Week 3 Reflective Teaching

Series Preface - Chapter Two

Authors Zeichner and Liston stress the fact that education does not occur in a vacuum and that the professional role of an educator goes far beyond that of instruction. They contend that traditional teacher preparation programs fail to prepare teachers for the diverse “social, political, and cultural contexts of schooling.” (p x) They assert that the better understanding a teacher has of their own ideas, opinions, and humanity, the better equipped they will be to confront the broad concerns they will encounter in their profession. Utilizing knowledge gleaned from experience, reflective educators embrace responsibility in terms of improving both their own practice as well as their field.

 Referencing the works of John Dewey and Donald Schon, chapter two introduces the reader to the roots of reflective teaching. Dewey proposed the concept of reflective teaching as being a rounded combination of both intellect and emotion. Dewey defined reflective practitioners as possessing: “open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness.”(p 11) Schon’s work presents a clearer picture of the way reflective action actually looks. He describes the practice of reflection as mindful and cyclic in nature - interpret àframe à reinterpret à reframe. Critics of Schon describe the difficulty of individuals reflecting critically on their own performance and suggest that this examination is of greater value as a collaborative experience. In concluding this chapter the authors reiterate that education does not happen in a vacuum. Truly reflective teachers must be aware of outside influences and the ways these influences affect learning.

 Reflection

I found this week’s short amount of reading to be ever-so-dense. I read it at least five times and each time discovered something valuable that I had overlooked before. It got to the point where I felt as though the authors were speaking directly to me when they wrote, “Certainly there is such a thing as too much thinking…” (p14)

Throughout this reading I could not help but be envious of pre-service and brand-new teachers. Reflective Teaching was definitely not a part of my teacher training education, not in any shape or form! Though I think it is human nature to be reflective, I whole-heartedly agree with the authors when they site Osterman & Kamp, “Because of the deeply ingrained nature of our behavioral patterns, it is sometimes difficult to develop a critical perspective on our own behavior.”(p. 19) I think new teachers have an edge here, going into the field armed with the power and knowledge of what it means to be reflective. It’s more of an old dog, new trick situation here…though, by no means do I view reflective teaching as a trick. I sometimes DO find it a challenge to be critical of my own behavior and can easily rationalize away actions that I’d be quick to criticize in others.

Zeicher and Liston speak of the reflective teacher as a “rejection of top down forms of educational reform that involve teachers only as conduits for implementing programs and ideas formulated elsewhere.”(p 4) If that’s the case, I want to make sure to serve myself an extra-large serving of reflectiveness...let me become a glutton of reflection! I’m tired of being slammed in the face with program, after program.  To me this is a classic example of what Dewey described as routine action. My district places a lot of emphasis on programs that are definitely taken for granted, in the “This is the way we do things at our school” mindset. Though there always seems to be an undercurrent from staff that don’t bite-off on these programs, I think there is a tendency to accept them, there’s little effort and NO encouragement to reframe problems. I can’t help but have the impression that often times these programs are all about how good something looks on paper.

Questions I found challenging, difficult, or inspiring:

I took the liberty of combining these two questions because to me, the first leads into the second - When you think about a classroom problem, do you try to see it from different “angles”? If a student comes to you angry with another student or crying and upset, what is your first reaction? What other reactions might you have? Do you ever react on their gender, race, or social class background?

In the middle of a problem happening I think that I often just react to that problem. It depends on the severity of what it is, who it involves, and what I’m doing at the time. My in-action response is typically to remove the student from the situation, unless blood is involved, until I can investigate more deeply. Then, I speak individually to the involved party / parties. My first question is usually, “What’s going on today?” It’s a low-income military neighborhood school. Behavior issues can frequently be attributed to one or both parents being deployed, being hungry, or some other outside influence. My student population is extremely diverse; I think I respond to all students the same. I sometimes contemplate my limited understanding when it comes to social / cultural norms differing from my own. However, I strive to be impartial.
Other reactions I might have - If I know I have a student likely to receive what I perceive as harsh physical punishment from a parent as a result of an office referral, I am less likely to send them to the office. (I typically only send students to the office only in cases where school policy dictates that I must - physical violence, anything of a sexual nature, or bullying.)
Do you think that teachers should play leadership roles in curriculum development, program development, and school reform or just stick to work in the classroom?
If you have ever been a classmate of mine, you know where I stand on this one; it is a cause near and dear to my heart. Teachers should absolutely, without a doubt, play leadership roles in all of these areas! Reading through the five key features of a reflective teacher on pages 6-7 I had to note that it was #5. Takes responsibility for his or her own professional development that motivated me to #4. Take part in curriculum development and is involved in school change efforts. The more I knew, the more involved I became in change.

In a recent staff meeting, a classroom teacher complained that the district should hire outsiders to write grade level assessments instead of requiring teacher committees to do so. There’s no way I can understand the burden that classroom teachers face, but I had a difficult time comprehending how someone could feel this way. There seems to be a fair number of people with the opinion that education should be based on some sort of magic formula. Send in a blank-slate at the age of five and churn out - check in the box, check in the box, a well-rounded, productive member of society thirteen to seventeen years later. Maybe this was an acceptable, though not without fault, model during the industrial age. But, I digress…The burden of work in the classroom is staggering. Certainly, the easiest thing to do would be to stick to that work. However, I argue, surely no one ever entered the field of education thinking it would be easy. I think the bottom line to keep in mind here is doing what is best for kids. There’s always got to be room for flexibility and freedom because dynamics change continually.
Three Attitudes Integral to Reflection Action
Open-mindedness I think I’m decent at this. I jokingly attribute this to the combination of my zodiac sign being Libra and my birth order being that of first born. I weigh all odds to the point that it’s sometimes exhausting. I’m comfortable with others possessing views which differ from my own.
Responsibility Everything keeps circling back around to my curriculum. I struggle each day with the fact that I’m tied to teaching and assessing something that could be so much more than it is. Whine, whine, whine, I know. I’m seriously having difficulties asking myself, “Are the results good? For whom? And in what ways?” (p 12)
Wholeheartedness At the end of the school year last year I tossed file after file of lesson plans and examples. I didn’t want thirteen years’ worth of elements and principle based lessons tempting me to do that which was easy. (I cringed over some of them!) I refused to waste my student’s time with projects that were not meaningful. I’ve had a few days when I’ve regretted this, but not many. It’s definitely been a test of my commitment, I’m far from perfect, but this was the only way I could, in good faith, go on.
Who wrote my curriculum? My current curriculum was written in 2011 by a team consisting of all ten of the district art teachers. I am sad that it bears my name, as I consider it to be very shallow and limiting. I showed up at the first curriculum writing meeting armed with several books and copies of curriculum that I admired. I spouted Gude quotes and proposed that we write a k-12 meaning filled curriculum. The other teachers hemmed and hawed, that would be “nice”, but it would mean changing everything we already did. They were polite, but seriously angled their chairs away from me and hacked together something that “would be easy to teach.” It’s not up for change for another three years, but I’ve got irons in the fire.  Funny, my current curriculum is not much different from the one of my own school experience which, as I’ve said, was a long, long time ago.
Findings from the first two weeks
Since it’s like a thorn in my side, for now I am selecting two goals that pertain to curriculum. First, since I must teach the current curriculum will seek out ways to make it more meaningful. I try to do this already, but I think I can do better. Secondly, I will continue to work towards changing the curriculum. I think part of this goal is going to involve me meeting with the superintendent of curriculum. He’s a very approachable man, but I think I’ll need to have all my ducks in a row.