Impact of Teachers' Recall on the Effectiveness of Their Reflection: Implications for Teacher Educators.

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

This study examined the evolution of the accuracy and thoroughness of teachers' recall of their own, and their students', specific classroom behaviors, noting its relationship to the frequency and level of their reflection. Participants of the study were three groups of elementary teachers (four novice student teachers, five teachers with 1-6.5 years of experience, and three teachers with 10-30 years of experience). Teachers were observed and audiotaped teaching for one class period. Detailed notes were taken of specific student and teacher classroom behaviors. A 1-hour structured interview following the observation asked teachers to recall their own, and their students', classroom behaviors. The study compared teachers' recall to the recorded recall, making comparisons across and within groups; interviews were analyzed for common themes. Teachers' elaborations during the interviews were considered their reflections on the behaviors. Only the most experienced teachers exhibited accurate recall. Teachers progressed in thoroughness of recall along different paths and different rates. There was a continuum from general recall that lacked thoroughness through very specific and thorough recall to general and apparently less thorough recall. Reflection on personal teaching experiences was necessary for the development of thoroughness. When years of experience were equal, more reflective teachers exhibited more thorough recall. When the consistency and frequency of reflection were relatively equal, more experienced teachers demonstrated more thorough recall. (Contains 31 references.) (SM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** IMPACT OF TEACHERS' RECALL ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR REFLECTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS Ruth M. Allen Metairie Park Country Day School A Paper Presented at the Meetings of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 14, 1998 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCEAND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 1 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization Originating it O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy FREQUENCY AND LEVELS OF REFLECTION: THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE EVOLUTION OF NOVICE THROUGH EXPERT TEACHERS' RECALL Ruth M. Allen Metairie Park Country Day School Objective Accuracy/thoroughness of recall is important because it is a necessary precursor to teachers achieving the capability of effective reflection. This qualitative study examined the evolution of the accuracy/thoroughness of novice through expert teachers' recall of their own and their students' specific classroom behaviors and its relationship to the frequency and level (s) of their reflection (Van Manen, 1977) Theoretical Framework A primary goal of teacher education programs is the development of effective teachers. Reflective teaching is viewed as a paramount vehicle for enhancing the development of effective teachers; therefore, it is the aim or salient theme of a vast and increasing number of teacher education programs (Calderhead, 1989; Loughran, 1995; Richardson, 1990; Ross, 1989; Smyth, 1989; Wildman, Niles, Magliaro, & McLaughlin, 1990). Reflective teaching is defined by Zeichner and Liston (1987) as a process of assessing the origins, purposes, and consequences of one's work at all three levels of Van Manen's (1977) levels of reflectivity. There is a general consensus that reflectivity leads to professional growth (Ferguson, 1989; Frieberg & Waxman, 1990; Van Manen, 1991; Wildman N and Wildman et al., 1990). For many teachers, especially experienced teachers, self-directed assessment of one's own teaching is the primary method for effecting improved teaching performance and, therefore, growing in expertise (Irvine, 1983; Loughran, 1995). The reflective process is initiated by questions whose essence is the recall ofspecifics (Eisner, 1991; Loughran, 1995; Noordhoff & Kleinfeld, 1990; Roth, 1989; Smyth, 1989). This implies that accurate/thorough recall is necessary in order to proceed to subsequent questions in the reflective process. Typically, experienced teachers have grown in cognition in their years of teaching and possess rich schemata (Allen & Casbergue, 1995, 1997; Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, and Campione, 1983; Carter, Sabers, Cushing, Pinnegar, & Berliner, 1987; Carter, Sabers, Stein, & Berliner, 1988; Chi, Feltovich, & Glasser, 1981; Chase & Simon, 1973; Clarridge & Berliner, 1991; Larkin, McDermott, Simon & Simon, 1980; Livingston & Borko, 1989; Peterson and Comeaux, 1987) which allow them to demonstrate significantly better recall abilityof meaningful classroom occurrences than novices (Allen & Casbergue, 1997, ; Carter et al., 1987; Clarridge & Berliner, 1991; Peterson & Comeaux, 1987). Typically, novices recall neutral behaviors and do not recall positive behaviors, (Allen & Casbergue, 1995, 1997) or blatant unacceptable behaviors (Allen & Casbergue, 1995, 1997; Clarridge & Berliner, 1991). Therefore, novices cannot effectively answer the first question that initiates the process of reflection, e.g. What happened? (Eisner, 1991; Loughran, 1995, April) or What did I do? (Smyth, 1989). This fact supports the conclusion that novice teachers have limited ability to reflect and analyze (Berliner, 1988, 1989; Livingston & Borko, 1989; Wildman & Niles, 1987). If novices cannot accurately/thoroughly recall and expert teachers can, then when and how do novices develop this ability to move through the levels of accurate/thorough recall of specific behaviors on their journey toward expertise? While this body of research explores recall differences between novice and expert teachers, only in one study (Allen & Casbergue, 1997) have researchers included an intermediate group of teachers and described the cognitive development and continua related to the recall of classroom behaviors as one moves from novice to more experienced to expert teacher. No researcher has compared the recall ability of novice through expert teachers to the frequency and level(s) of their reflectivity.