Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The University of Georgias University-School Partnership for Achievement, Rigor, and Creativity (Project USPARC), was established in Fall 2014 to nurture positive University-School relationships. UGA students and faculty
work alongside teachers and administrators from Stroud Elementary School, a Title 1 Distinguished School with a
John Deweys work in reflective practice marked the onset of reflective teacher
education, which aims to encourage teachers to analyze their reasons behind employing
particular instructional strategies and improve their teaching in order to positively impact
students (Lee, 2005). Rogers (2002) summarized Deweys criteria for reflection as
follows: Reflection
1. Is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the
next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other
experiences and ideas.
2. Is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific
inquiry.
3. Needs to happen in community, in interaction with others.
4. Requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of one-self
and of others (pg. 845)
Critical reflection is a common buzzword in education, but it is imperative to
realize that the reflective process takes both time and effort. As Miziro (1991)
commented: The transformative process always involves critical reflection upon the
distorted premises sustaining our structure of expectations (pg.167). It is essential that
educators encourage students to progress beyond discussion boards and reaction papers,
intertwining reflective thinking into their daily lives. Student comments such as this
experience changed my life, or words cant explain all that I have learned are
encouraging at first glance, but in reality often demonstrate a lack of deep, critical
reflection. It is natural to strive for a sense of clarity and conclusion when describing
References
Brubacher, J.W., Case, C.W., & Reagan, T.G. (1994). Becoming a Reflective Educator.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
271282.
Lee, H. J. (2005). Understanding and assessing pre-service teachers' reflective thinking.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(6), 699-715.
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective
teaching. Teachers College Record, 104(4), 842-866.
Table 1
Types of Assumptions and Illustrations of Corresponding Reflections (Case, Backes, Babu, White, & Jennings, 2012)
Type of Assumption
Example
Reflection that Maintains the Assumption
Narrative: assumptions
regarding the self
Systemic: assumptions
regarding the
Cultural and social systems
in which one lives and
learns
Organizational:
assumptions regarding the
workplace
Moral-Ethical:
assumptions regarding
ethical decision making
Therapeutic: assumptions
regarding feelings and
dispositions