaviour of the students or how well a particular exercise went.
.. If you were to reflect on something in this way you may describe what happened, what you did, what others did in response and what you did after that, and then describe how you felt about it.
Boud, Keogh and
Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull over & evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning.
Andrew Pollard continues to emphasise a more focussed form of reflection when he refers to one of the best known 20th century education thinkers, John Dewey.
Dewey (1933) contrasted ‘routine action’ with ‘reflective action’. According to Dewey routine action is guided by factors such as tradition, habit and authority and institutional definitions and expectations.
By implication it is relatively static and is thus unresponsive to changing priorities and circumstances.
Reflective action, on the other hand, involves a willingness to engage in constant self appraisal and development. Among other things it implies flexibility, rigorous analysis and social awareness.
(Pollard 2005: p13)
Without critical reflection, teaching will remain at best uninformed, and at worst ineffective, prejudiced and constraining’ (Hillier 2002: p xi) …
.. there are two main reasons for using critical reflection:
- We can question our routine, convenient, everyday practices and ask questions about what really does and doesn’t work.
- We can challenge some of our deeper social and cultural thoughts, feelings and reactions, or what Hillier (2002: 7) calls our ‘taken for granted assumptions’
(Crawley 2005: p 166)
Donald Schon emphasises that there is an instinctive, and in many ways creative aspect to this type of reflection
Reflection in action concerns thinking about something whilst engaged in doing it, having a feeling about something & practicing according to that feeling.
This model celebrates the intuitive & artistic approaches that can be brought to uncertain situations.
(Schon 1983 page number unknown)
Although there are various ways in which different people have defined and explained reflection in teaching and learning overall, the most positive views appear to agree that it is both intuitive in nature, and considered in depth. At its best it is genuinely capable of helping us to develop, improve and change our teaching, or as
Critical reflection is about challenging and testing out what you do as a teacher and being prepared to act on the results.(Crawley 2005: p 167)
Figure 1: Strategies for
nine dimensions of reflective practice. Based
on work by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers (2012).
The strategies covered in this section are based on nine dimensions of reflective practice described by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers (2012) in The teacher's reflective practice handbook. Also, available at the Robertson library via this web link. More explanation of the strategies that you can use for reflective practice in each dimension is outlined next, and can be used to guide you with the portfolio activity for this topic.
Dimensions
and Strategies
Portfolio
Activity
|
·
Choose at least
two dimensions of reflective practice, including one that is unfamiliar to
you, and explore the material on this page.
·
For one
dimension - describe how you are already using the strategy in your
reflective practice and what this involves.
Reflect
on whether this strategy has helped you to improve your practice, and why.
·
For the second
dimension - discuss how you might use the strategy in the future.
Why do
you believe that this strategy could strengthen your practice and develop
your capability?
·
Share your
portfolio work on the Moodle discussion forum.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 1: Study your teaching for
personal improvement - Reflect
regularly.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 2: Evaluate your teaching
using Research - Action
research and Inquiry.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 3: Link theory with practice
- Use the literature.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 4: Question your personal
theories and beliefs - Critical
analysis.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 5: Consider alternative
perspectives and possibilities - Learning
conversations.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 6: Try out new strategies and
ideas - Innovation.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 7: Maximise the learning
potential of students - Inclusive
and flexible practices.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 8: Enhance the quality of
your teaching - Effective
practice.
|
|
[▼]Dimension 9: Continue to improve your
teaching - Professional
learning.
|
A
Model of Reflective Teaching
Reflection is
identified as one of the core practices for strengthening the theory-practice
nexus – the gap between what is learnt in teacher education programmes and its
effective practice in the classroom (see Recommendation 3 of the TE21 report, Low et al., 2009).
While the importance of reflection is not new
to education, the techniques of reflective practice are relatively recent.
Here’s a useful model for structuring your reflections:
·
Observe What happened?
·
Reflect Why?
·
Plan So what?
·
Act Now what?
This cyclical process facilitates reflection in action and on action. Practised over time, as a planned and structured exercise, it helps to build personal-professional knowledge.
Figure 1. Reflective
Teaching Model (Low et al., 2009, p. 72).
As a couple, Gerald and Elaine also take time
each day to interact with each other about their day and the challenges they
face on the job. These “verbal reflections” have become part of their daily
interactions.
They make a conscious effort draw conclusions
and not just complain about their day. Though Elaine may have been teaching for
longer, she says Gerald helps her to see issues from a different perspective.
Gerald’s Reflection
Term 1 Week 5
Focus Area: Pastoral Care & Well-being of Students
Focus Area: Pastoral Care & Well-being of Students
I started a session
with my Civics Group Tomeetto Catchup. It is really for me “to meet
to catch up” with each and every one of my students. I call them my “tutees”
(disciples in Chinese) because I am their tutor (“shifu”). The purpose of each
session to meet to catch up about their lives both in school as well as outside
school and I set the tone by asking them how I may help (serve) them. Then I
will leave it to each one’s comfort level to share with me.
The second objective which is also stated
clearly to my tutees is that this session is to discuss about their plans after
JC, e.g., which university and course, what kind of job or even career, their
interest and passions. Together with the information about Indicative Grade
Profiles from different local universities, I try to advise them. Of course, I
mainly facilitate making sure that they make their own decisions about their
future. This is important because it allows us to set realistic and achievable
targets for their A levels and at the same time, inspire them to dream about
their future and goals in life.
So far, I have set a schedule such that each
student would meet me on the day of their index number. The response has been
good. They have been proactive in arranging to meet me. Even students whom I
can only meet the following month because of their day falling on a weekend
have made arrangements to join their friends to meet me. Another indicator is
the openness of their sharing. Some shared with me their goals while others
honestly confessed that they do not know what to do with their lives. Knowing
them a bit better will definitely help me be a better Civics and Physics tutor
to them, gently guiding them towards their goals. I am starting to catch a
glimpse of why and how teachers lead, care for and inspire their students.
