The Reflective Teaching Model

12 Reflective Model

Running head: THE REFLECTIVE TEACHING MODEL

The Reflective Teaching Model

Bertranne Abrams-Menko

University College of the Cayman Islands

Introduction

One day a young girl was watching her mother cooking a roast of beef. Just before the mother put the roast in the pot, she cut a slice off the end. The daughter asked her mother why she had done that, and the mother responded that her grandmother had always done it. Later that same afternoon, the mother was curious, so she called her mother and asked her the same question. Her mother, the child’s grandmother, said that in her day she had to trim the roasts because they were usually too big for a regular pot.

Teaching without reflection can lead to ‘…cutting the slice off the roast’ (Farrell 1998). In other words, teaching without reflection can lead to action without reason.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of the concept of the reflective practitioner, define reflective thinking and how it relates to constructivism and metacognition, describe the reflective teaching model, discuss ways to integrate the theory with practice and outline the benefits and limitations of reflective teaching.

12 Reflective Model

Schön and the Reflective Practitioner

Donald Alan Schön was a highly influential thinker in the late twentieth century who developed the theory and practice of reflective professional learning. His works and theories were influenced largely by John Dewey who advocated that learning is dependent upon the integration of experience with reflection and of theory with practice. In education, Dewey felt, greater emphasis should be placed on improving problem solving and critical thinking skills rather than simply memorizing the lesson. Dewey considered the concept of reflection to be a special form of problem solving (Hatton & Smith, 1995).

Schön’s book, “The Reflective Practitioner” (1994), challenged practitioners to reconsider the role of technical knowledge versus ‘artistry’ in developing professional excellence and introduced the concept of reflective practice as a critical process in refining one’s artistry or craft within a specific discipline. Schön felt and argued that skills could not be acquired away from or in isolation of context. These views, which have gained more prominence within the last decade, arose as a reaction to the technical and competency based strategies commonly employed by institutions of higher learning in the 1970s. The belief at the time was that a professional could master the ability to solve problems by acquiring and habitually applying a proven body of knowledge or set of theories and techniques to a given situation. He argued that this position, though perhaps workable in a static society in which social systems remained constant, knowledge relatively stable and dilemmas in life mostly predictable (Hatten, Knapp & Salogna, 2000), discounted other aspects of knowledge acquisition more workable in a fast changing society in which the direction for change could not be predicted (Hatten et al., 2000), and did a disservice to practitioners by helping to create too wide a gap between theory and practice.

Schön (1994), recognized that “thoughtful practice (or reflection)…can become a generator of new knowledge” (as cited in Torbert, 2004) and should therefore be a critical aspect of the training of practitioners, among them teachers. His mission then was to create a new framework of knowledge which values practice above head-knowledge, deals with tacit or unspoken knowledge and skills in a helpful way, and which shows how reflection enables the practitioner to continuously develop and extend the knowledge available to their profession.

Others like Professor David Boud, David A. Kolb (Experiential Learning) and Jack Mezirow (Transformative Learning) supported this idea that effective learning could not occur unless you reflect and that reflecting was an essential element of learning.

Reflective Thinking, Constructivist Theory and Metacognition

Reflective Thinking

There are numerous definitions of reflective thinking in the literature. Generally however, they refer to the intentional action of the individual in light of his or her experiences, leading to a new conceptual perspective or understanding.

Boud (1985) describes reflection as a generic term for those intellectual and effective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to a new understanding and appreciation. Reflection is a forum of response of the learner to experience. Reid (1993) defines reflection as “a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyze, evaluate and so inform learning about practice.” Dewey (1933) says reflection is “an active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (as cited in Allin & Tuncock, 2007). Reflective thinking, Dewey said (1933), means “turning a subject over in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive consideration. It enables us to act in deliberate and intentional fashion” (as cited in Kilpatrick, Hart, Najee-ullah & Mitchem, n.d.).

