CF+Teacher+as+Reflective

Reflection is deliberate thinking about practice and theory that results in purposeful and well-informed instructional choices (van Manen, 1995). The reflective professional is one who thinks about what s/he is doing and why, and then analyzes the results of doing it in order to make thoughtful and rational decisions about next steps. Becoming a reflective professional is a developmental process (Schön, 1983,1987). The unit employs “bridging experiences” (Barr, Watts-Taffe & Yokoto, 2000) in its courses to involve teacher candidates in “in-depth field experiences with one student” so as to help candidates learn to think carefully about the thought, learning, and interests of individual learners. Candidates also observe and teach in classrooms. They evaluate instructional choices, and demonstrate critical thought and reasoning in journals, case studies, portfolios, autobiographies, field notes, action research, and student work sample analysis.
 * Teacher as Reflective Professional **