critical incidents in teaching to promote reflective practice
TRANSCRIPT
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Using critical incidents in teaching to
promote reflective practiceBenita G Bruster
a amp Barbara R Peterson
a
a Austin Peay State University Teaching and Learning PO Box
4545 College of Education Clarksville 37044 United States
Published online 30 Oct 2012
To cite this article Benita G Bruster amp Barbara R Peterson (2013) Using critical incidents in
teaching to promote reflective practice Reflective Practice International and Multidisciplinary
Perspectives 142 170-182 DOI 101080146239432012732945
To link to this article httpdxdoiorg101080146239432012732945
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Using critical incidents in teaching to promote re1047298ective practice
Benita G Bruster and Barbara R Peterson
Austin Peay State University Teaching and Learning PO Box 4545 College of EducationClarksville 37044 United States
( Received 1 March 2012 1047297nal version received 19 September 2012)
Literature in teacher education stresses the importance of preparing thoughtfulre1047298ective practitioners This study examined the use of critical incidents as atool for re1047298ection employed by teacher candidates during their clinical teachingsemester All participants were required to write weekly re1047298ections using either a traditional journaling format (N=10) or an on-line weblogging format (N=10)Two independent readers analyzed the narratives and collaborated to reach cen-suses using open and axial coding to determine key phrases and words and toassign themes The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was aTwo-way ANOVA design The results indicated a signi1047297cant difference betweenthe re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who wrotein traditional journals Participants who wrote in journals wrote complex investi-gative re1047298ections of classroom events Participants who wrote using weblogswrote less complex descriptions of classroom events In addition participantswho wrote using the weblogs generated questions about how to solve instruc-tional issues more so than those who participated in the traditional journalingformat Analysis of the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing indicated that participantsfrom both groups moved in-and-out of 1047297ve phases of re1047298ection however thelanguage used in all re1047298ective writing provided insight into each phase andfeatured language that was representative of each particular phase
Keywords weblogging critical incidents re1047298ective phases re1047298ective practiceteacher candidates
Introduction
Re1047298ective thinking and re1047298ective practice have become common concepts in the
teacher education literature as national and state policy makers and teacher
education programs have committed themselves to preparing teachers to be
re1047298ective practitioners (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
2010 Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium 1992 National
Board of Professional Teaching Standards 2007 National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education 2000) The emphasis on re1047298ective practice challenges teacher
educators to create programs that provide constructive ways for teacher candidates
to engage in re1047298ective practice
Helping teacher candidates develop habits of re1047298ection has been an ongoing
commitment in most teacher education programs Teacher candidates are encour-
aged to re1047298ect on lesson and unit plans 1047297eld and clinical experiences and on
Corresponding author Email brusterbapsuedu
Re 1047298 ective Practice 2013
Vol 14 No 2 170 ndash 182 httpdxdoiorg101080146239432012732945
2012 Taylor amp Francis
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
various course requirements A common assumption is that re1047298ective practice
facilitates the ability to apply theory to practice and to learn from experience The
basic premise behind re1047298ective practice is that an individualrsquos actions are guided by
what they have learned from previous experiences Piaget (1967) asserted that individuals do not assimilate new information in a step-by-step manner Instead
individuals learn through intellectual resolution each event in1047298uenced by previous
experiences individual backgrounds and critical events that happen and change
ways of thinking Looking back over events situations or critical episodes in a
way that allows for deep critical introspection is re1047298ection However encouraging
deep critical re1047298ection from students in an educational environment is often met
with disappointing outcomes The idea of re1047298ection is a taken-for-granted notion
among many educators that assumes re1047298ection to be a natural response to a
dilemma or challenge Although an individual may re1047298ect how the individual
re1047298ects will have a bearing on the outcome Re1047298ective individuals have the ability
to think about their behaviors and make judgments about them In contrast Valli
(1992) suggested that individuals who are unre1047298ective are limited in their ability to
make change Deeper learning has a distinct relationship with re1047298ective practice
(Sen amp Ford 2009) and is more likely to occur when individuals engage in what is
termed as deep re1047298ection analytical re1047298ection or critical re1047298ection As teacher
educators we want to promote critical re1047298ection however when reading the writtenre1047298ections of our students we observed the re1047298ections to be descriptive in nature
with minimal evidence of being analytical or critical
From our anecdotal observations it appeared that our teacher candidates did not
automatically know how to re1047298ect analytically or critically As a result we wanted
to learn more about the nature of re1047298ective thinking and how critical re1047298ection can
be effectively implemented in a teacher education program
Theoretical framework
To develop a better understanding of the concept of re1047298ection we turned to the
work of John Dewey who recognized that individuals can re 1047298 ect on a whole host
of things in the sense of merely thinking about them However Dewey (1933)
emphasized that logical or analytic re1047298ection can happen only when there is a real
problem to solve Dewey saw true re1047298ective practice as taking place when an indi-
vidual faces a real problem that needs to be resolved in a rational manner Dewey
(1933) suggested that re1047298ection begins with a felt dif 1047297culty that can range in inten-sity from mild uneasiness to intense shock To address this sense of unease
Dewey suggested individuals must proceed through three steps of re1047298ection (1)
problem de1047297nition (2) analysis and (3) generalization He distinguished between
action based on re1047298ection and action that is impulsive or blind He placed
emphasis on the need to develop certain attitudes of open-mindedness and skills of
thinking and reasoning in order to re1047298ect For Dewey a fundamental purpose of
education is to help individuals acquire habits of re1047298ection so they engage in
intelligent action
Recent emphasis on the need for re1047298ective practice saw a shift from Deweyrsquos
perspective of re1047298ection as intelligent decision-making to re1047298ection as a tool for
professional development which was inspired in-part by the work of Donald Schoumln
(1987) Schoumln believed that re1047298ection can take place throughout an individualrsquos
career and is a crucial aspect of the process by which beginners in a discipline
Re 1047298 ective Practice 171
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
improve their practice Schoumln proposed that in preparing professionals educators
must guide students in making decisions under conditions of uncertainty In
teaching uncertain conditions may be categorized as critical incidents (Tripp
1993) Thuynsma (2001) identi1047297ed a critical incident as a turning point that resultsin changes in the perception of effectiveness or success Dewey Schoumln and Tripp
emphasized that re1047298ecting on signi1047297cant episodes in professional practice is
essential to the development of professional judgment During the clinical teaching
semester teacher candidates encounter many signi1047297cant episodes that are dif 1047297cult
to resolve These episodes or instances become critical because they cause the can-
didate to pause think back and consider outcomes Critical incidents advocated
by Tripp (1993) are venues for teaching critical re1047298ection A critical incident is
an interpretation of a signi1047297cant episode in a particular context rather than a rou-
tine occurrence Typically a critical incident is personal to an individual Incidents
only become critical that is problematic if the individual sees them as such
Re1047298ecting on an incident after the incident has taken place is when it is de1047297ned
as critical We utilized the critical incident technique in this study as the
framework for initiating the re1047298ective process of teacher candidates during their
clinical teaching semester
Methodology
To understand the nature of re1047298ection the researchers used the critical incident tech-
nique as a tool to enable re1047298ective writing Re1047298ection during student teaching had
been an expected component of the student teaching experience for years at our
institution However re1047298ections were often sparsely written and seldom went
beyond the description of an event For the purpose of this study all teacher
candidates were asked to re1047298ect on teachinglearning incidents they deemed to be
critical during their student teaching experience A requirement for this assignment
involved re1047298ection on one critical incident each week for the duration of the
sixteen-week student teaching experience Candidates had use of a protocol to guide
their re1047298ections (see Appendix A) In developing the protocol we used three criteria
to guide our choice of prompts The participants were asked to (1) describe the
context of their incident (2) identify a dilemma they experienced or observed and
(3) discuss the resolution of the dilemma
While all participants used the critical incident technique as a means for re1047298ec-
tion we divided the participants into two different groups One group wrote their re1047298ections in a traditional journaling format Each week these participants turned
their re1047298ections in to their university supervisor as a written assignment This for-
mat had typically been used during student teaching and was a familiar format for
the university supervisors The other group wrote their re1047298ections using a weblog
The university supervisors had access to the weblogs so these participants were not
required to turn in their re1047298ections each week as an assignment The weblog format
was utilized because half of the participants in this study had been introduced to
weblogging in a methods class the previous semester they were familiar with this
medium as part of a class assignment Although the university supervisors did not
interact with the webloggers on a consistent basis they were available for help or
ldquoas neededrdquo It was felt that constant interaction with the webloggers would hamper
the dialogue and could possibly create an environment where webloggers might
censor their own writing
172 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Recognizing that the current generation of teacher candidates write 1047298uently in
electronic media using weblogs e-mails and social networks we wanted to
examine the effect of the use of a weblog compared to the use of the traditional
journaling format on the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing Stiller and Philleo(2003) as cited in Shoffner (2009) acknowledge that teacher educators are taking
an interest in using weblogs as re1047298ective spaces Stiller and Philleo (2003)
replaced pen-and-paper re1047298ective journals with weblogs in a teacher education
class citing several drawbacks to the more traditional paper journal among them
ldquogeneric responses illegible handwriting and instructor access to the journalrdquo(p 4)
A mixed method approach was used for data analysis This approach consisted
of a qualitative thematic analysis of the written narratives using open and axial cod-
ing to assign key phrases and words in order to determine themes After reading
participant re1047298ections each reader used inductive reasoning to analyze all journal
and weblog entries Recurring words and phrases were identi1047297ed examined and
color coded as categories emerged Each critical incident was read separately to
