Reflections on reflection – or the barber shop effect

“Simply being encouraged to reflect is likely to be as meaningful as a lecture on cooperative

group work.” - J. John Loughran

         All joking aside, everyone knows the value of reflection. When you look at anyone who is at the top of their field, you see someone who has learned the value of reflecting on their decisions. This is a personal and varied process, which will depend on what it is you are reflecting on.

         In our program we are encouraged to be reflective, through these blog posts, the e-portfolios, and through various assignments with a variety of word counts. In theory – great! We will be able to examine our practice and become better practitioners. But wait. We aren’t practicing yet. Once we get into classrooms, the ability to be reflective practitioners will be an important part of our professional development, but right now it is feels like a hoop we have to jump through.    

         I am not saying that reflection is useless, but it is a shame that we don’t have more classroom experiences to reflect upon. We can reflect vicariously about classes we have observed, but we are reflecting on other peoples practice, not our own. We need an opportunity to get our hands dirty – to make mistakes. This is where learning happens and where reflection would be at its most useful.

        For example, at the University of Scarborough’s teacher education program, in addition to the 5 week and 8 week practicum, pre service teachers will have 45 or so extra days “to observe school communities and gradually become involved in tutoring, student-teaching, and research-based inquiry experiences.”

           Also, there used to be an internship based teacher education program at Uvic – school work was done during the summer, and they would spend the full school year in the classroom – but this is obviously no longer offered.

           What do you guys think? Would you be encouraged to reflect by having more practical experience?

An Alternative Experience

Hello everyone!

  When I learned that I was going to be placed in an alternative school, I’ll admit, I was a bit unsettled. I had bags of biases. I remembered the ‘alternative kids’ from my own school experience, as well as various stereotypes from movies and popular culture. Basically I was expecting trouble – from students and teachers both.

  I was greeted by an administrator, who immediately made me feel at ease – she was polite, welcoming and she went out of her way to make all of us feel like we were a part of the team. She explained that there were actually three schools within the one: an alternative education program, a learn at home program, and a continuing education program. My teachable areas are social studies and theatre. There are no social studies classes in the continuing education program, and the learn at home students were, well, at home, so that left me with the alternative kids. The alternative program was where I would be spending most of my time, and I was admittedly unsettled. These are supposedly the ‘worst of the worst,’ kids who teachers have nightmares about, but they provided me a huge eye opener. They were funny, generally polite, and definitely considerate. Sure, there were issues, but nothing dramatic, and truthfully, nothing more than you would expect to find in a group of “regular” students.

   Looking around the alternative program, kids are aiming to graduate, not to gain skills. They want out of the system, and not much else. Anything that teachers present that is extraneous or even supplementary to this goal is treated as a problem to be overcome, or to run away from.  That being said, there was no specific class dealing with computers in the alternative program. In fact, despite having computers in almost every room, access to the internet is generally restricted, because of the ample distraction it provides. There are semi-mythical Keyboarding 11, Business Computer Applications 11, Data Management 12 and Business Information Management 12 classes. These classes were offered to continuing education students, subject to demand. They are intended to provide increased employment opportunities to adults who are, for one reason or another, having a hard time getting work. I don’t believe they will be offered until next semester.