Reflections on Fendler

Lynn Fendler writes and interesting article in Teacher Reflection in a Hall of Mirrors: Historical Influences and Political Reerberations, in Educational Researcher, Vol 32, No 3. 16-25.

In answer to Fendler we need to decide whether teachers are, or are not reflective by nature? And is all reflection equal? Are teachers, good teachers anyways, always reflective in their practice. Is all reflection productive? How do our students benefit from learning to be reflective?

I believe that yes, teaching makes one naturally reflective, but that reflection isn’t naturally productive. It is more about reflecting to survive because of the nature of schooling. Because teachers are isolated and so can’t check their reflection outside of themselves it may not be productive or help to produce better teaching practices. I believe that we learn by sharing our thoughts and by reviewing our thoughts. It is important to understand the connection between reflection and metacognition. Metacognition has two purposes (or classes, as research refers to it) Awareness of cognition and Control of cognition. Reflection ought to serve as a tool to help both develop awareness and learn strategies for control. Reviewing and sharing out thinking (our reflections) is a way of scaffolding our own learning about cognition, our own metacognition. It is a way of helping to locate and challenge our assumptions.

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