con1047297rm categories and to ensure that all viable possibilities for analysis were con-
sidered Each reader tallied all similarly coded text to determine the frequencies of
all categories Both readers analyzed each category of re1047298ection to determine a de1047297-
nite 1047297t and that all categories were distinct and separate (Straus amp Corbin 1990)Following independent coding both readers compared each re1047298ection based on an
analysis of the language used to determine common words phrases and emerging
categories until censuses was reached
The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was a Two-way
ANOVA design to compare the differences of written re1047298ections between the
students who re1047298ected using the weblog format and the students who re1047298ected
using the traditional journal format
The goal of this sixteen-week study was designed to (1) examine the impact of
using the critical incident technique to promote critical re1047298ection (2) analyze the
language used by participants in the re1047298ective narratives for emergent themes and
(3) compare the use of weblogs vs traditional journals as practical spaces for
written re1047298ections
Research participants and data collection
The participants of this study were a randomly selected subset of 20 students from anentire group of 85 teacher candidates and included undergraduate teacher candidates
seeking initial licensure in elementary education middle school education special
education or secondary education Of the 20 randomly selected participants ten
elected to re1047298ect using a traditional hand-written journaling format and the remaining
ten participants elected to re1047298ect using a weblog format Prior to this semester all tea-
cher candidates participated in weblogging as part of a university course requirement
therefore all participants were familiar with the required technology the social
interaction potential and the technical realities of writing on a blog
There were seven females and three males in the traditional journaling group
and eight females and two males in the weblogging group All 20 participants
ranged in age from the mid-20s to the mid-30s All teacher candidates who were
student teaching including the participants of this study received a critical incident
protocol that contained a common set of eight guided questions and prompts there-
Re 1047298 ective Practice 173
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
fore this assignment was not an additional requirement for the participants The
protocol provided a de1047297nition of the critical incident technique as well as carefully
crafted questions and prompts designed to guide the re1047298ection process
Within the timeframe of the study the 20 participants generated 16 re1047298ectionseach one per week totaling 320 re1047298ections Of the 320 re1047298ections half were in the
traditional journaling format and half were in the weblog format Re 1047298ections were
retrieved for analysis every other week of the semester beginning with week two
Spacing data retrieval throughout the semester allowed the researchers to conduct
an in-depth study of each re1047298ective narrative and provided an opportunity to track
changes in student re1047298ections during the semester
Data analysis
The use of critical incidents was the method chosen to elicit qualitative data for this
study Woolsey (1986) indicated that the critical incident technique is an exploratory
qualitative method of research that has been shown to be both reliable and valid in
generating a comprehensive and detailed description of a situation The emphasis
was on incidents (things which actually happened and were directly observed)
which were critical (things which signi1047297cantly affected the outcome) (Woolsey
1986) All participants were asked to re1047298ect on one incident each week that appearedto be critical to them Analysis of each critical incident involved an examination of
language used by participants in their written narratives Participants responded to
eight prompts when reporting their critical incidents The prompts were designed to
lead participants to discuss a speci1047297c teachinglearning event they experienced or
observed and then to re1047298ect on the educational signi1047297cance of the event
Each critical incident narrative was coded looking 1047297rst for preliminary categories
then reread and altered as additional themes and patterns emerged (Straus amp Corbin
1990) Analysis was informed by Strauss and Corbinrsquos (1990) open and axial
coding procedures Open coding allowed for an examination of the data as a whole
with repeating elements and recurring themes noted and categorized Once initial
themes had been identi1047297ed they were isolated for further analysis in a second stage
This second stage of analysis proceeded through iterative reviews beginning in the
1047297rst review to code comments as they related to the language used by participants
This descriptive coding identi1047297ed initial categories of re1047298ection Once the
descriptive coding established these initial categories subsequent reviews of all
comments were used for validation This ldquorespondent triangulationrdquo (Hammersleyamp Atkinson 1993) enabled the adjusting of categories or the creation of new ones
to accommodate all assertions relative to the emergent themes
Analysis of the language used by both groups of participants revealed a pattern
of expression that allowed the researchers to identify 1047297ve distinct themes These
themes are described in this study as phases of re1047298ection The term phase was
utilized to denote a stage of thinking employed by the participants Phase as
de1047297ned by Merrian-Webster on-line is an aspect or part (as of a problem) under
consideration Building on former research re1047298ections were analyzed initially using
themes that had emerged from previous research (Harris Bruster Peterson amp Shutt
2010) The 1047297ve themes or phases used in this study had been generated using open
coding The phases applied to the data were (1) the descriptive phase (2) the
inquisitive phase (3) the investigative phase (4) the interdependent phase and (5)
the global phase Each phase is de1047297ned and outlined below Following the de1047297nition
174 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Using critical incidents in teaching to promote re1047298ective practice
Benita G Bruster and Barbara R Peterson
Austin Peay State University Teaching and Learning PO Box 4545 College of EducationClarksville 37044 United States
( Received 1 March 2012 1047297nal version received 19 September 2012)
Literature in teacher education stresses the importance of preparing thoughtfulre1047298ective practitioners This study examined the use of critical incidents as atool for re1047298ection employed by teacher candidates during their clinical teachingsemester All participants were required to write weekly re1047298ections using either a traditional journaling format (N=10) or an on-line weblogging format (N=10)Two independent readers analyzed the narratives and collaborated to reach cen-suses using open and axial coding to determine key phrases and words and toassign themes The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was aTwo-way ANOVA design The results indicated a signi1047297cant difference betweenthe re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who wrotein traditional journals Participants who wrote in journals wrote complex investi-gative re1047298ections of classroom events Participants who wrote using weblogswrote less complex descriptions of classroom events In addition participantswho wrote using the weblogs generated questions about how to solve instruc-tional issues more so than those who participated in the traditional journalingformat Analysis of the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing indicated that participantsfrom both groups moved in-and-out of 1047297ve phases of re1047298ection however thelanguage used in all re1047298ective writing provided insight into each phase andfeatured language that was representative of each particular phase
Keywords weblogging critical incidents re1047298ective phases re1047298ective practiceteacher candidates
Introduction
Re1047298ective thinking and re1047298ective practice have become common concepts in the
teacher education literature as national and state policy makers and teacher
education programs have committed themselves to preparing teachers to be
re1047298ective practitioners (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
2010 Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium 1992 National
Board of Professional Teaching Standards 2007 National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education 2000) The emphasis on re1047298ective practice challenges teacher
educators to create programs that provide constructive ways for teacher candidates
to engage in re1047298ective practice
Helping teacher candidates develop habits of re1047298ection has been an ongoing
commitment in most teacher education programs Teacher candidates are encour-
aged to re1047298ect on lesson and unit plans 1047297eld and clinical experiences and on
Corresponding author Email brusterbapsuedu
Re 1047298 ective Practice 2013
Vol 14 No 2 170 ndash 182 httpdxdoiorg101080146239432012732945
2012 Taylor amp Francis
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
various course requirements A common assumption is that re1047298ective practice
facilitates the ability to apply theory to practice and to learn from experience The
basic premise behind re1047298ective practice is that an individualrsquos actions are guided by
what they have learned from previous experiences Piaget (1967) asserted that individuals do not assimilate new information in a step-by-step manner Instead
individuals learn through intellectual resolution each event in1047298uenced by previous
experiences individual backgrounds and critical events that happen and change
ways of thinking Looking back over events situations or critical episodes in a
way that allows for deep critical introspection is re1047298ection However encouraging
deep critical re1047298ection from students in an educational environment is often met
with disappointing outcomes The idea of re1047298ection is a taken-for-granted notion
among many educators that assumes re1047298ection to be a natural response to a
dilemma or challenge Although an individual may re1047298ect how the individual
re1047298ects will have a bearing on the outcome Re1047298ective individuals have the ability
to think about their behaviors and make judgments about them In contrast Valli
(1992) suggested that individuals who are unre1047298ective are limited in their ability to
make change Deeper learning has a distinct relationship with re1047298ective practice
(Sen amp Ford 2009) and is more likely to occur when individuals engage in what is
termed as deep re1047298ection analytical re1047298ection or critical re1047298ection As teacher
educators we want to promote critical re1047298ection however when reading the writtenre1047298ections of our students we observed the re1047298ections to be descriptive in nature
with minimal evidence of being analytical or critical
From our anecdotal observations it appeared that our teacher candidates did not
automatically know how to re1047298ect analytically or critically As a result we wanted
to learn more about the nature of re1047298ective thinking and how critical re1047298ection can
be effectively implemented in a teacher education program
Theoretical framework
To develop a better understanding of the concept of re1047298ection we turned to the
work of John Dewey who recognized that individuals can re 1047298 ect on a whole host
of things in the sense of merely thinking about them However Dewey (1933)
emphasized that logical or analytic re1047298ection can happen only when there is a real
problem to solve Dewey saw true re1047298ective practice as taking place when an indi-
vidual faces a real problem that needs to be resolved in a rational manner Dewey
(1933) suggested that re1047298ection begins with a felt dif 1047297culty that can range in inten-sity from mild uneasiness to intense shock To address this sense of unease
Dewey suggested individuals must proceed through three steps of re1047298ection (1)
problem de1047297nition (2) analysis and (3) generalization He distinguished between
action based on re1047298ection and action that is impulsive or blind He placed
emphasis on the need to develop certain attitudes of open-mindedness and skills of
thinking and reasoning in order to re1047298ect For Dewey a fundamental purpose of
