Enabling and Encouraging Student Teachers Reflective Capabilities through Programme Saturation

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Enabling and Encouraging Student Teachers
Reflective Capabilities through Programme
Saturation 
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• Mark A. Minott Ed.D.
• Assistant Professor Teacher Education Department
• University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI)
• November 12th 2009

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• The premise on which this presentation is built
  is that all student teachers have the capacity to
  reflect or think critically .

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• However, enabling and encouraging their
  reflective capabilities requires a focus on the
  development of their cognitive and affective
  skills.

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This is a process which involves

• Encouraging them to take initiatives
• Nurturing the use of intuition
• Providing opportunities for them to examine and
  utilize personal values and assumptions they hold
  about teaching.

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Reasons to provide opportunities for student
teachers to utilize their reflective capabilities

• To encourage their continued use of reflection on
  entering the teaching profession.
• To develop proponents for the idea of reflection
  and reflective teaching.
• To develop teachers who are autonomous, self-
  directed professionals.

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One way to enable and encourage student teachers
reflective capabilities is to saturate teacher
education programmes with the idea of reflection
and reflective activities.
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Saturation of a programme can be achieved when

• The idea of reflection is prominently featured in
  the philosophical statement which guides the
  programme or department.
• Lecturers talk about and model elements of
  reflective teaching .
• A reflective approach to student observational
  practicum and debriefing exercise is utilised.
• Reflective teaching is a core curriculum subject
  in the programme.
• Teaching activities utilize elements of
  reflective teaching.

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Saturation Strategy 1

• The idea of reflection is prominently featured in
  the philosophical statement which guides the
  programme or department.

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• The Department of Teacher Education is
  committed to the preparation of caring, critical,
  and reflective professionals who are academically
  strong, pedagogically skilled, and responsive to
  the needs of our diverse society. We strive to
  prepare teachers who create classroom and school
  communities where all students learn in
  meaningful ways
• (UCCI Teacher Education Department Practicum
  handbook)

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• Indirectly, this occurrence helps to
  establish in the minds of students the fact that
  reflection and reflective teaching occupies a
  prominent place in the department. ( How?)
• When they read the statement
• When it is referenced and quoted by members of
  the faculty at various times.
• When it is featured prominently on websites in
  brochures and on physical notice boards in the
  department.
• When members of faculty uses the statement as a
  guide to the production and utilization of
  reflective strategies and activities.

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• The philosophical statement and how it is
  utilized and displayed also becomes a part of the
  hidden curriculum.

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Saturation Strategy 2

• Lecturers talk about and model elements of
  reflective teaching.

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• The Association of Teacher Educators (USA)
  (2003) identifies modeling of teaching and ideas
  that student teachers are expected to grasp, as
  the number one standard expected of accomplished
  teacher educators. The point was made that
  effective modeling of desired practices (by
  teacher educators) is central to successful
  teacher education programmes at all levels.

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• Dr Minott took pride in clarifying points and
  bringing messages across in every context, this I
  thought, was extremely important to cement all
  lessons taught. The course was taught effectively
  and reflectively. Yes, there were always
  relevant examples used and points that were
  easily understood. Multiple methods of delivery
  were used for presentation of lectures which
  made them again easy going and teaching aids were
  used effectively
• (B.Ed. Students comment on subject evaluation
  form).

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• While this students quotation helps to
  verify that the course was taught utilizing
  elements of reflective teaching, the actual
  quotation, and the fact that the student thought
  about, and was able to articulate this in
  writing, is an indicator of the utilization of
  reflective capabilities.

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Saturation Strategy 3
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• A reflective approach to student observational
  practicum and debriefing exercise.
• .

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• Observational practicum is an integral aspect of
  most teacher education programmes.
• Usually, this involves pre-service teachers
  observing cooperating/mentor teachers and the
  pre-service teacher being observed by cooperating
  /mentor teacher and the university supervisors.
• This process can take a number of forms
• Peer-observations
• The use of digital video recordings

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• I employ a reflective approach to this exercise
  with student teachers in the teacher education
  department at UCCI.
• The philosophical underpinning for this exercise
  is a combination of the idea of
  reflection-on-action (Schon 1987) and the thought
  that reflective teaching must involve not just
  the questioning of teaching techniques but the
  teachers goals, values, beliefs, assumptions
  about teaching and the teaching context (Zeichner
  Liston 1996).
• .