Applying these definitions to the practice of teaching, reflective teaching can therefore be defined as a systematic, active, cyclical process of carefully examining ones beliefs, values, assumptions and reasons for action in light of some problem or event which generates learning or changes and improvements in one’s teaching. Richards (1990) sees reflection as a key component of teacher development, helping to move teachers from being guided largely by “impulse, intuition or routine, to a level where their actions are guided by reflection and critical thinking.” Richards continues by saying that “critical reflection refers to an activity or process in which experience is recalled, considered and evaluated, usually in relation to a broader purpose. It is a response to a past experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for evaluation and decision-making and as a source for planning and action” (as cited in Farrell, 1998). Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional development which begins in the teacher’s context or the classroom.

Constructivist Theory

Constructivism is the theory of how people learn where learning happens as the student constructs or builds knowledge or skills. The formalization of this theory is generally attributed to Jean Piaget who suggested that people learn or construct new knowledge from their experiences through a process of assimilation, (that is, fitting new experiences into what they already know), and accommodation (that is, reworking one’s understanding of the way the world works to fit new experiences). According to Piaget, “accommodation can be understood as the mechanism by which failure leads to learning: when we act on the expectation that the world operates in one way and it violates our expectations, we often fail, but by accommodating this new experience and reframing our model of the way the world works, we learn from the experience of failure.” (“Wikipedia” 2007)

From the definition of reflective thinking and constructivism it can be seen that assimilation and accommodation – reframing and learning - occur during the process of reflective practice. In the same way the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct new knowledge from their experience; Schön argues that the process of reflective thinking generates new knowledge.

Metacognition

Livingston (1997) says that “Metacognition refers to higher order thinking which involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning”. In other words, metacognition is not just about the process of knowing, but involves thinking about the process of knowing, reflecting on one’s cognitive experiences or “thinking about thinking”. The distinction between cognitive knowledge and metacognitive knowledge lies in how information is used. An individual uses cognitive strategies to help them achieve a particular goal. For example, a teacher will use cognitive strategies – thinking about and applying knowledge bases – to develop, plan and execute a lesson. On the other hand, metacognitive strategies are used to ensure that the goal has been reached. For example, the same teacher would employ metacognitive strategies as a means of determining or ensuring that the lesson did indeed achieve its intended purpose and if not, why not.

Roberts and Erdos (1993) indicate that metacognitive experiences usually precede or follow a cognitive activity. They often occur when cognitions fail…such an impasse is believed to activate metacognitive processes as the learner attempts to rectify the situation. (as cited in Livingston, 1997)

Reflective thinking therefore, is a tool for ongoing and dynamic professional development, is based on constructivism and is metacognitive in nature.

The Reflective Teaching Model

In 1997, Regina Hatten adapted Argyris and Schön’s ‘Single and double-loop learning’; Montgomery’s ‘Meta model of learning’ and ‘Reflective learning process model’ to illustrate the Reflective Teaching Model. (Figure 1)

The process begins in the framework of the ‘single loop learning’ (1). Within this loop, the teaching practitioner plans a lesson, carries out or experiences the lesson, makes observations about the lesson and reflects (2) on the lesson. Although reflection takes place here, it is not transformative and keeps the practitioner within the same predictable loop. In other words, assimilation takes place but not accommodation and the thinking remains on a cognitive level. From this reflection evaluation – patterned on previous experience and proven solutions – takes place and the practitioner continues along the same path borne of habit. However, when an habitual action guided by tacit knowledge, previous experiences or proven solutions do not produce the usual expected results, the teaching practitioner faces a problem (5) or a dilemma in experience. Something now has happened – perhaps an unusually disruptive or passive response to a tried and true teaching technique – that triggers the use of metacognitive strategies. The teaching practitioner is now operating within the framework of double loop learning. The practitioner begins the process of gathering data, describing and documenting information (naming) in order to properly re-construct the problem (framing). This process of thinking through what happened and why may happen in the moment - Reflection-in-action (10) and allow the teacher to adjust his or her methods ‘on the spot’ or may happen after the event (Reflection-on-action) both leading to a paradigm shift (8) or a new way of thinking and being which then determines the next move or new plan (9) and the cycle repeats.

