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Use 80 reflection breaks as individual discussion starters or as part of a comprehensive professional growth plan that is perfect for teachers at all levels.
An increasing number of educators are arguing for conceptually sound reflective or inquiry-oriented teacher education programs. The argument is based on the fact that reflective teaching is possible and the belief that teachers should develop habits of consciously informed action. Those who promote reflective teaching argue for teacher empowerment within a self-renewing profession. Reflective Teacher Education offers case studies from seven universities that have organized teacher education programs around the concept of reflection. The cases represent public and private institutions, and alternative and traditional models of teacher preparation. The studies represent efforts to transform the entire professional education component rather than individual courses or isolated strategies. The volume also considers reflection as a conceptual orientation, commenting on its power to inform and improve teacher education, and assessing the implementation of reflection in these specific programs. The six critiques raise intriguing questions about the possibility and desirability of reflective reform efforts by viewing the cases from varying perspectives—development, cognitive, feminist, social reconstructionist, and post-modern.
This book offers a detailed examination of reflective practice in teacher education. In the current educational context, where reflective practice has been mandated in professional standards for teachers in many countries, it analyses research-based evidence for the power of reflective practice to shape better educational outcomes. The book presents multiple theoretical and practical views of this often taken-for-granted practice, so that readers are challenged to consider how factors such as gender and race shape understandings of reflective practice. Documenting approaches that enhance learning, the contributions discuss reflective practice across the globe, with a focus on pre-service, in-service and university teachers. At a time when there is pressure to measure teachers’ work through standardised tests, the book highlights the professional thinking that is integral to teaching and demonstrates ways it can be encouraged in beginning teachers. Aimed at the international community of teacher educators in schools and universities, it also includes a critical examination of methodological issues in analysing and evaluating reflective practice and showcases the kind of reflective practice that empowers teachers and pre-service teachers to make a difference to students.
Now in its second edition, Teaching and Learning through Reflective Practice is a practical guide to enable all those involved in educational activities to learn through the practices of reflection. The book highlights the power that those responsible for teaching and learning have to appraise, understand and positively transform their teaching. Seeing the teacher as a reflective learner, the book emphasises a strengths-based approach in which positivity, resilience, optimism and high performance can help invigorate teaching, enhance learning and allow the teacher to reach their full potential. This approach busts the myth that reflection on problems and deficits is the only way to better performance. The approach of this new edition is an ‘appreciative’ one. At its heart is the exploration and illustration of four reflective questions: What’s working well? What needs changing? What are we learning? Where do we go from here? With examples drawn from UK primary teacher education, the book reveals how appreciative reflective conversations can be initiated and sustained. It also sets out a range of practical processes for amplifying success. This book will be a must have for undergraduate and PGCE students on initial teacher training programmes. It will also interest practising teachers, teacher educators and those on continuing professional development courses.
This reference tool for mastering reflective practice and initiating it in your school offers ideas for reflective practice alone, with partners, in small groups, and schoolwide.
Introduction to Critical Reflection and Action for Teacher Researchers provides crucial direction for educators looking to improve their teaching and maximise learning. While many students can grasp the basic elements of researching their practice and can write about practitioner research, some need guidance and assistance to reflect meaningfully on their teaching practice so as to articulate their educational values. This book provides this guidance. By exploring how to engage in an authentic, practical and personalised framework, the book encourages critical reflection and action on educational practice. Moving through the process of reflecting on practice, engaging in critical thinking and planning and taking action, it helps the reader to subsequently generate educational theory from their own personal learning. Examples from the authors’ experiences illustrate the issues raised in each section, with ‘Pause and Reflect’ activities, guidelines for conducting a research project and annotated further reading available for every chapter. Introduction to Critical Reflection and Action for Teacher Researchers is based on the idea that reflection is in itself a deliberate action and something we must live - it is key to understanding our practice and is a core component of action research. This book is a valuable guide for teachers, trainee teachers and researchers interested in reflecting on and enhancing their teaching practice.
Teacher education in the United States is changing to meet new policy demands for centering clinical practice and developing robust school-university partnerships to better prepare high-quality teachers for tomorrow’s schools. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS (PDSs) have recently been cited in national reports as exemplars of high-quality school-university partnerships in the clinical preparation of teachers. According to the National Association for Professional Development Schools, PDSs have Nine Essentials that distinguish them from other school-university collaborations. But even with that guidance, working across the boundaries of schools and universities remains messy, complex, and, quite frankly, hard. That’s why, perhaps, there is such diversity in school-university partnerships. For the last thirty years, educators have been fascinated yet puzzled with how to build PDSs. Clinically Based Teacher Education in Action: Cases from PDSs addresses that perplexity by providing images of the possible in school-university collaboration. Each chapter closely examines one of the NAPDS Nine Essentials and then provides three cases from PDSs that target that particular essential. In this way, readers can see how different PDSs from across the globe are innovating to actualize that essential in PDS development. The editors provide commentary, addressing themes across the three cases. Each chapter ends with questions to start collaborative conversations and a field-based activity meant to propel your PDS work forward.
Throughout the world, teacher education is once more in the spotlight. This book focuses on recent trends and experiences in England and Wales, where external pressures have caused tension between the technician model of teacher education, in which teachers learn primarily on the job alongside colleagues, and traditional forms of teacher education based in higher education institutions. This tension superficially replicates an old dichotomy between practice and theory. The contributors to this volume reflect on ideas and attempts to integrate theory and practice. Key questions and themes recur: the balance and relationship between work done in school on the job and work away from the workplace, such as in universities; teacher education as a partnership activity; and the need to critically examine the institutional, cultural, and historical context in which they work.
Based on years of extensive research on teacher development, this book offers a practical introduction to the concept of teacher reflection, demonstrating how student teachers can engage with reflective learning from their teaching and classroom experiences in a systematic and inspiring way. Providing practical models and guidelines for use in the classroom, renowned teacher educators Fred Korthagen and Ellen Nuijten outline various strategies for promoting reflection and illustrate how a deeper form of reflection ・ ‘core reflection’ ・ enhances awareness of professional identity and supports the dismantling of inner obstacles, therefore enhancing social justice and empowering diverse student populations. The authors demonstrate how a trajectory for learning can be designed to develop key competencies, as well as the role played by university- and school-based teacher educators in supporting teachers’ self-directed reflection. Featuring a variety of tools that support professional growth, this unique text demystifies the area of teacher reflection, helping to provide concrete and inspiring examples for how to strengthen professional identity based on everyday challenges faced by practitioners. The Power of Reflection in Teacher Education and Professional Development is therefore an essential guide for students, in-service teachers, and teacher educators alike, as well as for anyone in the helping professions.