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• Four questions are employed during debriefing
  sessions
• What is your feeling regarding observation?
• Has the observation caused any changes in your
  beliefs, values and assumptions about teaching?
• What have you learnt about teaching?
• What have you learnt about self as teacher?
• .

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• An analysis of students observation
  debriefing transcripts points to the fact that a
  reflective approach to observational practicum
  and debriefing results in students not focusing
  only on observing the techniques and methods of
  teaching, or on the daily issues teachers face in
  their practice (as important as those are), but
  also on considering self as teacher in relation
  to the teaching practice experience

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Saturation Strategy 4
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• Reflective teaching is a core curriculum subject
  in the programme
• .

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• Reflective teaching has a worldwide appeal, and a
  course in reflective teaching is now a common
  practice in most international universities or
  colleges of teacher education.
• The main aim of the course locally, is to help
  pre-service teachers to develop an understanding
  of the elements of reflective teaching and to be
  able to apply these to their own teaching.
• .

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• At this time in the course, I am on my way to
  being a more reflective teacher/individual. I
  have learnt to view situations from a critical
  standpoint, having a level of openness,
  self-awareness and knowledge of self and a
  willingness to see things from anothers
  perspective. I have become more aware of self,
  the social context in which I teach, the students
  and basically all the various tangents that
  extend from the nucleus of education. I have
  learnt to question the effectiveness of any
  method of teaching I employ and to take into
  consideration the different barriers that would
  cause me to be less reflective. I have adopted an
  evaluative mind whereby I can question, use the
  knowledge I have gained professionally as well as
  personally, and apply new concepts to the
  teaching learning process. I can analyze my
  teaching strategies, the students reactions
  and create a classroom that fosters effective
  learning and teaching
• (Rose, B.Ed student final reflective paper).

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• I have gathered immense information on
  reflective teaching and have really grown in this
  area. I am now a far more reflective person than
  I was a few months ago, prior to my engagement in
  this course. I have grown in knowledge of self-
  experiences, passion, emotion, technical
  knowledge and practical knowledge. This course
  has turned the search light inwards and caused an
  examination of how I have allowed my experiences,
  teaching knowledge and emotions to impact whether
  positively or negatively on my tasks as a
  teacher. It has also deepened my understanding of
  why I react and solve problems in the classroom
  the way I do and provide alternative ways of
  dealing with issues in the classroom
• (Otto, B.Ed student final reflective paper)

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Saturation Strategy 5

• Teaching activities utilize elements of
  reflective teaching.

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Reflective Journaling Allowing students to
reflect on personal beliefs about reflective
teaching
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Reflective Journaling

• Teachers in all programmes are encouraged to keep
  a reflective journal normally over the period of
  a school term. They are expected to record
  significant teaching episode and occurrences they
  experience in their schools.
• Three questions are used to guide journal
  entries what happened, how they felt about the
  happening and more importantly, what they learnt
  from the episode or occurrence.

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• Journals are evaluated using Valli (1997)
  typology of reflection technical, deliberative,
  personalistic (reflection in and on action) and
  critical reflection.
• The underlying idea for using reflective
  journaling as a teaching tool is that engaging in
  the process encourages the improvement and
  development of reflective teaching and
  practitioners.

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Reflecting on personal beliefs
about reflective teaching

• Students in local programmes who are involved in
  a course on reflective teaching are asked to
  provide answers to three questions at the
  beginning and at the end what is your assessment
  of your own reflective thinking/teaching at this
  time? What are the moral principles that guide
  your judgments? What do you need to work on and
  develop in order to become a more reflective
  thinker/teacher?

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• This activity accomplishes two things
• One, it encourages them to reflect and articulate
  in writing their beliefs about reflective
  teaching.
• Two it encourages them to think about ways to
  improve their reflective capabilities.

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Conclusion

• While this presentation clearly points out the
  merits of the individual saturation strategy and
  teaching and learning activities in enabling and
  encouraging students reflective capabilities, it
  is their combined use which resulted in the
  saturation of all programmes with the idea of
  reflection and reflective teaching.

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Questions or Comments
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THANK YOU!
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