An effective Mathematics teacher is a Reflective Practitioner
1. ADVANCED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES OF 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
2. INTRODUCTION
Teaching is an act 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
3. whereby the learner recalls 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.
4. A key rational behind 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.
5. The following are the 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.
6. Journaling
Reflective journaling is a 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.
7. 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-