education is to help individuals acquire habits of re1047298ection so they engage in
intelligent action
Recent emphasis on the need for re1047298ective practice saw a shift from Deweyrsquos
perspective of re1047298ection as intelligent decision-making to re1047298ection as a tool for
professional development which was inspired in-part by the work of Donald Schoumln
(1987) Schoumln believed that re1047298ection can take place throughout an individualrsquos
career and is a crucial aspect of the process by which beginners in a discipline
Re 1047298 ective Practice 171
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
improve their practice Schoumln proposed that in preparing professionals educators
must guide students in making decisions under conditions of uncertainty In
teaching uncertain conditions may be categorized as critical incidents (Tripp
1993) Thuynsma (2001) identi1047297ed a critical incident as a turning point that resultsin changes in the perception of effectiveness or success Dewey Schoumln and Tripp
emphasized that re1047298ecting on signi1047297cant episodes in professional practice is
essential to the development of professional judgment During the clinical teaching
semester teacher candidates encounter many signi1047297cant episodes that are dif 1047297cult
to resolve These episodes or instances become critical because they cause the can-
didate to pause think back and consider outcomes Critical incidents advocated
by Tripp (1993) are venues for teaching critical re1047298ection A critical incident is
an interpretation of a signi1047297cant episode in a particular context rather than a rou-
tine occurrence Typically a critical incident is personal to an individual Incidents
only become critical that is problematic if the individual sees them as such
Re1047298ecting on an incident after the incident has taken place is when it is de1047297ned
as critical We utilized the critical incident technique in this study as the
framework for initiating the re1047298ective process of teacher candidates during their
clinical teaching semester
Methodology
To understand the nature of re1047298ection the researchers used the critical incident tech-
nique as a tool to enable re1047298ective writing Re1047298ection during student teaching had
been an expected component of the student teaching experience for years at our
institution However re1047298ections were often sparsely written and seldom went
beyond the description of an event For the purpose of this study all teacher
candidates were asked to re1047298ect on teachinglearning incidents they deemed to be
critical during their student teaching experience A requirement for this assignment
involved re1047298ection on one critical incident each week for the duration of the
sixteen-week student teaching experience Candidates had use of a protocol to guide
their re1047298ections (see Appendix A) In developing the protocol we used three criteria
to guide our choice of prompts The participants were asked to (1) describe the
context of their incident (2) identify a dilemma they experienced or observed and
(3) discuss the resolution of the dilemma
While all participants used the critical incident technique as a means for re1047298ec-
tion we divided the participants into two different groups One group wrote their re1047298ections in a traditional journaling format Each week these participants turned
their re1047298ections in to their university supervisor as a written assignment This for-
mat had typically been used during student teaching and was a familiar format for
the university supervisors The other group wrote their re1047298ections using a weblog
The university supervisors had access to the weblogs so these participants were not
required to turn in their re1047298ections each week as an assignment The weblog format
was utilized because half of the participants in this study had been introduced to
weblogging in a methods class the previous semester they were familiar with this
medium as part of a class assignment Although the university supervisors did not
interact with the webloggers on a consistent basis they were available for help or
ldquoas neededrdquo It was felt that constant interaction with the webloggers would hamper
the dialogue and could possibly create an environment where webloggers might
censor their own writing
172 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Recognizing that the current generation of teacher candidates write 1047298uently in
electronic media using weblogs e-mails and social networks we wanted to
examine the effect of the use of a weblog compared to the use of the traditional
journaling format on the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing Stiller and Philleo(2003) as cited in Shoffner (2009) acknowledge that teacher educators are taking
an interest in using weblogs as re1047298ective spaces Stiller and Philleo (2003)
replaced pen-and-paper re1047298ective journals with weblogs in a teacher education
class citing several drawbacks to the more traditional paper journal among them
ldquogeneric responses illegible handwriting and instructor access to the journalrdquo(p 4)
A mixed method approach was used for data analysis This approach consisted
of a qualitative thematic analysis of the written narratives using open and axial cod-
ing to assign key phrases and words in order to determine themes After reading
participant re1047298ections each reader used inductive reasoning to analyze all journal
and weblog entries Recurring words and phrases were identi1047297ed examined and
color coded as categories emerged Each critical incident was read separately to
con1047297rm categories and to ensure that all viable possibilities for analysis were con-
sidered Each reader tallied all similarly coded text to determine the frequencies of
all categories Both readers analyzed each category of re1047298ection to determine a de1047297-
nite 1047297t and that all categories were distinct and separate (Straus amp Corbin 1990)Following independent coding both readers compared each re1047298ection based on an
analysis of the language used to determine common words phrases and emerging
categories until censuses was reached
The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was a Two-way
ANOVA design to compare the differences of written re1047298ections between the
students who re1047298ected using the weblog format and the students who re1047298ected
using the traditional journal format
The goal of this sixteen-week study was designed to (1) examine the impact of
using the critical incident technique to promote critical re1047298ection (2) analyze the
language used by participants in the re1047298ective narratives for emergent themes and
(3) compare the use of weblogs vs traditional journals as practical spaces for
written re1047298ections
Research participants and data collection
The participants of this study were a randomly selected subset of 20 students from anentire group of 85 teacher candidates and included undergraduate teacher candidates
seeking initial licensure in elementary education middle school education special
education or secondary education Of the 20 randomly selected participants ten
elected to re1047298ect using a traditional hand-written journaling format and the remaining
ten participants elected to re1047298ect using a weblog format Prior to this semester all tea-
cher candidates participated in weblogging as part of a university course requirement
therefore all participants were familiar with the required technology the social
interaction potential and the technical realities of writing on a blog
There were seven females and three males in the traditional journaling group
and eight females and two males in the weblogging group All 20 participants
ranged in age from the mid-20s to the mid-30s All teacher candidates who were
student teaching including the participants of this study received a critical incident
protocol that contained a common set of eight guided questions and prompts there-
Re 1047298 ective Practice 173
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
fore this assignment was not an additional requirement for the participants The
protocol provided a de1047297nition of the critical incident technique as well as carefully
crafted questions and prompts designed to guide the re1047298ection process
Within the timeframe of the study the 20 participants generated 16 re1047298ectionseach one per week totaling 320 re1047298ections Of the 320 re1047298ections half were in the
traditional journaling format and half were in the weblog format Re 1047298ections were
retrieved for analysis every other week of the semester beginning with week two
Spacing data retrieval throughout the semester allowed the researchers to conduct
an in-depth study of each re1047298ective narrative and provided an opportunity to track
changes in student re1047298ections during the semester
Data analysis
The use of critical incidents was the method chosen to elicit qualitative data for this
study Woolsey (1986) indicated that the critical incident technique is an exploratory
qualitative method of research that has been shown to be both reliable and valid in
generating a comprehensive and detailed description of a situation The emphasis
was on incidents (things which actually happened and were directly observed)
which were critical (things which signi1047297cantly affected the outcome) (Woolsey
1986) All participants were asked to re1047298ect on one incident each week that appearedto be critical to them Analysis of each critical incident involved an examination of
language used by participants in their written narratives Participants responded to
eight prompts when reporting their critical incidents The prompts were designed to
lead participants to discuss a speci1047297c teachinglearning event they experienced or
observed and then to re1047298ect on the educational signi1047297cance of the event
Each critical incident narrative was coded looking 1047297rst for preliminary categories
then reread and altered as additional themes and patterns emerged (Straus amp Corbin
1990) Analysis was informed by Strauss and Corbinrsquos (1990) open and axial
coding procedures Open coding allowed for an examination of the data as a whole
with repeating elements and recurring themes noted and categorized Once initial
themes had been identi1047297ed they were isolated for further analysis in a second stage
This second stage of analysis proceeded through iterative reviews beginning in the
1047297rst review to code comments as they related to the language used by participants
This descriptive coding identi1047297ed initial categories of re1047298ection Once the
descriptive coding established these initial categories subsequent reviews of all
comments were used for validation This ldquorespondent triangulationrdquo (Hammersleyamp Atkinson 1993) enabled the adjusting of categories or the creation of new ones
to accommodate all assertions relative to the emergent themes
Analysis of the language used by both groups of participants revealed a pattern
of expression that allowed the researchers to identify 1047297ve distinct themes These
themes are described in this study as phases of re1047298ection The term phase was
utilized to denote a stage of thinking employed by the participants Phase as
de1047297ned by Merrian-Webster on-line is an aspect or part (as of a problem) under
consideration Building on former research re1047298ections were analyzed initially using
themes that had emerged from previous research (Harris Bruster Peterson amp Shutt
2010) The 1047297ve themes or phases used in this study had been generated using open
coding The phases applied to the data were (1) the descriptive phase (2) the
inquisitive phase (3) the investigative phase (4) the interdependent phase and (5)
the global phase Each phase is de1047297ned and outlined below Following the de1047297nition
174 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
various course requirements A common assumption is that re1047298ective practice
facilitates the ability to apply theory to practice and to learn from experience The
basic premise behind re1047298ective practice is that an individualrsquos actions are guided by
what they have learned from previous experiences Piaget (1967) asserted that individuals do not assimilate new information in a step-by-step manner Instead
individuals learn through intellectual resolution each event in1047298uenced by previous
experiences individual backgrounds and critical events that happen and change
ways of thinking Looking back over events situations or critical episodes in a
