The role of reflection on preservice teachers’ development in the context of a professional development school

As a faculty member teaching in an innovative, two-year Master's of Teaching program, I found myself reexamining my beliefs and assumptions about the role of reflection in preparing preservice teachers to become reflective practitioners. In the first semester of a four semester program, I introduced a three-part reflective framework (Loughran, 1995, Windows into the thinking of an experienced teacher. A paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, April.) designed to guide the preservice teachers in systematically reflecting on their lessons before, during and after teaching. The preservice teachers, mentors and I practiced and used the reflective framework for three semesters. In the fourth semester, during which preservice teachers taught in a paid internship position, I conducted individual interviews with the preservice teachers (interns) to explore their understanding and use of reflection. The results of the study suggest that use of the framework helps develop preservice teachers who actively think about their practice to improve their teaching and their students’ learning. Implications for using the reflective process in teacher education programs, particularly in professional development school contexts, are discussed.     

A Structure to Enable Preservice Teachers of Mathematics to Reflect on Their Teaching

This article presents a conceptual framework for studying the relationship between cognition and instructional practices of preservice secondary mathematics teachers. It describes how the framework was used as a basis for activities in which preservice teachers engaged in structured reflection on their teaching as a means towards their professional growth. The approach required student teachers to engage in both prelesson and postlesson reflective activities. These activities are described, and details of two cases are given. This article demonstrates how this approach can facilitate the progression of preservice teachers' pedagogical techniques and conceptions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Preservice teachers’ expressed awarenesses: emerging threads of retro-spection of learning and pro-spection of teaching

In this paper, we report an enquiry into elementary preservice teachers’ learning, as they engage in doing mathematics for themselves. As a group of researchers working in elementary Initial Teacher Education in English universities, we co-planned and taught sessions on growing pattern generalisation. Following the sessions, interviews of fifteen preservice teachers at two universities focused on their expressed awareness of their approach to the mathematical activity. Preservice teachers’ prospective planning and post-teaching evaluations of similar activities in their classrooms were also examined. We draw on aspects of enactivism and the notion of reflective “spection” in the context of teacher learning, tracing threads between preservice teachers’ retro-spection of learning and pro-spection of teaching. Our analysis indicates that increasing sensitivity to their own embodied processes of generalisation offers opportunities for novice teachers to respond deliberately, rather than to react impulsively, to different pedagogical possibilities. The paper contributes a new dimension to the discussion about the focus of novice elementary school teachers’ retrospective reflection by examining how deliberate retrospective analysis of doing mathematics, and not only of teaching actions, can develop awarenesses that underlie the growth of expertise in mathematics teaching. We argue that engaging preservice teachers in mathematics to support deliberate retrospective analysis of their mathematics learning and prospective consideration of the implications for teaching can enable more critical pedagogical choices.

     

Development of a performance assessment task and rubric to measure prospective secondary school mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills

The purpose of this paper is to share a performance assessment task and rubric designed to assess secondary school mathematics preservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills. The assessment task and rubric were developed in collaboration with five education faculty, four arts and sciences faculty, and four high school teachers over a period of one year. Over this period, the group met more than 15 times and designed an assessment task and rubric to measure secondary school preservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills. The assessment task and rubric were piloted at the end of the year and extensively revised using the pilot data. The redesigned task and rubric were successfully carried out in the second and subsequent years. Other teacher education programs can benefit from this assessment of teacher candidates’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills.     

Balancing Teacher and Student Roles in Elementary Classrooms: Preservice elementary teachers’ learning about the inquiry continuum

Using the National Research Council's inquiry continuum framework, we use a multiple-case study research design to investigate the teacher- and student-directedness of elementary preservice teachers’ planned and enacted science lessons and their pedagogical reasoning about science instruction during a semester-long science methods course. Our specific research questions were (1) What ideas do elementary preservice teachers bring to a science teaching methods course about the inquiry continuum? and (2) How do their ideas about the inquiry continuum change over the course of the semester through engaging in planning, enactment, and reflection upon science instruction? Participants’ course artifacts (journals, reflective teaching assignments, and lesson plan rationales), interviews, and field observations of their enacted science lessons served as data for this study. Findings show that although the preservice teachers began the semester defining inquiry as highly student-directed, their ideas and definitions broadened over the course of the semester to include and embrace more teacher-directed forms of inquiry. Their early science lessons were more student-directed but, as they encountered challenges engaging in inquiry-based instruction and increasingly emphasized students’ learning needs, they began to plan and enact lessons that were more teacher-directed. Teacher education programs need to explicitly emphasize these variations of inquiry as a core component of supporting preservice teachers’ learning to teach science as inquiry.     

