"Like other professionals, teachers cannot become effective by following scripts. Instead, they need to create knowledge in use as they practice ... knowledge does not exist apart from teacher and context."

Thomas Sergiovanni, Moral Leadership

Reflective Practice:

A New Paradigm for Professional

Development

Equity & Excellence in Higher Education

Agenda

Welcome Definition of Reflective Practice A Critical Incident Protocol Early Outcomes from the

Reflective Practice Demonstration in NH

Implementation Assistance

Reflective Practice:A cognitive process and open perspective

that involves a deliberate pause to

examine beliefs, goals or practices in

order to gain new or deeper

understanding that leads to actions

improving the learning of students.

Typical Professional Development Approach: Focus on AWARENESS

Reflective Practice

Multi Day Training, Courses

One Day Training, Inservices

New Paradigm-Creating Learning Communities: Focus on Application and Synthesis

Reflective Practice

Multi Day Training, Courses

One Day Training, Inservices

In other words...

Reflective Practice is an in-depth conversation open about what we do, how it works, and why we do it…

so that our students are able to learn more effectively in our classrooms

A Foundation of Reflective Practice: Protocols

A set of guidelinesClear role definitionsCommon elements:

Presentation Clarifying and Probing Questions Artifacts Group discussion, excluding presenter Reflection/debrief

Practicing a Protocol: Talking about Teaching and Learning using the critical incident protocol

What is the best (or worst)

experience you ever had in

teaching?

Steps of Brief Critical Incident Protocol

Introduction – 5 minutes

Clarifying questions – 5 minutes

Discussion – 10 minutes

Presenter reaction – 5 minutes

De-brief the protocol – 5 minutes

De-Briefing the Critical Incident Protocol What was the experience like for the

person presenting? For the “consulting” faculty? Even if you didn’t present, what did

you get out of it? What was hard about doing the

protocol? How is it different from an informal discussion?

Reflective practice IS

Non-judgmental

CollaborativeEquitableHelpful

Positively focused

A guide for effective communication

Structured

Reflective Practice is NOT

JudgmentalRequiredHaphazard

Supervision or evaluation

RigidHierarchical

Early Results from NH

“A switch in attitude to OUR students, not YOUR students”.

“We see a greater openness to vary educational practices as a result of feedback from reflective practice groups”.

“There is a greater willingness to use technology to adapt teaching to student’s needs”.

Research Findings

RP groups are more satisfying than other professional development activities because: It is continual It is focused on their own teaching and their

own student’s learning It takes place in a small group of supported

and trusted colleagues within their own school.

(Dunne, Nave and Ellis, Phi Delta Kappan Research Bulletin, 12/2000)

Implementation Assistance

www.unh.edu/EE

Reflective Practice materials: Training and on-going support

A Reflective Practice Toolkit for Coaches

Additional Resources National School Reform Faculty: http://

www.nsrfharmony.org/ videos, on-line “virtual protocols”, articles, links

Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher by Stephen Brookfield

Reflective Practice: Creating Capacities for School Improvement by Montie, York-Barre, Kronberg, Stevenson, Vallejo and Lunders

Thank You!

Cate WeirInstitute on DisabilityUniversity of NH10 Ferry StreetConcord, NH 603-228-2084 (v/tty)cweir@cisunix.unh.edu

Kirsten TilneyInstitute on Disability

University of NH10 Leavitt Lane

Durham, NH603-862-4320

ktilney@cisunix.unh.edu