1. The role of reflective teaching in teacher education

Descriptive Writing
This entails simple description of events and/ or actions that have occurred in time and place. No attempt is made to provide any reason(s) or give justification for such happenings. Nor is any alternative action explored to address the situation. A teacher can use this level of reflection, describing it in simple written statements, or orally, with children of any age, individually or in groups, or in the whole class. A teacher, after teaching a lesson, can ask the students to narrate the main points of the lesson transacted. An illustration of this level of reflection, as observed by a class teacher. For example; teacher went to the class. Students were making noise. They settled down in a few minutes and teacher started teaching. Teacher was to teach ‘metals and non-metals’. Teacher had prepared a chart. Teacher showed the chart to the students, explained the important points and asked them to jot these down in their notebooks. Teacher observed that some students did not jot down the main points nor did they pay any attention, when teacher was teaching the lesson.
Descriptive Reflection
The second level of reflection, that is, “Descriptive Reflection”, though also descriptive in nature, goes much deeper than the first level. The teacher makes an attempt to provide a rationale for reporting the events. For example; students soon settled down and teacher started teaching. Teacher had planned to teach ‘metals and non-metals’, and had prepared a chart for the same. Students grasp an abstract concept more easily if it is presented in a concrete form such as charts. Teacher asked them to jot down important points in their notebooks. Since a few students did not jot down the main points. Teacher tried to analyse the reasons for their behaviour and found that they did not find anything important enough for noting.
Dialogic Reflection
This demonstrates a “stepping back” from the events or actions, leading to different levels of mulling about, discourse with self, and exploring the experiences vis-a-vis different ways or criteria of judging an event or action, based on alternative explanations found for the same happenings. Here, a discourse or talk with oneself is initiated, to reflect on the recognition of inconsistencies in one’s own thinking and rationale. This third level of reflection, obviously is deeper than that of the first and second levels, where the teacher steps back and ponders over the events or actions that occurred in the class and to contemplate alone, on how to address the problem. For example; The topic to be covered was a tough one. Teacher was aware of this and had prepared a chart of metals and non-metals for greater clarity. Teacher believed that concrete examples in the form of charts would help in understanding metals and non-metals. Teacher was not very successful, as there were many students who did not learn the concept. Teacher could have shown them metals and non-metals, such as iron, aluminium, carbon, and sulphur. Teacher was further irritated by Tushar’s question. Was his question valid? Or was he just interrupting the class to catch attention? Should teacher have scolded him? Or should teacher have discussed his question? Can an element be converted into another element?