way that allows for deep critical introspection is re1047298ection However encouraging
deep critical re1047298ection from students in an educational environment is often met
with disappointing outcomes The idea of re1047298ection is a taken-for-granted notion
among many educators that assumes re1047298ection to be a natural response to a
dilemma or challenge Although an individual may re1047298ect how the individual
re1047298ects will have a bearing on the outcome Re1047298ective individuals have the ability
to think about their behaviors and make judgments about them In contrast Valli
(1992) suggested that individuals who are unre1047298ective are limited in their ability to
make change Deeper learning has a distinct relationship with re1047298ective practice
(Sen amp Ford 2009) and is more likely to occur when individuals engage in what is
termed as deep re1047298ection analytical re1047298ection or critical re1047298ection As teacher
educators we want to promote critical re1047298ection however when reading the writtenre1047298ections of our students we observed the re1047298ections to be descriptive in nature
with minimal evidence of being analytical or critical
From our anecdotal observations it appeared that our teacher candidates did not
automatically know how to re1047298ect analytically or critically As a result we wanted
to learn more about the nature of re1047298ective thinking and how critical re1047298ection can
be effectively implemented in a teacher education program
Theoretical framework
To develop a better understanding of the concept of re1047298ection we turned to the
work of John Dewey who recognized that individuals can re 1047298 ect on a whole host
of things in the sense of merely thinking about them However Dewey (1933)
emphasized that logical or analytic re1047298ection can happen only when there is a real
problem to solve Dewey saw true re1047298ective practice as taking place when an indi-
vidual faces a real problem that needs to be resolved in a rational manner Dewey
(1933) suggested that re1047298ection begins with a felt dif 1047297culty that can range in inten-sity from mild uneasiness to intense shock To address this sense of unease
Dewey suggested individuals must proceed through three steps of re1047298ection (1)
problem de1047297nition (2) analysis and (3) generalization He distinguished between
action based on re1047298ection and action that is impulsive or blind He placed
emphasis on the need to develop certain attitudes of open-mindedness and skills of
thinking and reasoning in order to re1047298ect For Dewey a fundamental purpose of
education is to help individuals acquire habits of re1047298ection so they engage in
intelligent action
Recent emphasis on the need for re1047298ective practice saw a shift from Deweyrsquos
perspective of re1047298ection as intelligent decision-making to re1047298ection as a tool for
professional development which was inspired in-part by the work of Donald Schoumln
(1987) Schoumln believed that re1047298ection can take place throughout an individualrsquos
career and is a crucial aspect of the process by which beginners in a discipline
Re 1047298 ective Practice 171
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
improve their practice Schoumln proposed that in preparing professionals educators
must guide students in making decisions under conditions of uncertainty In
teaching uncertain conditions may be categorized as critical incidents (Tripp
1993) Thuynsma (2001) identi1047297ed a critical incident as a turning point that resultsin changes in the perception of effectiveness or success Dewey Schoumln and Tripp
emphasized that re1047298ecting on signi1047297cant episodes in professional practice is
essential to the development of professional judgment During the clinical teaching
semester teacher candidates encounter many signi1047297cant episodes that are dif 1047297cult
to resolve These episodes or instances become critical because they cause the can-
didate to pause think back and consider outcomes Critical incidents advocated
by Tripp (1993) are venues for teaching critical re1047298ection A critical incident is
an interpretation of a signi1047297cant episode in a particular context rather than a rou-
tine occurrence Typically a critical incident is personal to an individual Incidents
only become critical that is problematic if the individual sees them as such
Re1047298ecting on an incident after the incident has taken place is when it is de1047297ned
as critical We utilized the critical incident technique in this study as the
framework for initiating the re1047298ective process of teacher candidates during their
clinical teaching semester
Methodology
To understand the nature of re1047298ection the researchers used the critical incident tech-
nique as a tool to enable re1047298ective writing Re1047298ection during student teaching had
been an expected component of the student teaching experience for years at our
institution However re1047298ections were often sparsely written and seldom went
beyond the description of an event For the purpose of this study all teacher
candidates were asked to re1047298ect on teachinglearning incidents they deemed to be
critical during their student teaching experience A requirement for this assignment
involved re1047298ection on one critical incident each week for the duration of the
sixteen-week student teaching experience Candidates had use of a protocol to guide
their re1047298ections (see Appendix A) In developing the protocol we used three criteria
to guide our choice of prompts The participants were asked to (1) describe the
context of their incident (2) identify a dilemma they experienced or observed and
(3) discuss the resolution of the dilemma
While all participants used the critical incident technique as a means for re1047298ec-
tion we divided the participants into two different groups One group wrote their re1047298ections in a traditional journaling format Each week these participants turned
their re1047298ections in to their university supervisor as a written assignment This for-
mat had typically been used during student teaching and was a familiar format for
the university supervisors The other group wrote their re1047298ections using a weblog
The university supervisors had access to the weblogs so these participants were not
required to turn in their re1047298ections each week as an assignment The weblog format
was utilized because half of the participants in this study had been introduced to
weblogging in a methods class the previous semester they were familiar with this
medium as part of a class assignment Although the university supervisors did not
interact with the webloggers on a consistent basis they were available for help or
ldquoas neededrdquo It was felt that constant interaction with the webloggers would hamper
the dialogue and could possibly create an environment where webloggers might
censor their own writing
172 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Recognizing that the current generation of teacher candidates write 1047298uently in
electronic media using weblogs e-mails and social networks we wanted to
examine the effect of the use of a weblog compared to the use of the traditional
journaling format on the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing Stiller and Philleo(2003) as cited in Shoffner (2009) acknowledge that teacher educators are taking
an interest in using weblogs as re1047298ective spaces Stiller and Philleo (2003)
replaced pen-and-paper re1047298ective journals with weblogs in a teacher education
class citing several drawbacks to the more traditional paper journal among them
ldquogeneric responses illegible handwriting and instructor access to the journalrdquo(p 4)
A mixed method approach was used for data analysis This approach consisted
of a qualitative thematic analysis of the written narratives using open and axial cod-
ing to assign key phrases and words in order to determine themes After reading
participant re1047298ections each reader used inductive reasoning to analyze all journal
and weblog entries Recurring words and phrases were identi1047297ed examined and
color coded as categories emerged Each critical incident was read separately to
con1047297rm categories and to ensure that all viable possibilities for analysis were con-
sidered Each reader tallied all similarly coded text to determine the frequencies of
all categories Both readers analyzed each category of re1047298ection to determine a de1047297-
nite 1047297t and that all categories were distinct and separate (Straus amp Corbin 1990)Following independent coding both readers compared each re1047298ection based on an
analysis of the language used to determine common words phrases and emerging
categories until censuses was reached
The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was a Two-way
ANOVA design to compare the differences of written re1047298ections between the
students who re1047298ected using the weblog format and the students who re1047298ected
using the traditional journal format
The goal of this sixteen-week study was designed to (1) examine the impact of
using the critical incident technique to promote critical re1047298ection (2) analyze the
language used by participants in the re1047298ective narratives for emergent themes and
(3) compare the use of weblogs vs traditional journals as practical spaces for
written re1047298ections
Research participants and data collection
The participants of this study were a randomly selected subset of 20 students from anentire group of 85 teacher candidates and included undergraduate teacher candidates
seeking initial licensure in elementary education middle school education special
education or secondary education Of the 20 randomly selected participants ten
elected to re1047298ect using a traditional hand-written journaling format and the remaining
ten participants elected to re1047298ect using a weblog format Prior to this semester all tea-
cher candidates participated in weblogging as part of a university course requirement
therefore all participants were familiar with the required technology the social
interaction potential and the technical realities of writing on a blog
There were seven females and three males in the traditional journaling group
and eight females and two males in the weblogging group All 20 participants
ranged in age from the mid-20s to the mid-30s All teacher candidates who were
student teaching including the participants of this study received a critical incident
protocol that contained a common set of eight guided questions and prompts there-
Re 1047298 ective Practice 173
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
fore this assignment was not an additional requirement for the participants The
protocol provided a de1047297nition of the critical incident technique as well as carefully
crafted questions and prompts designed to guide the re1047298ection process
Within the timeframe of the study the 20 participants generated 16 re1047298ectionseach one per week totaling 320 re1047298ections Of the 320 re1047298ections half were in the
traditional journaling format and half were in the weblog format Re 1047298ections were
retrieved for analysis every other week of the semester beginning with week two
Spacing data retrieval throughout the semester allowed the researchers to conduct
an in-depth study of each re1047298ective narrative and provided an opportunity to track
changes in student re1047298ections during the semester
Data analysis
The use of critical incidents was the method chosen to elicit qualitative data for this
study Woolsey (1986) indicated that the critical incident technique is an exploratory
qualitative method of research that has been shown to be both reliable and valid in
generating a comprehensive and detailed description of a situation The emphasis
was on incidents (things which actually happened and were directly observed)
which were critical (things which signi1047297cantly affected the outcome) (Woolsey
1986) All participants were asked to re1047298ect on one incident each week that appearedto be critical to them Analysis of each critical incident involved an examination of
language used by participants in their written narratives Participants responded to
eight prompts when reporting their critical incidents The prompts were designed to
lead participants to discuss a speci1047297c teachinglearning event they experienced or
observed and then to re1047298ect on the educational signi1047297cance of the event
Each critical incident narrative was coded looking 1047297rst for preliminary categories
then reread and altered as additional themes and patterns emerged (Straus amp Corbin
