How Do I Know What I Think I Know? Teaching Reflection to Improve Practice

While the term reflective practice can be found throughout preservice and professional teacher education courses, this chapter suggests that much of the emphasis on reflective practice in these courses is of a cursory nature, with a focus on superficial provision of answers rather than on the acquisition and practice of processes, techniques, and modeling which encourage deeper knowledge and advanced skills in teaching. This chapter argues that for reflective practice to become internalized, transformative, and embedded in the everyday practices of teachers, a number of elements, currently paid passing attention (if addressed at all), need to become the pivotal foci of teacher education for reflective practice. Based on the author’s experience as a teacher educator working in the field of reflective practice, a number of practical suggestions are made and examples given of perspectives and activities which might contribute to a more profound recognition of the complex nature of reflective practice and its real potential in teacher education.