About the Book
Very little information about the impact of reflection on teacher performance, teacher retention, and student learning is available in teacher preparation programs. This book provides practical and research-based chapters that offer greater clarity about the particular kinds of reflection that matter and avoids talking about teacher reflection generically, which implies that all kinds of reflection are of equal value. This book addresses five very pertinent concepts: (1) teacher reflectivity in theory and research, (2) teacher reflectivity in teacher education programs, (3) teacher reflectivity with teacher candidates, (4) teacher reflectivity in schools and classrooms, and (5) teacher reflectivity and international perspectives.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Section I: Teacher Reflectivity in Theory and Research
Chapter 3 Reflectivity within the Teacher Research Cycle: Promoting Prospective Teachers' Progress toward an Inquiry Stance
Chapter 4 Purposes and Practices of Reflectivity in Teacher Development
Chapter 5 Reflection as a Social Problem-Solving Process
Chapter 6 The Nature of Reflection: Experience, Reflection, and Action in a Preservice Teacher Literacy Practicum
Part 7 Section II: Teacher Reflectivity in Teacher Education Programs
Chapter 8 Effective Teacher Preparation: Working to Change Dispositions in New Teachers
Chapter 9 Outcomes of Teacher Education Portfolios' Impact on Reflective Thinking:A Review of Discourses
Chapter 10 What We Know and Don't Know about Teacher Reflection
Chapter 11 Facilitating Instructional Differentiation via Teacher Reflections about Desired Constructivist Practices and Current Realities: A Pragmatic Research Model
Part 12 Section III: Teacher Reflectivity with Teacher Candidates
Chapter 13 Analyzing Reflectivity with MAT Teacher Candidates: A Model of Critical Components and Multiple Contexts
Chapter 14 Teacher Reflectivity: Importance, Origins, and Tools to Facilitate
Chapter 15 Examining Teachers' Development through Critical Reflection in an Advanced Master's Degree Program
Part 16 Section IV: Teacher Reflectivity in Schools and Classrooms
Chapter 17 Quality Leaders: Strategies for Guiding Beginning Teachers through Stages of Reflective Practice
Chapter 18 The Role of Inquiry-Oriented Learning Communities and Protocols in Sustaining and Enhancing Teacher Reflectivity throughout the Professional Lifetime
Chapter 19 Using Reflective Journals to Close the Gap between a Vision of Reform and Teaching Practice
Chapter 20 The Role of Professional Teaching Standards in Teacher Reflection
Part 21 Section V: Teacher Reflectivity and International Perspectives
Chapter 22 Lesson-based Discussion and Learning to Teach: Chinese Teachers' Talk about Novice Teachers' Lessons in Teaching Research Groups
Chapter 23 Teacher Reflection: What It Is and What It Does
Chapter 24 The Meno Paradox of Teaching Reflection in Teacher Education
Part 25 Afterword
About the Author :
Edward Pultorak is currently on faculty in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has authored over fifty-five publications, including articles in Kappan, Journal of Teacher Education, and Action in Teacher Education, and he currently serves as coeditor for Critical Issues in Teacher Education.
Review :
This book is an excellent resource for teacher educators who want to prepare teachers who can continue to learn in and from their practice and become better teachers throughout their careers.
Reflection on professional practice is key to improved education examining both the affective dimensions and cognitive outcomes of professional and personal actions. Pultorak and his colleagues provide an in-depth examination of the various dimensions of reflectivity that not only provide new perspectives, but raise critical questions about the role of reflectivity in education. Reflectivity and inquiry have a symbiotic relationship as twin stimulators that strengthen each other through mutual analysis and development. The book provides original research as well as comprehensive summaries of the field, illustrations of reflectivity in practice, and its potential as a driving force in improving education.
Teaching is clearly a complex activity. In this book, The Purposes, Practices, and Professionalism of Teacher Reflectivity, the authors comprehensively examine the learning centered community as a support for the integrated learning and development of P–12 students through inquiry-based practice. Each chapter reflects a common vision of teaching and learning grounded in research and practitioner reflective knowledge. Finally, the authors challenge teachers through effective teacher education to reflect on their own practice, consider school community and family contexts in connecting concepts, and develop protocols to enhance student learning. This book is a must for all educator libraries.
