An effective Mathematics teacher is a Reflective Practitioner

An effective Mathematics teacher is a Reflective Practitioner

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  ADVANCED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIESOF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (MTE 812) M.Phil. MATHEMATICS EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA FACULTY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION ASSIGNMENT QUESTION AN EFFECTIVE MATHEMATICS TEACHER IS A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER, DISCUSS. Student’s Name: CHRISTOPHER OWU-ANNAN Student ID: 202136033 Course Lecturer: PROF. C.K. ASSUAH Date of Submission 11th MARCH, 2021
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  INTRODUCTION Teaching is anact of thoughtfulness, that is teaching means being continuously thoughtful about how to support the learning of others, as well as your own. Thoughtful teachers engage in reflective practice as a way to continually develop and implement curriculum that is personally meaningful and culturally relevant to students. Reflection is gradually becoming a basic necessity in teacher education programme throughout the world (Hatton & Smith, 1995). Reflection is one of the crucial aspects of teaching -learning process that helps the teachers to analyse their own practices and improve upon them. In fact reflecting on different aspects of teaching is fairly instinctive for most of the teachers. We all try to evaluate our teaching, especially, when faced with a dilemma related to a particular session and try to work out on the changes required for the next session. The year 1975 witnessed a visible shift towards the perception of teachers from decision makers to reflective professionals who construct meaning (Clark, 1986; Schon, 1983). Over the years that followed, reflection was considered as generic component of good teaching. So what is reflection and what are the methods that promote reflection among Mathematics teachers? The terms reflection and reflective thinking, however, include a wide range of concepts and strategies. Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Solomon and Buddha followed reflective practices, but, Dewey can be said to be the originator of this term in the 20th century, though the term took very different shape later on due to unfolding of the mystery of this term by researchers and thinkers. The earliest work in the area of reflection undertaken by Dewey (1916) provided a foundation for many current theories. Reflection is defined by Boud, Keough and Walker (1985) as “those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations” (p.19). Reid (1993) considered it as an active process of “reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyze, evaluate and so inform learning about practice.”(p.3).We may summarize that reflection is a process
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  whereby the learnerrecalls and analyses his/her own experiences to arrive at some informed decisions. Reflective thinking may, therefore, be summarized as making informed and logical decisions on educational matters and then assessing the consequences of those decisions. It is a process that involves more than rational and logical problem solving efforts. It also involves intuition, emotion and passion etc. It is performative since the act of reflection can result in some improvement in practice (Biggs, 1999). It may be expected that it leads to some action and change which is a presumptive feature of reflection. Reflective Teaching is a means of ‘’looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works - a process of self-observation and self-evaluation’’ (Tice, 2011). Reflective practice involves an objective analysis of the evidence on competing versions of events. Rodgers(2002. P 845) summarized Dewey’s four criteria of reflection as follows: •Reflection is a meaning making process that moves the learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationship and connections with other experiences and ideas. •It is systematic, rigorous and disciplined way of thinking with its roots in scientific inquiry. •It needs to happen in community, in interaction with others. •Requires attitude that values personal and intellectual growth of oneself and others It is a process of thinking whereby we consciously think about something to clarify our understanding about it. It includes noting the relationship between things, and analyzing and synthesizing the relationships. In other sense reflection may be considered as a means of developing better understanding about oneself and for others. Reflection leads to the process of reflective thinking which may be defined as the act of thinking rationally or critically. Reflective practice is the capacity to action so as to engage in the process of continuous learning. Reflective practice involves paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions by examining practice reflectively and reflexively.
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  A key rationalbehind reflective practice is that experience alone does not necessarily leads to learning; deliberate reflection on experience is essential. BENEFIT TO REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 1. Increased learning from an experience or situation 2. Promotion of deep understanding 3. Identification of personal and professional strength and area for improvement 4. Identification of educational needs 5. Acquisition of new knowledge and skill 6. Could act as a source of feedback 7. Further understanding of own beliefs, attitudes and values REFLECTIVE STRATEGIES Many schools of education incorporate reflective teaching strategies as means for student teacher to learn how and why they teach. Reflective teaching strategies can also be used by teachers in the classroom who wish to enhance their teaching skills. Educators who teach reflectively use one or several of the following strategies. 1. Keep a teaching journal or diary 2. Collaborative journal writing 3. Create and utilize self-assessment forms 4. Video tape their work in the classroom 5. Ask peer to review their work 6. Work with mentor 7. Read and Utilize student assessment.
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  The following arethe main Reflective Strategies a. Concept maps b. Portfolio writing c. Brainstorming d. Journaling e. Problem Solving Concept Maps A concept map typically represents ideas and information as boxes or circles, which connects with labeled arrows in downward branching hierarchical structure. The relationship between concepts can be articulated in linking phases. Portfolio Writing The two essential pedagogical elements in the process of writing portfolio are student reflection and teacher enquiry. The purpose of portfolio writing is to demonstrate writer’s improvement and achievements. Portfolio allows writers to collect a body of writing in one place and organize the present in effective attractive format, giving the instructor a view of student’s writing that focuses more on the complete body of work than on individual assignment. Brainstorming Brainstorming is basically an activity designed to promote creativity. It is a form of discussion which enables group to do collective and collaborative thinking. The emphasis in brainstorming is upon eliciting from the student as many ideas as possible for more careful consideration at a later time. This technique is very useful for enhancing the contribution and involvement of the students in the teaching learning process.
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  Journaling Reflective journaling isa strategy to exercise reflective practice. A preliminary review of past events of data can be considered as journaling. Reflective journals reveals what the writers have learned to express themselves in journals or find out how journals can help other people learn. Problem Solving Is the Scientific process of solving problems. This method encourages right thinking and learning. Teacher can exercise reflective practices through giving problem solving to student when teacher gives proper guidance to students from the beginning till the solution is reached and supply only adequate information regarding the problem. Optimum help to each student in difficulties are expressed and the teacher maintains the spirit of discovery among students. CONCLUSION From the study we can understood that reflective practices are the way to develop a teacher himself and through the exercise of reflective practices the teacher become more experienced and creative while teaching. Through exercising different reflective strategies a teacher can become a good reflective practitioner.
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  REFERENCE Dewey, J. (1916).Democracy and education: An introduction to philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan. Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to educative process. Chicago: Henry Regency. Ershler, A. R. (2001). The narrative as an experience test: Writing them back in. In: Lieberman, A. Miller, L. (Eds.), Teachers caught in action: professional development that matters. New York: Teacher College Press. Hatton, N., & Smith, D. (1995). Reflection in teacher education–towards definition and implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(1), 33-49. Pollard, A., Collins, J., Simco, N., Swaffield, S., & Warwick, P. (2005). Reflective Teaching (2nd ed.). London: Continuum. Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking. Teachers College Record. 04(4), 842-866. Reid, B. (1993). “But we’re doing it already.” Exploring a response to the concept of reflective practice in order to improve its facilitation. Nurse Education Today, 13, 305-309. Schon, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think inaction. New York: Basic Books. Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Towards a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. Jossey-Bass: SanFrancisco. Tice, J. (2011). Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice. Retrieved: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-our-