Integrating Theory and Practice

By showing that new knowledge, new thinking and professional development can only be generated within the double-loop framework; the reflective teaching model presents a framework within which the teacher practitioner can engage in reflective thinking. The model can be used by teacher training institutions in designing the conceptual framework for teacher education. It can be used by teacher educators as a means of professional development, in order to model the practice of reflective teaching and also to train the teacher student to be a reflective practitioner. The reflective teaching model then can be employed by the beginning teacher as a means of ongoing education and professional development.

Techniques used to Support a Reflective Teaching Approach

In his book “Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher”, Stephen Brookfield (1995), asserts that the teacher must use four critically reflective lenses in order to be successful in becoming critically reflective (as cited in King & Hibbison, 2000). These lenses are: (1) the lens of the teacher or that of self-reflection: here the practitioner can use such techniques as self-assessment, self-observation via the use of video or audio tapes, learning journals, portfolios, reflective essays, narratives, critical incident analysis (which involves the documentation and analysis of a teaching incident in order to learn from it and enhance practice) or biographies as a means of reflective thinking. These methods can be used by the teacher educator to help teacher students or by the in-service teacher to reflect upon and improve practices. These methods help the teacher to create an account of their teaching activity over a period of time. They include a reflective component because a teacher must reflect on what worked well (or didn’t work well) and why in deciding what to include or exclude. (2) the lens of the student: here the practitioner uses techniques such as direct student feedback, questionnaires or group discussions to collect data required for reflection. (3) the lens of a peer or colleague: the practitioner can utilize techniques such as peer mentoring or peer coaching, peer or supervisor observation and action learning. In peer mentoring teachers work together to support each other through the planning and teaching process and focused reflection on teaching methods. Periods of debriefing are generally included in this method. In peer observation, colleagues observe and provide feedback on performance that can aid in personal and professional development. According to the UK Centre for Legal Education (n.d.), it also reinforces the idea that teaching is about dialogue and learning from experience. Through action learning, colleagues learn from each other by working on real problems and reflecting on their own experiences. (4) the lens of theoretical literature which may provide an alternative interpretive framework for a situation. Teacher education requires input from ‘vicarious’ experiences, without it reflection runs the risk of remaining descriptive without becoming analytical (Farrell, 1998). These vicarious experiences can be had through the reading of professional journals, book publications of case studies and relevant works of fiction and non-fiction.

Other techniques that can be used to encourage the practitioner to think about what they know, what they don’t know and how they might develop skills to fill the gap include case discussions, where several teachers come together to discuss teaching vignettes and explore various perspectives about teaching (Kilpatrick et al., n.d.).

To integrate the reflective teaching model into practice, the institution, teacher educator, teacher student or in-service teacher must determine which technique or techniques used to support a reflective teaching approach they should employ. This they can do by carefully examining the available financial and time resources; by considering the appeal of a particular technique based on the ethos of the institution or the character of the individual and by taking into account the context – both the narrow context of the department or institution as well as the wider cultural, social and political environment.

Benefits and Limitations of the Reflective Teaching Model

Reflective teaching positively affects professional growth and development because it leads to greater self-awareness, leads to new knowledge about professional practice and leads to a broader understanding of the problems that confront practitioners. According to Brookfield (1995), other benefits of reflection to the arena of teaching include increased probability that teachers will take informed actions that can be explained and justified to others, enabling teachers to provide a rational behind their practice. This can be crucial in establishing credibility with students, helping teachers to avoid taking blame for students not learning, emotionally grounding teachers, enlivening the classroom by making it challenging, interesting and stimulating for students, increasing democratic trust as a result of the examples and modeling conveyed by the teacher. (as cited in King & Hibbison, 2000)