1990) Analysis was informed by Strauss and Corbinrsquos (1990) open and axial
coding procedures Open coding allowed for an examination of the data as a whole
with repeating elements and recurring themes noted and categorized Once initial
themes had been identi1047297ed they were isolated for further analysis in a second stage
This second stage of analysis proceeded through iterative reviews beginning in the
1047297rst review to code comments as they related to the language used by participants
This descriptive coding identi1047297ed initial categories of re1047298ection Once the
descriptive coding established these initial categories subsequent reviews of all
comments were used for validation This ldquorespondent triangulationrdquo (Hammersleyamp Atkinson 1993) enabled the adjusting of categories or the creation of new ones
to accommodate all assertions relative to the emergent themes
Analysis of the language used by both groups of participants revealed a pattern
of expression that allowed the researchers to identify 1047297ve distinct themes These
themes are described in this study as phases of re1047298ection The term phase was
utilized to denote a stage of thinking employed by the participants Phase as
de1047297ned by Merrian-Webster on-line is an aspect or part (as of a problem) under
consideration Building on former research re1047298ections were analyzed initially using
themes that had emerged from previous research (Harris Bruster Peterson amp Shutt
2010) The 1047297ve themes or phases used in this study had been generated using open
coding The phases applied to the data were (1) the descriptive phase (2) the
inquisitive phase (3) the investigative phase (4) the interdependent phase and (5)
the global phase Each phase is de1047297ned and outlined below Following the de1047297nition
174 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
improve their practice Schoumln proposed that in preparing professionals educators
must guide students in making decisions under conditions of uncertainty In
teaching uncertain conditions may be categorized as critical incidents (Tripp
1993) Thuynsma (2001) identi1047297ed a critical incident as a turning point that resultsin changes in the perception of effectiveness or success Dewey Schoumln and Tripp
emphasized that re1047298ecting on signi1047297cant episodes in professional practice is
essential to the development of professional judgment During the clinical teaching
semester teacher candidates encounter many signi1047297cant episodes that are dif 1047297cult
to resolve These episodes or instances become critical because they cause the can-
didate to pause think back and consider outcomes Critical incidents advocated
by Tripp (1993) are venues for teaching critical re1047298ection A critical incident is
an interpretation of a signi1047297cant episode in a particular context rather than a rou-
tine occurrence Typically a critical incident is personal to an individual Incidents
only become critical that is problematic if the individual sees them as such
Re1047298ecting on an incident after the incident has taken place is when it is de1047297ned
as critical We utilized the critical incident technique in this study as the
framework for initiating the re1047298ective process of teacher candidates during their
clinical teaching semester
Methodology
To understand the nature of re1047298ection the researchers used the critical incident tech-
nique as a tool to enable re1047298ective writing Re1047298ection during student teaching had
been an expected component of the student teaching experience for years at our
institution However re1047298ections were often sparsely written and seldom went
beyond the description of an event For the purpose of this study all teacher
candidates were asked to re1047298ect on teachinglearning incidents they deemed to be
critical during their student teaching experience A requirement for this assignment
involved re1047298ection on one critical incident each week for the duration of the
sixteen-week student teaching experience Candidates had use of a protocol to guide
their re1047298ections (see Appendix A) In developing the protocol we used three criteria
to guide our choice of prompts The participants were asked to (1) describe the
context of their incident (2) identify a dilemma they experienced or observed and
(3) discuss the resolution of the dilemma
While all participants used the critical incident technique as a means for re1047298ec-
tion we divided the participants into two different groups One group wrote their re1047298ections in a traditional journaling format Each week these participants turned
their re1047298ections in to their university supervisor as a written assignment This for-
mat had typically been used during student teaching and was a familiar format for
the university supervisors The other group wrote their re1047298ections using a weblog
The university supervisors had access to the weblogs so these participants were not
required to turn in their re1047298ections each week as an assignment The weblog format
was utilized because half of the participants in this study had been introduced to
weblogging in a methods class the previous semester they were familiar with this
medium as part of a class assignment Although the university supervisors did not
interact with the webloggers on a consistent basis they were available for help or
ldquoas neededrdquo It was felt that constant interaction with the webloggers would hamper
the dialogue and could possibly create an environment where webloggers might
censor their own writing
172 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Recognizing that the current generation of teacher candidates write 1047298uently in
electronic media using weblogs e-mails and social networks we wanted to
examine the effect of the use of a weblog compared to the use of the traditional
journaling format on the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing Stiller and Philleo(2003) as cited in Shoffner (2009) acknowledge that teacher educators are taking
an interest in using weblogs as re1047298ective spaces Stiller and Philleo (2003)
replaced pen-and-paper re1047298ective journals with weblogs in a teacher education
class citing several drawbacks to the more traditional paper journal among them
ldquogeneric responses illegible handwriting and instructor access to the journalrdquo(p 4)
A mixed method approach was used for data analysis This approach consisted
of a qualitative thematic analysis of the written narratives using open and axial cod-
ing to assign key phrases and words in order to determine themes After reading
participant re1047298ections each reader used inductive reasoning to analyze all journal
and weblog entries Recurring words and phrases were identi1047297ed examined and
color coded as categories emerged Each critical incident was read separately to
con1047297rm categories and to ensure that all viable possibilities for analysis were con-
sidered Each reader tallied all similarly coded text to determine the frequencies of
all categories Both readers analyzed each category of re1047298ection to determine a de1047297-
nite 1047297t and that all categories were distinct and separate (Straus amp Corbin 1990)Following independent coding both readers compared each re1047298ection based on an
analysis of the language used to determine common words phrases and emerging
categories until censuses was reached
The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was a Two-way
ANOVA design to compare the differences of written re1047298ections between the
students who re1047298ected using the weblog format and the students who re1047298ected
using the traditional journal format
The goal of this sixteen-week study was designed to (1) examine the impact of
using the critical incident technique to promote critical re1047298ection (2) analyze the
language used by participants in the re1047298ective narratives for emergent themes and
(3) compare the use of weblogs vs traditional journals as practical spaces for
written re1047298ections
Research participants and data collection
The participants of this study were a randomly selected subset of 20 students from anentire group of 85 teacher candidates and included undergraduate teacher candidates
seeking initial licensure in elementary education middle school education special
education or secondary education Of the 20 randomly selected participants ten
elected to re1047298ect using a traditional hand-written journaling format and the remaining
ten participants elected to re1047298ect using a weblog format Prior to this semester all tea-
cher candidates participated in weblogging as part of a university course requirement
therefore all participants were familiar with the required technology the social
interaction potential and the technical realities of writing on a blog
There were seven females and three males in the traditional journaling group
and eight females and two males in the weblogging group All 20 participants
ranged in age from the mid-20s to the mid-30s All teacher candidates who were
student teaching including the participants of this study received a critical incident
protocol that contained a common set of eight guided questions and prompts there-
Re 1047298 ective Practice 173
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
fore this assignment was not an additional requirement for the participants The
protocol provided a de1047297nition of the critical incident technique as well as carefully
crafted questions and prompts designed to guide the re1047298ection process
Within the timeframe of the study the 20 participants generated 16 re1047298ectionseach one per week totaling 320 re1047298ections Of the 320 re1047298ections half were in the
traditional journaling format and half were in the weblog format Re 1047298ections were
retrieved for analysis every other week of the semester beginning with week two
Spacing data retrieval throughout the semester allowed the researchers to conduct
an in-depth study of each re1047298ective narrative and provided an opportunity to track
changes in student re1047298ections during the semester
Data analysis
The use of critical incidents was the method chosen to elicit qualitative data for this
study Woolsey (1986) indicated that the critical incident technique is an exploratory
qualitative method of research that has been shown to be both reliable and valid in
generating a comprehensive and detailed description of a situation The emphasis
was on incidents (things which actually happened and were directly observed)
which were critical (things which signi1047297cantly affected the outcome) (Woolsey
1986) All participants were asked to re1047298ect on one incident each week that appearedto be critical to them Analysis of each critical incident involved an examination of
language used by participants in their written narratives Participants responded to
eight prompts when reporting their critical incidents The prompts were designed to
lead participants to discuss a speci1047297c teachinglearning event they experienced or
observed and then to re1047298ect on the educational signi1047297cance of the event
Each critical incident narrative was coded looking 1047297rst for preliminary categories
then reread and altered as additional themes and patterns emerged (Straus amp Corbin
1990) Analysis was informed by Strauss and Corbinrsquos (1990) open and axial
coding procedures Open coding allowed for an examination of the data as a whole
with repeating elements and recurring themes noted and categorized Once initial
themes had been identi1047297ed they were isolated for further analysis in a second stage
This second stage of analysis proceeded through iterative reviews beginning in the
1047297rst review to code comments as they related to the language used by participants
This descriptive coding identi1047297ed initial categories of re1047298ection Once the
descriptive coding established these initial categories subsequent reviews of all
comments were used for validation This ldquorespondent triangulationrdquo (Hammersleyamp Atkinson 1993) enabled the adjusting of categories or the creation of new ones
to accommodate all assertions relative to the emergent themes
Analysis of the language used by both groups of participants revealed a pattern
of expression that allowed the researchers to identify 1047297ve distinct themes These
themes are described in this study as phases of re1047298ection The term phase was
utilized to denote a stage of thinking employed by the participants Phase as
de1047297ned by Merrian-Webster on-line is an aspect or part (as of a problem) under
consideration Building on former research re1047298ections were analyzed initially using
