This paper focuses on the development and validation of survey tools that help teachers engage in a guided reflection process. The guided reflection process assists teachers at all levels, kindergarten through college, to reflect on (1) their own beliefs and practices; (2) how these practices are perceived by their students; and (3) the impact of…

Teachers who use a dialogic approach to teaching and responding to student writing view their comments as a conversation with the students. They view writing in relation to the larger context of writing--the type of writing, the audience and purpose, and the conventions of the writer's community. When responding to student writing, a teacher's…

The changing world requires an improvement in school education, part of which involves the creation of self-renewing educational organizations to assist that implementation. This paper argues that the quality of teacher education can help to produce these self-renewing organizations and describes East Carolina University School of Education's…

This paper presents a model of adult reasoning that is consistent with a set of related psychological theories of learning known collectively as constructivism. Three general factors comprise the model: (1) personal epistemology (defined as beliefs about learning, dispositions toward thinking, and assumptions about knowledge itself); (2) sustained…

Research suggests a strong association between the existence of professional learning communities within schools, increases in the effectiveness of practice, and improvement in student achievement. This paper describes the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), a professional development program at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at…

The paper describes efforts to support the development of reflective practice at a basic school in Brno, the Czech Republic. The aims, structure, content and methods are mentioned, as well as some preliminary results. Also, the authors suggest a few preconditions of the success of possible future actions. The specific case is seen from the…

The purpose of this exploratory case study is to describe efforts made to encourage reflection, interaction, and collaboration for educational innovation and professional growth in three contexts where interactive information and communication technology (ICT) was introduced. The study is framed in adult learning theory (Knowles, 1980; Merriam,…

The impact of surface and reflective teaching and learning on students' academic success was studied with 178 students in grades 6 through 8 at a middle school in Tennessee. Students were surveyed to determine their experiences in the classroom with regard to surface or reflective teaching in their Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social…

This paper outlines a way of connecting theory and reflective practice in mathematics teacher education. The construct of personal theories is put forward as an innovative pedagogical tool for connecting theory to practice through reflective writing. The cognitive process of "noticing and naming" emerged as way of theorising practice and helped to…

This paper describes an alternative methodology used to study students' constructions of meaning as they engage in a curriculum-making project while taking "Global Perspectives," a foundational graduate preservice teacher education course at Pace University, New York. Global Perspectives offers opportunities to explore the power of…

This paper grew out of the collaborative relationship that emerged from in-class modeling of student-centered writing approaches as participating teachers and a consultant/researcher began to explore ways to increase the length of fourth-grade writing. The paper reports on a small study in fourth-grade writing aimed at increasing the length of…

This paper presents descriptive research comparing levels of cognitive and reflective development among preservice and inservice teachers. A question about the effectiveness of the state educational reform law was used to collect data identifying student reflection levels. The question was presented as a written assignment to undergraduates in an…

This paper reports on an action research study on the use of reflective practice by a teacher educator. It highlights how the teacher educator co-constructed knowledge with a doctoral student within reflective environments, examining teaching practices, and analyzed dialogic perspectives. Using journals as a primary means of reflection allowed the…

This paper examines issues related to reflective teaching, noting its role in teaching in general. The first section surveys the literature on reflection, exploring reflection from different angles as it applies to teaching and noting that these angles comprise a single concept of reflection. The rest of the paper examines what reflection is, in…

The purpose of this ongoing project is to establish a model for school-based teacher development for secondary science and mathematics teachers in Taiwan. The model uses an action research approach with emphasis on constructivist perspectives of teaching and learning and the idea that teachers are to be taken as researchers and reflective…