"Forcing Me to Reflect": Preservice and Novice Teachers' Reflective Thinking in Varied School Contexts

• In Event: 56.080 - Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: 56.080-4 - Cultivating Reflection Through Inquiry and Research

Abstract

This study examines whether and how a teacher candidate performance assessment can contribute to teacher learning from preparation through the first year of teaching. This study responds to calls for research to better understand teacher learning, and specifically learning through reflective thinking. While reflective thinking is a dominant practice in teacher education, it is unevenly-researched and few studies were uncovered that explore empirically how school contexts impact teachers’ capacity to reflect. This study first offers a conceptualization of “reflective thinking” in teacher education. It then describes the varying degrees to which school contexts impact teachers’ reflective thinking through a multi-method approach involving content analysis of an assessment requiring “reflection,” as well as three cases of learning to teach.

Authors

• Dianna L. Gahlsdorf-Terrell, Saint Anselm College

• Kathryn McCurdy, University of New Hampshire

• Megan L. Birch, Plymouth State University

• Thomas H. Schram, University of New Hampshire

• Page Tompkins, Upper Valley Educators Institute