CENTER ON ENGLISH
LEARNING AND ACHIEVEMENT:
Steps for the
Reflective Educator
Inside professional development there are many resources to assist us as we work independently and with colleagues to plan and implement professional development that positively impacts student achievement. One resource is English Update, the newsletter from the Center on English Language and Achievement (CELA). Focused on English achievement, it is useful for all educators and can be viewed online, downloaded or ordered in print.
Inside Research
The theme of this year’s winter issue of English Update is professional development. In it CELA’s researchers highlight an array of important practices, including reflection, which is at the heart of our professional growth, especially “ongoing reflection, … nourished by discussion, research findings, and a wide array of resources” (p. 2). Author Jacqueline Marino underlines its importance in “Model for Reflection: Helps Teachers Sharpen Observation” (pp. 4-5), detailing the work of teachers and Carol Rodgers in the Teacher Knowledge Project at the School of International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Rodgers’ key point, that as teachers we need to understand that good teaching is a response to student learning, prepares us to learn about Project teachers “learning to see” and “seeing to learn.”
From “Learning to See” to “Taking Thoughtful Action”
Marino writes of four steps forming a spiraling, repeating pattern that the teachers working with Rodgers follow. These steps begin with a special kind of seeing, “learning to see … (being fully present in the classroom and open to signs of student learning).” Next is learning to describe (“the act of describing provides a way to hold up an event, an experience or an individual for further inspection”). The third step is learning to think critically (“when we review evidence that we have gathered with respect to four ‘different, but interrelated aspects of analysis’”), see below. The fourth step is “learning to take intelligent action.”
 Aspects of Analysis in Step Three
According to teachers in the Project, the interrelated aspects that have had power for them as they have used them over time within their professional community are:
“1. Examining the data [the evidence that they have collected] for contrasts or other patterns that will enable an informed interpretation and thoughtful action.
“2. Working toward developing a shared language—clarifying terms and probing meanings to assure common understandings about teaching and learning.
“3. Pushing one another to identify and question assumptions about practice, theories and the intersection of the two.
“4. Turning to the professional reading for other paradigms and frameworks that will help them to name, understand and test emerging theories” (p. 5).
For Searching Further
In addition to English Update CELA posts other materials on its Web site. These include CELA research, reports related to effective professional development, booklets and links to other educational sites (learning materials, online journals, teaching resources and funding opportunities).
Individual Professional Development
An excellent individual professional development task is to spend an hour carefully reviewing this site and exploring these materials, noting what will be helpful now and what might be in the future. To share with colleagues: we can create a Web site overview by downloading key pages to be viewed in print offline, and to be kept in an education Web site portfolio.
Reference
Marino, J. (2002, Winter). Model for Reflection: Helps Teachers Sharpen Observation. English Update. Albany, NY: Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA), 4-5. Online: http://cela.albany.edu.
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