themes that had emerged from previous research (Harris Bruster Peterson amp Shutt
2010) The 1047297ve themes or phases used in this study had been generated using open
coding The phases applied to the data were (1) the descriptive phase (2) the
inquisitive phase (3) the investigative phase (4) the interdependent phase and (5)
the global phase Each phase is de1047297ned and outlined below Following the de1047297nition
174 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Recognizing that the current generation of teacher candidates write 1047298uently in
electronic media using weblogs e-mails and social networks we wanted to
examine the effect of the use of a weblog compared to the use of the traditional
journaling format on the participantsrsquo re1047298ective writing Stiller and Philleo(2003) as cited in Shoffner (2009) acknowledge that teacher educators are taking
an interest in using weblogs as re1047298ective spaces Stiller and Philleo (2003)
replaced pen-and-paper re1047298ective journals with weblogs in a teacher education
class citing several drawbacks to the more traditional paper journal among them
ldquogeneric responses illegible handwriting and instructor access to the journalrdquo(p 4)
A mixed method approach was used for data analysis This approach consisted
of a qualitative thematic analysis of the written narratives using open and axial cod-
ing to assign key phrases and words in order to determine themes After reading
participant re1047298ections each reader used inductive reasoning to analyze all journal
and weblog entries Recurring words and phrases were identi1047297ed examined and
color coded as categories emerged Each critical incident was read separately to
con1047297rm categories and to ensure that all viable possibilities for analysis were con-
sidered Each reader tallied all similarly coded text to determine the frequencies of
all categories Both readers analyzed each category of re1047298ection to determine a de1047297-
nite 1047297t and that all categories were distinct and separate (Straus amp Corbin 1990)Following independent coding both readers compared each re1047298ection based on an
analysis of the language used to determine common words phrases and emerging
categories until censuses was reached
The quantitative method used to analyze re1047298ection entries was a Two-way
ANOVA design to compare the differences of written re1047298ections between the
students who re1047298ected using the weblog format and the students who re1047298ected
using the traditional journal format
The goal of this sixteen-week study was designed to (1) examine the impact of
using the critical incident technique to promote critical re1047298ection (2) analyze the
language used by participants in the re1047298ective narratives for emergent themes and
(3) compare the use of weblogs vs traditional journals as practical spaces for
written re1047298ections
Research participants and data collection
The participants of this study were a randomly selected subset of 20 students from anentire group of 85 teacher candidates and included undergraduate teacher candidates
seeking initial licensure in elementary education middle school education special
education or secondary education Of the 20 randomly selected participants ten
elected to re1047298ect using a traditional hand-written journaling format and the remaining
ten participants elected to re1047298ect using a weblog format Prior to this semester all tea-
cher candidates participated in weblogging as part of a university course requirement
therefore all participants were familiar with the required technology the social
interaction potential and the technical realities of writing on a blog
There were seven females and three males in the traditional journaling group
and eight females and two males in the weblogging group All 20 participants
ranged in age from the mid-20s to the mid-30s All teacher candidates who were
student teaching including the participants of this study received a critical incident
protocol that contained a common set of eight guided questions and prompts there-
Re 1047298 ective Practice 173
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
fore this assignment was not an additional requirement for the participants The
protocol provided a de1047297nition of the critical incident technique as well as carefully
crafted questions and prompts designed to guide the re1047298ection process
Within the timeframe of the study the 20 participants generated 16 re1047298ectionseach one per week totaling 320 re1047298ections Of the 320 re1047298ections half were in the
traditional journaling format and half were in the weblog format Re 1047298ections were
retrieved for analysis every other week of the semester beginning with week two
Spacing data retrieval throughout the semester allowed the researchers to conduct
an in-depth study of each re1047298ective narrative and provided an opportunity to track
changes in student re1047298ections during the semester
Data analysis
The use of critical incidents was the method chosen to elicit qualitative data for this
study Woolsey (1986) indicated that the critical incident technique is an exploratory
qualitative method of research that has been shown to be both reliable and valid in
generating a comprehensive and detailed description of a situation The emphasis
was on incidents (things which actually happened and were directly observed)
which were critical (things which signi1047297cantly affected the outcome) (Woolsey
1986) All participants were asked to re1047298ect on one incident each week that appearedto be critical to them Analysis of each critical incident involved an examination of
language used by participants in their written narratives Participants responded to
eight prompts when reporting their critical incidents The prompts were designed to
lead participants to discuss a speci1047297c teachinglearning event they experienced or
observed and then to re1047298ect on the educational signi1047297cance of the event
Each critical incident narrative was coded looking 1047297rst for preliminary categories
then reread and altered as additional themes and patterns emerged (Straus amp Corbin
1990) Analysis was informed by Strauss and Corbinrsquos (1990) open and axial
coding procedures Open coding allowed for an examination of the data as a whole
with repeating elements and recurring themes noted and categorized Once initial
themes had been identi1047297ed they were isolated for further analysis in a second stage
This second stage of analysis proceeded through iterative reviews beginning in the
1047297rst review to code comments as they related to the language used by participants
This descriptive coding identi1047297ed initial categories of re1047298ection Once the
descriptive coding established these initial categories subsequent reviews of all
comments were used for validation This ldquorespondent triangulationrdquo (Hammersleyamp Atkinson 1993) enabled the adjusting of categories or the creation of new ones
to accommodate all assertions relative to the emergent themes
Analysis of the language used by both groups of participants revealed a pattern
of expression that allowed the researchers to identify 1047297ve distinct themes These
themes are described in this study as phases of re1047298ection The term phase was
utilized to denote a stage of thinking employed by the participants Phase as
de1047297ned by Merrian-Webster on-line is an aspect or part (as of a problem) under
consideration Building on former research re1047298ections were analyzed initially using
themes that had emerged from previous research (Harris Bruster Peterson amp Shutt
2010) The 1047297ve themes or phases used in this study had been generated using open
coding The phases applied to the data were (1) the descriptive phase (2) the
inquisitive phase (3) the investigative phase (4) the interdependent phase and (5)
the global phase Each phase is de1047297ned and outlined below Following the de1047297nition
174 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
fore this assignment was not an additional requirement for the participants The
protocol provided a de1047297nition of the critical incident technique as well as carefully
crafted questions and prompts designed to guide the re1047298ection process
Within the timeframe of the study the 20 participants generated 16 re1047298ectionseach one per week totaling 320 re1047298ections Of the 320 re1047298ections half were in the
traditional journaling format and half were in the weblog format Re 1047298ections were
retrieved for analysis every other week of the semester beginning with week two
Spacing data retrieval throughout the semester allowed the researchers to conduct
an in-depth study of each re1047298ective narrative and provided an opportunity to track
changes in student re1047298ections during the semester
Data analysis
The use of critical incidents was the method chosen to elicit qualitative data for this
study Woolsey (1986) indicated that the critical incident technique is an exploratory
qualitative method of research that has been shown to be both reliable and valid in
generating a comprehensive and detailed description of a situation The emphasis
was on incidents (things which actually happened and were directly observed)
which were critical (things which signi1047297cantly affected the outcome) (Woolsey
1986) All participants were asked to re1047298ect on one incident each week that appearedto be critical to them Analysis of each critical incident involved an examination of
language used by participants in their written narratives Participants responded to
eight prompts when reporting their critical incidents The prompts were designed to
lead participants to discuss a speci1047297c teachinglearning event they experienced or
observed and then to re1047298ect on the educational signi1047297cance of the event
Each critical incident narrative was coded looking 1047297rst for preliminary categories
then reread and altered as additional themes and patterns emerged (Straus amp Corbin
1990) Analysis was informed by Strauss and Corbinrsquos (1990) open and axial
coding procedures Open coding allowed for an examination of the data as a whole
with repeating elements and recurring themes noted and categorized Once initial
themes had been identi1047297ed they were isolated for further analysis in a second stage
This second stage of analysis proceeded through iterative reviews beginning in the
1047297rst review to code comments as they related to the language used by participants
This descriptive coding identi1047297ed initial categories of re1047298ection Once the
descriptive coding established these initial categories subsequent reviews of all
comments were used for validation This ldquorespondent triangulationrdquo (Hammersleyamp Atkinson 1993) enabled the adjusting of categories or the creation of new ones
to accommodate all assertions relative to the emergent themes
Analysis of the language used by both groups of participants revealed a pattern
of expression that allowed the researchers to identify 1047297ve distinct themes These
themes are described in this study as phases of re1047298ection The term phase was
utilized to denote a stage of thinking employed by the participants Phase as
de1047297ned by Merrian-Webster on-line is an aspect or part (as of a problem) under
consideration Building on former research re1047298ections were analyzed initially using
themes that had emerged from previous research (Harris Bruster Peterson amp Shutt
2010) The 1047297ve themes or phases used in this study had been generated using open
coding The phases applied to the data were (1) the descriptive phase (2) the
inquisitive phase (3) the investigative phase (4) the interdependent phase and (5)
the global phase Each phase is de1047297ned and outlined below Following the de1047297nition
174 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
of each phase of re1047298ection is a quote from one or more of the participants that
demonstrated evidence of each speci1047297c phase These quotes offered insight into
each phase and featured language that was representative of each
Descriptive phase
Participants who demonstrated language at the descriptive phase often limited their
perceptions to describing events and interactions between others Descriptions
involved situations lessons projects or actions and included the setting and obser-
vations of a situation Participants complied with the basic directions that is ldquoto
re1047298ect on a critical incident rdquo There appeared to be no evidence of critical thought
in their writing As we read and analyzed re1047298ective entries examples that illustrated