The Purposes, Practices, and Professionalism of Teacher Reflectivity makes a significant contribution to teacher education by addressing directly and unapologetically the importance of the teacher reflectivity throughout the educational process and within teacher preparation programs. The collection of chapters starts with the role of teacher reflectivity in theory and research and ends with a thought-provoking section on reflectivity from an international perspective. Meshed between these sections are chapters that provide new insights and answer long-standing questions about the role of teaching reflectivity within teacher education programs, in the professional growth of teacher candidates, and within P-20 schools and classrooms. The approach taken by the editor and the authors to discuss reflectivity within various contexts contributes to the widespread appeal of the book. The book is well-written and organized in such as a way as to make it a must-have resource for teacher educators, teacher candidates, P–12 teachers and administrators, and anyone else committed to integrating teacher reflectivity into the teaching and learning process.
In The Purposes, Practices, and Professionalism of Teacher Reflectivity, authors make significant contributions to the ongoing conversation in American education about the importance of studying teaching and learning. Teacher reflectivity is a learned practice, and the authors offer important insights about the impacts of reflectivity on various aspects of teacher education. Specifically, the book thoughtfully addresses teacher reflectivity as it relates to theory and research, teacher education programs, teacher candidates, and to schools and classrooms. An additional important emphasis is on teacher reflectivity from international perspectives. Indeed, this volume is an important resource for teacher educators and for others interested in advancing the study of teaching and learning.
This book offers a superb array of literature and research studies around teacher reflectivity. Its coverage is both broad and deep. The research is rigorous and exciting in both range and intensity. I was particularly taken by the historical and critical dimensions that explored teacher reflectivity over time and place. The argument that the work of teachers requires them to be reflective practitioners who can make complex professional judgements based on knowledge of students, pedagogy, curriculum content and teacher research is powerfully presented. Ideas about the 'reflective practitioner' , teachers 'technical rationality', 'practical action' and the importance of 'critical reflection' are vigorously presented through a careful analysis of theory, research and practice in schools and teacher education programs. There are many refreshing ideas and practical ways that teacher reflectivity can be taught and developed in dialogic spaces that show both great wisdom and experience by the writers involved. As a teacher educator I will use this book to enhance my skills in critical reflectivity and to develop my skills to analyse and explore my learning as it shapes and reshapes my world view and the actions I take as a professional educator to work towards reforms in schools, teacher education programs and to critique and act on my work and my world.
I commend this quality publication as a way for professional educators to analyse and work towards researching their work to develop and encourage reflective professionals to engage in critical reflection throughout their entire career. As part of this process professional educators need work towards constructing educational systems that build in the time and place for dialogic spaces for educators to explore, share and develop reflective practitioners to work collaboratively to enhance student learning and teacher performance.
Everyone working in the educational field and interested in teachers' reflectivity should own this book. It situates teacher reflectivity as a provision of methods, tools and practices which can cause an important impact on teacher performance, teacher retention, student learning, teacher education and teachers' professional development. Written in a very accessible way, each of the eighteen chapters studies teacher reflectivity from a different perspective. Theoretical and research viewpoints are discussed, classroom practice and implementation aspects considered, pre-service as well as professional development practices described and the international contexts outlined. Due to the thorough and detailed contribution of all the authors, The Purposes, Practices, and Professionalism of Teacher Reflectivity becomes a self contained and comprehensive reference resource as well as a manual on teacher reflectivity. It will be a useful guide for teaching practitioners, researchers, lecturers, teacher trainers and decision-makers. A real must for all participants in the enhancement and innovation of education today and tomorrow.
Teaching teacher candidates to reflect is a nearly universal aspect of preservice teacher education. The rich collection of chapters that make up this unique book do not simply advocate reflection; however, they use compelling narratives and other data to examine the impact of reflectivity on teachers' and students' learning. Readers will find this engaging book both informative and provocative.
For teacher educators, teacher candidates, classroom teachers, administrators, and researchers, Pultorak (curriculum and instruction, Southern Illinois U. Carbondale) compiles 18 essays by teacher educators in a variety of fields from the US and Europe who consider the role of teacher reflectivity in teacher performance, retention, student learning ,and other aspects of education. Chapters originated in a national commission appointed by the Association of Teacher Educators in 2004 on these issues. The practical and research-based chapters discuss specific types of reflection in theory and research, education programs, with teacher candidates, in schools and classrooms, and from international perspectives like that of Chinese teachers. These include reflectivity as a social problem-solving process, changing dispositions of new teachers, facilitating instructional differences, self-assessment, teacher development, the role of inquiry-oriented learning communities, the use of journals, and the role of teaching standards.