University supervisors and preservice teachers: Clarifying roles and negotiating relationships

Abstract

We focus on the preservice teacher‐university supervisor relationship within the context of field experiences to explore the general question, “How can we, as university teacher educators, better assist preservice teachers in their development through field experiences?” Our discussion is based on: reflective accounts of preservice teachers written before, during, and following periods of field experience; our experiences as teachers and teacher educators, which include being faculty supervisors; and on research on the role of the university supervisor in field experiences. We first describe some typical perceptions associated with the preservice teacher‐university supervisor relationship, and then go on to suggest some specific ways to enhance the understanding that preservice teachers have of the roles of university supervisors and, hence, to facilitate the negotiation and development of productive preservice teacher‐university supervisor relationships.     

Irish student teachers’ beliefs about self,learning and teaching: a longitudinal study

This paper explores the beliefs about self-as-teacher, learning and teaching of preservice elementary teachers during a three-year undergraduate programme. Using a qualitative grounded theory analysis, the study examined the initial beliefs or personal theories of 27 preservice teachers during their first Semester. Longitudinal data were gathered from 7 of these students over the three-year duration of their teacher education programme through iterative interviews and reflective journal analysis. The findings demonstrate expansion in preservice teachers’ understandings of the teacher’s role, the value of reflective practice, the differential needs of learners and approaches to pedagogy. Findings point to lacunae in preservice teachers’ capacity for critical reflective practice and demonstrate how classroom management concerns can cause preservice teachers to adopt more cautious and traditional pedagogical approaches, despite their espoused commitment to child-centred principles.     

The reflection integration model: A process for facilitating reflective learning

Abstract

One of the goals of teacher education is to develop each preservice teacher into a reflective educator. A reflective educator is a lifelong learner who perceives every experience as an opportunity for growth, change, and development of understanding. As a result of our teaching experiences in the College of Education, we have developed a process that helps students become reflective learners. In this article we discuss this process, the Reflection Integration Model (RIM). The four components of the model are (a) pre‐experience, (b) experience, (c) reflection, and (d) integration. While the model is germane to any experiential‐based learning, in this article it is applied to a field experience for preservice teachers.     

Deepening our reflectivity

Abstract

During the last 15 years, a body of literature has developed that centers around “teacher reflectivity.” Teachers reflect deeply on the biographical, political, and pedagogical influences that led them to become teachers and that influence their classroom practice. Advocates of teacher reflectivity claim that both preservice and inservice teachers can thereby improve their practice and deepen their understanding of themselves as teachers. Although biographical, political, and pedagogical reflectivity are powerful tools, teacher reflectivity would be even stronger if it included “spiritual reflectivity.” With spiritual reflectivity (with or without a formal religious commitment), teachers see themselves and their work as a teacher in the broader context of their unique commitment(s) to a transcendent power or process that includes biographical, political, and pedagogical influences, but also transcends them.     

Dialogue in the support of learning to teach: a case study of a mentor/mentee pair in a teacher education programme

In this paper, we examine the role of reflection in teacher preparation, specifically within a mentoring relationship between cooperating and preservice teacher. We report findings from a case analysis of this pair who engaged in problem-posing dialogue within pre- and post-conferences around practice over one year of their work together in an elementary-level classroom. The context is an innovative programme in which cooperating teachers pursue their Master’s degree while undergraduates (preservice teachers) complete their elementary education degrees. Our analysis of talk about teaching during six coaching cycles as well as supporting documents illustrates how Jane’s mentoring supported reflective practices and disrupted a notion of a field experience as simply a place to ‘practice’ pedagogical knowledge with corrective feedback. Additionally, we explore the tensions in this approach to mentoring. This case study has implications for teacher educators who seek to bolster teacher preparation through the support of mentoring relationships.     

The reflective journal: A window to preservice teachers' practical knowledge

Following the work of Schön (1983) “reflection” as a way in which teachers construct the meanings and knowledge that guide their actions in the classroom has become something of a buzz word in education. I believe that reflection is more intellectually challenging than is generally recognised and that too little assistance is provided to teachers to help them observe, think through, reconstruct, and deeply understand the process of personal theory building. In addition, preservice students have developed a pattern of focusing on what they feel they are supposed to say in order to please supervisors and lecturers. This paper outlines one approach to developing preservice teachers as reflective practitioners.     

Evidence of Science and Engineering Practices in Preservice Secondary Science Teachers’ Instructional Planning

There is a current national emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Additionally, many states are transitioning to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which encourage teachers to incorporate engineering in science classrooms as well as have their students learn science by doing science. Methods courses are also shifting to adequately prepare preservice science teachers in these areas. This study examines preservice science teachers’ pre- and post-ideal inquiry-based lesson plan scenarios before and after intervention in their Secondary Science Methods I and II courses. These preservice science teachers participated in a variety of opportunities to practice authentic science inquiry (ASI) pedagogical techniques as well as integrated STEM topics, with a particular emphasis on computer programming throughout their 80 h of Methods instruction. ASI is a type of inquiry where students learn science by conducting science research in a grade-appropriate manner. Thirty-eight preservice teachers’ scenarios were analyzed using a rubric from Spuck (2014) to determine the degree to which the ten components of ASI were included in scenarios pre- to post-instruction. Trends in ASI component inclusion are discussed. These findings indicate that preservice science teachers are proficient at writing inquiry-based lessons where they planned opportunities for their future students to collaborate, use scientific instrumentation, and collect and analyze data, but need additional support with developing student activities where students create testable questions, revise their question and methods, participate in peer review, and disseminate their results to their peers or the larger scientific community. Overall, the results suggest Methods instruction should reinforce preservice teachers’ focus on planning lessons which include opportunities for all ASI components. Interventions in the aforementioned areas of weak inclusion may be beneficial to preservice teachers.     