the descriptive phase emerged A particular student from the weblogging group
wrote the following re1047298ection
ldquoThis week my mentor teacher began TCAP review I did more observing this weekThis was good for me since I havenrsquot had a lot of opportunity to just observe mymentor teacher TCAP review can sound very boring and overwhelming Howevermy mentor teacher likes to make things fun and interesting for her students Sheturned review into a game for the class to identify areas in which students neededextra practice and reinforcement The schoolrsquos PTO group has raised money this year to purchase a responder computer system to work with the smart boards the school isadding to the classrooms The responder system has a computer keyboard ldquoresponder rdquoin which they can type an answer and send it to the smart board The system willshow how many correct and incorrect responses there was to each question Thestudents love to use this technology They couldnrsquot wait to come to class to use thecomputers not even knowing they were reviewing for TCAPrdquo
The descriptive phase is represented in this entry because this participant explained
classroom events but failed to provide theory or analysis to support the description
Although this participant ful1047297lled the requirement to re1047298ect this entry was strictly
descriptive in nature and there was no introspective element evident in this narrative
Inquisitive phase
Language at the inquisitive phase involved evidence of questioning or pondering
professional practice Participants examined pedagogical decisions and made
inquiries about professional actions They began to question their ability to be effec-
tive in the classroom while some questioned their decision to teach Participants
appeared to demonstrate an awareness of multiple problems and dilemmas in theclassroom Many participants expressed concerns about their limited knowledge and
lack of skills to con1047297dently resolve classroom issues Re1047298ection at the inquisitive
phase included many elements of the descriptive phase however these re1047298ections
still did not exhibit evidence of linking theory to practice Initial thoughts and ques-
tions at this phase appeared to be based on limited experiences in the classroom
and narrow understandings of teaching Upon analyzing weblogs and journal
narratives we identi1047297ed entries that illustrated the inquisitive phase A student from
the journaling group wrote
ldquoI feel really in the dark because I feel that I havenrsquot observed my mentor teacher rsquosinteraction with the students enough to get a feel for their schedule or their abilitiesyet I know this is what teachers go through at the beginning of the year but they do
Re 1047298 ective Practice 175
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
have the bene1047297t of familiarizing themselves with records grades TCAP scoresdiscussions with other teachers IEP records etc that I havenrsquot had
The main thing that makes me uneasy is planning for next week I know these classesare ability grouped for instruction which makes it somewhat easier but I donrsquot knowwhat this class has covered this year how much time they have spent discussing cer-tain concepts or their individual abilities How am I going to know which studentsneed extra support or attentionrdquo
This narrative demonstrated awareness of an element of effective teaching the
importance of using studentsrsquo prior knowledge to inform instruction ldquoI know these
classes are ability grouped for instruction hellip but I donrsquot know what has been cov-
ered this yearrdquo The participant has moved beyond description to include evidence
of concern for students Evidence of inquiry in this narrative provided a more
critical examination of the classroom situation but no alternatives were sought The
language of this entry remained at the inquisitive phase
Investigative phase
Participants at the investigative phase of re1047298ection began to explore alternatives for
problems after concerns were identi1047297ed Feedback was sought from experienced
teachers and outside resources to uncover alternative practices choices and meth-
odologies to resolve dilemmas They began to investigate theories and applications
based on their knowledge or the knowledge of others Schoumln (1983) referred to this
type of re1047298ection as retrospective thinking or ldquore1047298ection-on- actionrdquo and ldquore1047298ection-
in-actionrdquo As we analyzed journal and weblog entries examples that exempli1047297ed
the investigative phase emerged A participant from a kindergarten placement who
wrote using the weblogging format provided this example of a re1047298ection at the
investigative phase
ldquoIt wasnrsquot until my drive home that I was able to re1047298ect on what I had learned fromthis experience First I shouldnrsquot have let her use so much instruction time I shouldhave nipped it in the bud respectfully but immediately I was trying to appease her and it just urged her on Second I should not have let her be sassy to me for the rest of the day Lastly I know better than to get into a battle of wills with a kindergartenerThat is a battle a grown-up cannot win Next time I will assert myself respectfullyand not waste instructional timerdquo
The re1047298ections of this student demonstrated focused attention on the management
of the class and facilitation of instruction The participant described the situation
and moved to the investigative phase to search for credible solutions that would
allow for better use of instructional time A distinct shift in professional judgment
occurred when the participant was able to look beyond ldquoself rdquo to the well-being of
the students in the classroom
Interdependent phase
Participants at the interdependent phase were able to combine an understanding of
theory with practice This application of theory into practice was clearly demon-
strated through choices actions and decisions Classroom environments social
environment the community and academic programs were considered when
176 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
planning for the best interest of the student Social emotional and physical needs
were also considered essential to the total education of the student Participants at
this phase considered the contextual factors of cultural diversity of the class eco-
nomic differences characteristics of the students and knowledge of how the content relates to students Through analysis of the narratives we classi1047297ed entries that
illustrated the interdependent phase A participant from a fourth grade classroom
wrote the following journal entry
ldquoOn Friday I was asked to join the other fourth grade teachers school administratorsand special education representative for an IEP meeting with his father I immediately
began to understand some of the issues that have faced the school staff for years withthis child His father was immediately on the defensive because of things the student had told him at home When all was discussed and issues put out on the table it wasapparent that different things were being told and done at home and school It wasnoted that better home to school communication was needed By listening I becameaware of some of the special needs of this student that I was not aware of before Ifelt that this meeting made me better prepared for him to come into my class it helped me to prepare him for what was expected of him so that he could be success-ful and it helped me be able to understand things from his perspective so that I wasmore sensitive to his behavior and ready to help defuse problems and guide himthrough how to better deal with situations When the meeting was over I felt likemany positive things had been accomplished The teachers and administration askedthe father what things he thought could be done on this end better and they outlinedthings which needed to be handled better at home The student was brought in andmade aware of what had been discussed and how things would be handled goingforward With everyone on the same page I feel and hope things will be better next weekrdquo
This participant clearly demonstrated an understanding of the student the school
environment and how family dynamics are all interdependent factors for the suc-
cess of the student The importance of positive home and school relationships was
recognized as a critical component in planning for the future success of the student
Global phase
At the global phase participants seemed to consider ethical moral and political
issues when making professional decisions Participants at this phase considered
issues in relation to their knowledge of teaching and learning Social action and
political in1047298uences to policies may result from re1047298ections at this phase Participantsat this level appeared con1047297dent in their teaching ability and their pedagogical focus
expanded beyond the classroom to include the community and the world Individu-
als at this level often consider moral and ethical issues that directly relate to teach-
ing practices and their profession A participant who wrote in a journal commented
ldquoI need to make sure I work to empower students to live above the pressure in theworld I need to be aware of where they come from and what they are dealing with sothat I can help give them the strength they need to survive in the worldrdquo
The language of this narrative speaks to an understanding of the far-reaching in1047298u-
ence of the larger community and the world The participant seemed to be clearly
focused on the teacher rsquos responsibility of preparing students to be successful in a
global workplace
Re 1047298 ective Practice 177
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Additional 1047297ndings
Comparison of the weblog re1047298ections and the journal re1047298ections revealed distinct
differences in the way in which language was used in each type of re1047298ective
method For example
bull Re1047298ective language used in the journaling group was formal and structured
Participants in this group appeared to view the journal re1047298ections as a courseassignment and not as a tool to inform instructional practice
bull Re1047298ections from the weblogging group were more informal and conversa-
tional These participants appeared to offer suggestions and ideas as a form of
support for each other The weblogging format seemed to allow participants
to interact with each other informally in a social-networking style
bull Weblog entries were supportive in nature especially among participants who
had previously worked together in other university courses These entries
contained af 1047297rmative or supportive language
bull Participants who weblogged appeared comfortable asking questions and
seeking advice from one another
Re1047298ective practice and critical thinking were intentionally promoted through
the use of the critical incident technique Analysis of the re 1047298ective narratives from
the weblogging group and the journaling group are reported in Table 1 Each of
Table 1 Number of re1047298ections vs phases and types
Source df Ss Ms f p
Phases of Re1047298ection 4 44866 112165 258 0190Types of Re1047298ection 1 64009 640090 1473 0018Error 4 17386 43465Total 9 126261
Figure 1 Participantsrsquo responses and phases of re1047298ectionGraphic representation of the number of responses from all participants in the study and the
phases of re1047298ection are displayed above The participants re1047298ected using traditional journalsor online weblogs The phases of re1047298ection are represented with numbers 1 thru 5description = 1 inquisitive = 2 investigative = 3 interdependent = 4 and global = 5
178 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the phases (descriptive inquisitive investigative interdependent and global) and
the two re1047298ection formats weblogging and journaling were analyzed Analysis
was conducted using a Two-way ANOVA
The results of the Two-way ANOVA clearly indicated a signi1047297cant difference between the re1047298ections of those who weblogged and the re1047298ections of those who
wrote in traditional journals with p = 0018 lt 005 From this data we con-
cluded that the method of re1047298ection either weblogging or journaling created a
difference in the results of the re1047298ections written by the participants There was
no interaction between the two re1047298ection formats The results of the data on the
phases of re1047298ection indicated that there was no signi1047297cant difference among the
phases with p = 0190 for either the webloggers or for those who wrote in
journals
Participants who wrote in weblogs re1047298ected more extensively than those who
