Reflection and Teaching

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The Importance of Reflection and Teaching The connection between teaching and reflection originated with Dewey (1933), who viewed reflection as a form open-minded problem-solving. Hatten and Smith (1995) describe reflection as 'deliberate thinking about action with a view to its improvement' (p. 34). The act of reflection is a crucial tool for teacher development, because it helps organize and reorganize their understanding (Alger, 2006). Richards and Lockhart (1994) describe the relationship between teaching and reflection as follows: “Teachers collect data about teaching, examine their attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, and teaching practices, and use the information obtained as a basis for critical reflection about teaching” (p. 1). Wallace (1991) describes reflective teaching as a cycle, that includes reflection on both received knowledge (i.e. learned theory and pedagogy in teacher education programs), and experiential knowledge, (i.e. the classroom experience). Teachers are continually balancing a large amount of stimuli, in which they must take the best action in a given situation, often with incomplete information and very little time, or criteria on which to base the action (Uhlenbeck, Verloop, & Beijaard, 2002). Teaching is very complex, with many different events and experiences occurring at rapid rates. Pre-service education programs need to promote reflection as a way to inform future teaching (Alger, 2006). Hatten and Smith (1995) define reflection as the “deliberate thinking about action with a view to its improvement” (p. 34). References Alger, C. (2006). 'What went well, what didn't go so well': growth of reflection in pre- service teachers. Reflective Practice, 7, (3). August 2006, 287 – 301. Dewey, J. (1933) How we think: a restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process Heath & Company, Boston,
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