Outline #2

Beyond Reflection: Teacher Learning as Praxis - Outline

Purpose: To provide a new vision of ‘Teacher Reflection’ as a tool for learning.

Thesis: Teacher reflection is an important skill for developing pedagogical-content knowledge about how to teach (Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles & Lopez Torres, 2003).

Audience: Class tutor, classmates, other teachers of English, and any other people interested in the subject matter.

I. Teacher practice.
     A. Reflection in school.
           1. Students as “problem posers” (Crawford et al., 1994, p. 174, qt. in Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003)
           2. Meaningful praxis required, (i.e. “the dialectical union of reflection and action”) (Freire, 1972, p.96, qt. in Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003).

II. Reflection and its limits.
      A. Initial teachers’ reflection: characteristics.
      B. Critical perspective on reflection: problems.

III. Critiques on teacher reflection.
      A. Phenomenological Discourse Community.
            1. Scope: The individual and her or his experiences.
      B. Critical Discourse Community.
            1. Scope: Sociopolitical contexts of teaching plus curricular and pedagogical concerns.
      C. Situated Learning Discourse Community.
            1. Scope: Social process embedded in everyday activities in school cultures.

IV. A cultural-historical view of teacher learning as practice.
       A. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).
            1. Activity system: unit of analysis of how reflection is used by teachers.
                   a. Actors in a given situation, artifacts, and human behavior for productive and communicative purposes.
            2. Assistance practices.
                   a. Learning in social practice before being a psychological category.
            3. Mediators.
                   a. Culture, cognitive mechanisms, theories of learning, pedagogical models, spontaneous concepts, virtual environment.
            4. Artifacts: primary, secondary, and tertiary or prolepsis.
                   a. Proleptic practice: “the representation or assumption of a future act as if presently accomplished” (Cole, 1999, p. 89, qt. in Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003).

V. Conclusion.

This new vision of reflection describes it as a metacognitive mechanism and a social practice where the professional is mindful of issues of learning, culture, power and social justice.

References:
-Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved October 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653