wrote using journals There were 30 more written narratives from the participants
who weblogged
There are several possible explanations for the extensive narratives from the
weblogging participants Participants who weblogged used the technology as a
social space in order to seek advice from classmates to support each other in dif 1047297-
cult times and to celebrate accomplishments When using this venue the social
context must be described in detail in order for other webloggers to understand and be able to contribute opinions andor help The analysis revealed that the greatest
difference was seen in the descriptive phase where almost 1047297ve times more
descriptive narratives were written by those who weblogged Re 1047298ections of all par-
ticipants exhibited a consistent pattern of response at the inquisitive investigative
and interdependent phases and accounted for 45 of all re1047298ections Participants
from both groups re1047298ected at the global phase less often however the participants
in the weblogging group demonstrated more global awareness in their written narra-
tives The quantity of responses at the global phase for participants who wrote using
weblogs was considerably more than the responses from participants who wrote
using the traditional journaling format For example the webloggers responded 1047297ve
times more at the global phase compared to those who wrote in journals When
analyzing this signi1047297cant difference we referred back to the de1047297nition and language
that described the global phase in relation to the webloggers In the global phase
participants referred to ethical and moral issues related to the teaching profession
and considered issues related to their teaching The weblogging venue provided the
social experience for additional dialogue necessary to process the critical incidentThe socially constructed dialogue used among the webloggers produced opportuni-
ties for participants to process the dilemmas of the critical incident Participants
who weblogged asked for opinions got suggestions on classroom and behavioral
issues and actively invited other webloggers to weigh-in on ideas issues and
classroom concerns According to Bohn (1990) people who think together in a
coherent movement have tremendous power Individuals who know each other and
engage in dialogue have the potential to experience a coherent movement of
communication The participants who re1047298ected using the weblog had an implicit
shared process of communication The weblogging provided a venue for these
participants to share their consciousness and to be able to think and work together
Weblogging allowed the opportunity to have a shared collective understanding and
the forum to openly dialogue
Re 1047298 ective Practice 179
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Conclusion
There is little argument that re1047298ective writing is a good way to foster critical thinking
encourage self expression and give students a sense of ownership of their work A
goal of teacher preparation programs is to ensure that new teachers emerge as
successful re1047298ective practitioners Re1047298ective practice cannot be assumed in teacher
education programs it must be a construct that is purposefully integrated into the cur-
riculum of an entire program A synthesis of the 1047297ndings suggests that opportunities
for dialogue through social media provide an increased generation of inquiry that
leads to critical re1047298ection What was essential for this work was that dialogue gener-
ated through the use of web-logs was spontaneous and inquisitive in nature Without
the introduction of a mechanism for re1047298ection like the critical incident technique it
could not be assumed that re1047298ection beyond the descriptive phase would be gener-
ated This technique afforded participants the opportunity to systematically identify
and analyze the day-to-day challenges inherent in teaching Whether participants
were discussing teaching dilemmas using traditional journals or the weblogging for-
mat the critical incident technique provided a forum for in-depth re1047298ection Analysis
of the language used by participants in their re1047298ective narratives revealed 1047297ve discrete
themes that were consistent throughout this study The critical incident technique
afforded participants the venue to move beyond descriptive re1047298ection to engagement
in a more critical re1047298ective approach Participants were able to move from merely
describing an incident to questioning and investigating alternatives that allowed them
to take ownership of their teaching Data also revealed evidence of the participants rsquo
awareness of their students and an increased understanding of the teaching process
Some participants were able to connect their re1047298ections to a global awareness
expanding their pedagogical focus beyond the classroom
One of the unexpected outcomes of this study was the insight gained by the
researchers into participantsrsquo thought processes For example both researchers were
impressed when a participant connected the importance of the familyschool partner-
ship and the impact that partnership had on the success of a child in the classroom
This depth of understanding was rarely evident in the re1047298ective writing of teacher
candidates prior to this study
Regardless of the medium of re1047298ection it is imperative that teacher educators
embed opportunities for critical re1047298ective practice throughout their programs In
order to generate stronger critical analysis of teaching teacher education programs
need to incorporate a technique that fosters re1047298ection through increased opportuni-
ties for dialogue There is considerable empirical work needed to establish a full
understanding of re1047298ective thinking
Acknowledging the need for increased opportunities for re1047298ection it is essential
that teacher education programs examine new ways to promote re1047298ective practice
among teacher candidates This study was limited by the sample size future studies
are necessary with a larger pool of participants to extend this body of research
If we are serious about preparing teacher candidates to succeed in a world with
high accountability it is imperative to provide them with tools to re1047298ect critically
and think analytically about the context of their teaching
Notes on contributors
Benita Bruster is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
brusterbapsuedu She is the current editor of the Tennessee Reading Teacher Journal and
180 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
the coordinator for Literacy and Reading Her research interests include literacy criticalthinking and re1047298ective practice
Barbara Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Austin Peay State University 601 College Avenue Clarksville TN 37044 e-mail
petersonbapsuedu Her research interests include re1047298ective practice transformativelearning school-university partnerships and mentoring and teacher induction
References
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (November 2010) Teacher performance assessment consortium httpaacteorgindexphpProgramsTeacher-Performance-Assessment-Consortium-TPACteacher-performance-assessment-consortiumhtml
Bohn D (1990) On Dialogue Ojai CA David Bohn SeminarsDewey J (1933) How we think A restatement of the relation of re 1047298 ective thinking to the
educative process Boston HeathHammersley M amp Atkinson P (1993) Ethnography Principles in practice New York
NY RoutledgeHarris EA Bruster BG Peterson BR amp Shutt TR (2010) Examining and facilitating
re 1047298 ection to improve professional practice Lanham MD Rowman amp Little1047297eld Publish-ers Inc
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) Model stan-dards for beginning teacher licensing assessment and development A resource for statedialogue Washington DC Author
Merrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercomMerrian-Webster on-line httpwwwmerrian-webstercom
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (2007) httpwwwnbptsorg National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2000) Program standards for ele-
mentary teacher preparation National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationAuthor
Piaget J (1967) Six psychological studies London London University PressSchoumln DA (1983) The re 1047298 ective practitioner New York Basic BooksSchoumln DA (1987) Educating the re 1047298 ective practitioner Toward a new design for teaching
and learning in the professions San Francisco Jossey-BassSen B amp Ford N (2009) Developing re1047298ective practice in LIS education The SEA-
change model of re1047298ection Education for Information 27 181 ndash 195 doi 10-3233EFI-2009-0884
Shoffner M (2009) Personal attitudes and technology Implications for per-service teacher re1047298ective practice Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (2) 143 ndash 161
Stiller GM amp Philleo T (2003) Blogging and blogspots An alternative format for encouraging re1047298ective practice among pre-service teachers Education 123(4)789 ndash 797
Strauss A amp Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory proceduresand techniques California SAGE
Thuynsma B (2001) Caring in teaching Critical incidents in preservice teachersrsquo 1047297eld experiences that in 1047298 uence their career socialization Unpublished dissertation State Uni-versity of New York at Albany
Tripp D (1993) Critical incidents in teaching Developing professional judgment NewYork Routledge
Woolsey LK (1986) The critical incident technique An innovative qualitative method of research Canadian Journal of Counseling 20(4) 242 ndash 254
Valli L (1992) Re 1047298 ective teacher education Cases and critiques New York SUNY Press
Re 1047298 ective Practice 181
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3
Appendix A
Re1047298ection on Critical Incidents in Teaching
Respond to at least one critical incident each week Submit each critical incident toMilestone IV under clinical teaching ldquoextrasrdquo In addition submit one Critical Incidentunder Standard 1 Share your critical incident with your university mentor at eachweekly seminar
(1) Give a brief description of a teachinglearning incident you experienced recentlyThis can be something you observed or something you participated in
(2) What were the consequences (effects or outcomes) of this event(3) Did an educational dilemma exist If so describe it(4) Is this incident signi1047297cant enough for you to reinforce it Why or Why not(5) What if anything would you have done differently Why(6) What do you expect the students learned from this event(7) What did you learn from this event(8) What further thoughts or questions were generated from this event(9) What in your training helped you respond to the critical incident
What is a critical incident
In order to de1047297ne a critical incident think of an interaction with a learner in which a signi1047297-cant step in learning occurred ldquoCriticalrdquo in this usage means ldquosigni1047297cant rdquo or ldquorelevant rdquo It may also be interpreted to mean clearly effective or ineffective interaction For example alearner discovers a new topic for study and adjusts goals accordingly A learner asserts that certain tasks or materials are not useful to his or her goal a learner sets a different pace or scope for learning as a result of encountering an unexpected obstacle These are critical inci-dents because they clearly contribute to the evolution of an educative experience
An incident is not intended to tell the whole story of a complex relationship Rather it isintended to describe a single speci1047297c exchange some particular activity done on a particular occasion notable or interesting in itself regardless of the eventual outcome
The purpose or intent of the described incident should be fairly clear to you Your description of the incident should include the intention of the response and its apparent effects on the learner In other words what difference did your assistance or the assistanceof the person you observed make to the progress of the learner toward the goal Whenassessing the signi1047297cance of the incident you should trust your own perceptions You areencouraged to select critical incidents from current experiences but any detailed report of signi1047297cant past interactions is appropriate The important criterion for a critical incident isthat you must 1047297nd it signi1047297cant to teaching and learning
182 BG Bruster and BR Peterson
D o w n l o a d e d b y [ U n i v e r s i t y o f T e e s i d e ] a t 0 4 1 7 0 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3