Building a bridge between Western and Eastern worlds: reciprocal learning programmes that create reflective practice,hope and prosperity in education

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the Reciprocal Learning Programmes between Western and Eastern educational systems through a Sister School project as well as, a Reciprocal Learning Programme through preservice programs between a Canadian university and a Chinese university. Benefits of the Reciprocal Learning Programs include reflective practice of content and pedagogical learning, cultural and societal learning, globalisation and emotional and social impact. Qualitative documentation demonstrates that educational, social and cultural dimensions are cultivated and nurtured through the Reciprocal Learning programs and have positively affected the students, educators and leaders involved in the project. Criteria for success in the programs included professional and personal commitment, educator inquiry, vulnerability, organisational commitment and multi-dimensional partnerships.     

The impact of an international field experience on preservice teachers

This study addresses the question, “What is the impact of an international field experience on preservice teachers?” and corroborates many of the findings of a similar study by Willard-Holt [(2001). The impact of a short-term international experience for preservice teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 505–517]. In May 2005, 15 teacher education students from the US completed a 4-week international practicum, working in the classroom with teachers and students at a private international primary through secondary (K12) school in Rome, Italy. Data include preservice teachers’ reflections and comments collected from their personal journals, focus groups with supervisors, observation notes, a final reflection paper, course evaluations, and a questionnaire completed 1 year after the experience to assess any lasting impact the trip may have had on them as individuals and future teachers. While there were a few negative experiences, the results indicate that overall the benefits included both professional and personal changes, such as increased confidence, a better appreciation and respect for differences of others and other cultures, and an awareness of the importance that feedback and reflection play in professional and personal growth. The article concludes with recommendations on how to improve such experiences to enhance the personal growth and cross-cultural competency of preservice teachers.     

职前教师协作写作中反思能力发展轨迹研究——基于认知网络分析法

反思是促进教师专业发展的重要能力。因此,越来越多的教育工作者关注职前教师反思能力的培养。然而,由于反思的过程具有不可见性,使得追踪职前教师的反思能力发展轨迹十分困难。认知网络分析(ENA)提供了一种量化定性数据中认知框架元素之间关系的方法。该文分析了30名职前教师在完成两个阶段协作脚本写作任务后的反思日记。基于ENA,探究在线协作写作中职前教师反思类型及元认知策略之间的关系,并追踪其反思能力发展轨迹。研究发现,在活动过程中,职前教师整体反思能力发展呈上升趋势。一开始,职前教师的反思主要集中在对小组内容的描述;在完成协作写作活动之后,则转向对小组方法的讨论和个人收获的评价与总结。研究结果揭示了协作写作活动中职前教师的反思能力发展轨迹,为后续开展教师反思能力培养提供了参考。     

Integrating Technology in Physical Education Teacher Education: A Socialization Perspective

ABSTRACT

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs are encouraged to develop teachers capable of delivering technology integrated learning experiences. Technological pedagogical content knowledge provides a framework for integrating technology into teacher education programs. Occupational socialization theory describes an educator’s recruitment, training, and socialization in the teaching profession. The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual framework for helping preservice physical educators develop technological pedagogical content knowledge that is grounded in occupational socialization theory. We specifically recommend a four-phase approach to help preservice teachers (a) build their knowledge and learn to value technology in physical education, (b) observe and explore through instructor modeling and integration, (c) experiment and collaborate with mentoring and scaffolding, and (d) discover through innovation and utilization. These suggestions acknowledge the sociopolitical aspects of learning to teach with technology and implications are discussed along with the need to help preservice teachers transfer technology integration into their professional careers.     

Inservice Teachers Mentoring Aspiring Teachers

This qualitative study examined the impact of mentoring relationships upon preservice and inservice teachers' literacy instruction. Twenty-two undergraduate students seeking teacher certification were assigned in pairs to tutor primary school students in a university reading clinic. Eleven classroom teachers seeking reading specialist certification conducted ten mentoring sessions with each pair of preservice teachers. Purposeful sampling was used to select three of the mentoring teams for data analysis. In two out of three teams, results indicated that preservice teachers expanded their instructional strategies as a result of three components of the mentoring relationship: selection of strategies, organization, and non-judgmental support. All inservice teachers reported increased reflection on and adaptation to their instructional strategies. Findings support the conclusion that early mentoring experiences foster growth for both preservice and inservice teachers.