Name of Student: Shane Dalton

Article/Reading
Brookfield, S 1995, Becoming A Critically Reflective Teacher: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

Chapter two
According to Brookfield (1995, p. 28) “critical reflection focuses on
the hunting of assumptions of power and hegemony.” In order to create a
clear understanding of these assumptions Brookfield suggests that we view
ourselves from the outside, looking through many different viewpoints. It is
from this opinion that Brookfield’s four lenses were developed. These four
lenses allow us to view our lives from other perspectives other than our own.
“To become critically reflective, we need to find some lenses that reflect
back to us a stark and differently highlighted picture of who we are and what
we do.” (Brookfield, 1995, pp. 28-29). The four lenses reflect on (1) our
autobiography as teachers and learners, (2) through our students’ eyes, (3)
our colleagues’ experiences and (4) theoretical literature.
Brookfield believes that the first lens of self-reflection is the first step
to becoming reflective practitioners. This lens allows us to gain insight into
how we work. This lens allows us to focus on our past experiences.
Brookfield suggests that the way in which we practice our teaching is not
directly linked with renounced theories, but rather they are linked to past
experiences during their learning experience, one may try to mimic these
experiences to create a better earning environment for their students, or
one may avoid these experiences as they reflect on poor practice or personal
experience.
The second lens Brookfield discusses is that regarding the students’
perspective. Student feedback allows us to gain an insight into the lives of
your students. Feedback from your students informs the teacher as to
whether or not students interpret you actions in the way you intended.
Brookfield states that gaining student feedback can be a difficult task, in that
students need to feel that they can trust the teacher fully before truthfully
providing the teacher with honest and critical feedback. The third lens
focuses on the experiences of our colleagues. Brookfield describes this
experience as “critical mirrors reflecting back to us images of our actions that
often take us by surprise.” (Brookfield, 1995, p. 35) Reflection starts at a
personal level, but as we begin to discuss experiences with our colleagues we
begin to realise that these experiences are shared by other teachers. Perhaps
not an exact replica of our experience but rather similarities that brings a
different perspective to our thinking. This can also be reassuring for a
teacher, that they are not experiencing a problem as an individual but as a
collective unit of people within the teaching profession.
The final lens is concerned with the theoretical literature. The use of
theoretical literature can bring a different perspective to our critical views. It
can open out minds to wider issues surrounding education and broaden the
view of the teacher. Teachers can begin to understand the environment in
which they are teaching.
In conclusion, it is important as an individual to critically reflect using
different lenses in order to gain a whole picture of who they are as teachers
and as to how they teach.
2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

In chapter two Brookfield outlines four lenses that are key to critical
reflective practice. Brookfield’s four lenses have given me a different
perspective on critical reflection. This new understanding of critical
reflection will benefit me throughout my career as a teacher. Previously I felt
that reflection is an action from your own perspective, but it is clear that in
order to reflect effectively one must step outside themselves and witness
themselves from a different perspective “The best way to unearth these
assumptions is to look at what we do from as many unfamiliar angles as
possible.” (Brookfield, 1995, p. 28).
Brookfield’s first lens is described as the “first step on the critical path”
(Brookfield, 1995, p. 29). This step allows us as the teacher to see into our
practice and how we work as educators. Chris Trevitt (2007) describes the
first lens as a “felt‟ experience, one that touches our emotions in a
substantive and remarkably common (shared) way.” Brookfield’s first lens
shares a common element to Gibbs reflective cycle (1988) in that, we look
back at the experience and reflect on what happened and how this made us
feel. Looking back on past experiences as learners and reflecting on our
teaching can paint a picture of how we teach. Both Brookfield and Gibbs
delve deeper into reflection, past the surface and developing a deeper
understanding of ourselves.
Brookfield’s second lens places us in the perspective of the students.
According to (Trevitt, 2007) “Seeing ourselves from our students’
perspectives can lead to many welcome and not so welcome surprises. We
may be reassured: students are interpreting and learning in just the way we
anticipated. Equally, we may be quite startled: with students finding a
plethora of ways to interpret our actions and make meanings where we
anticipated just one”. I Believe that student feedback is vital for teachers to
asses both student knowledge and future lesson planning. During school
placement student feedback will play a vital role in the planning of lessons. It
is an opportunity to assess what strategies are working and which are not.
Ben Miller (2010) suggests “both self-reflection and engaging with student
feedback reveals teaching habits that may need adjustment in the name of
student equity or that can be harnessed for greater impact.”
The third and fourth lenses also have a major role during school
placement, reflective conversations between co-operating, colleagues and SP
supervisors give a different perspective on our teaching. These people have
years of experience in the teaching profession. Engaging in critical
conversations with peer/colleagues can lead to new ideas or solutions to the
similar situations you both have experienced, ideas in which you may have
never thought of. Brookfield explains that “talking to colleagues about
problems we have in common and gaining their perspectives on these
increases out chances of stumbling across an interpretation that fits what’s
happening in a particular situation. A colleagues experiences may suggest
dynamics and causes that make much more sense than the explanations we
have evolved.” According to ben Miller (2010) “An engagement with both
colleagues and scholarly literature supports teachers and also clarifies the
contexts in which they teach.” By viewing our experiences through these
lenses we truly get a deeper critical reflection.
In conclusion critical reflection is a vital to our practice, and how we
evolve as teachers. I believe that Brookfield’s lenses offer a guiding compass
as to how reflection can develop us as teachers, allowing us to take different
perspectives into account.
 3. LIST OF REFERENCES

References
Brookfield, S., 1995. Becomming a critically reflective teacher. San Ftancisco: Jossey-
Bass.
Gaynor, A., 2013 . Gibbs’ (1988) Reflective cycle, s.l.: The Learning Quality Support Unit .
Miller, B., 2010. Brookfield's Four Lenses: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher,
Sydney: The University of Sydney.
Trevitt, C., 2007. What is critically reflective teaching?, University of Oxford: Oxford
learning institute.