The Understanding of Teacher Development through Reflective Teaching

Different scholars have different views about reflective teaching， Cruickshank defines reflective teaching as the teacher’s thinking about what happens in classroom lessons， and thinking about alternative means of achieving goals or aims； he sees it as a mean to provide students with ‘an opportunity to consider the teaching event thoughtfully， analytically and objectively’. Reflective teaching includes reflection-in-action， reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action. It is an efficient way to promote teacher’s professional improvement. Why reflective teaching promote the professional development of teachers？ We can see some reasons from the following four aspects.

（1） Making Teachers Learn and Research

According to constructivists （Piaget 1970； Vygots 1993）， in the process of teacher professional development， a teacher plays an adult learner role. This is because teacher professional development is a process of self-learning， self-improving and life-long education， and because in a process of reflective teaching， a teacher needs to actively observe， analyze， and reconstruct to realize his own professional development， and this is a process of continual， life-long process. Development needs learning and education， while learning is an active process in which learners construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through action and reflection. If a teacher wants to be a good teacher， he/she has to learn， to construct his/her own profession knowledge.

In the process of reflective teaching， teachers are playing roles of learners and researchers. They learn from their own experience and colleagues and even students. They research on their own teaching with the guide of educational theories. They try to write reflection by integrating their teaching beliefs and teaching practice. In doing reflective teaching， it furthers professional development of teachers.

（2） Promoting Teachers to Explore Teaching Problems Actively

In the process of reflective teaching， teachers make critical analysis of teaching experience， especially problematic experience， so that he can take the initiative to the behavior-related factors into the teaching process. They review their own teaching based on teaching principles， and seek new ideas and new strategies to solve the teaching problems actively. According to the educator Dewey's theory， when teachers in reflection， they should be think about their actions consciously and actively， even if it is not satisfactory or very tired they will also persevere. So that reflective teaching is a good way to promote teacher’s professional improvement.

（3） Improving Teacher’s Self-awareness and Self-observation

Teacher professional development is a process of improvement of the capacity of self-awareness and self-observation. Self-awareness of a teacher means that the teacher has capacity to recognize and monitor his/her teaching. Self-awareness give opportunities for teacher profession development. Self-observation is a way to increase one’s awareness. Self-observation refers to monitor her/his own behavior as a teacher.

In the process of reflective teaching， teachers are trying to externalize their abstract thinking， making their thinking visual and then becoming self-aware on their teaching. In the process of reflective teaching， they are trying to self-observe and self-monitor their teaching. When teachers realize the significant of their development and resolve serious problems in teaching， they tend to construct actively. This shows that reflective teaching is helpful for teachers’ development.

（4）Enhancing the Professional Ethics of Teachers

In general， teachers lack of professional ethics， unless they forced by external pressure， or they will not reflect their teaching behavior consciously. And reflective teaching is to enhance the sense of responsibility of teachers as a breakthrough， from the teachers’ internal aspects to promote their professional development， so it promotes the change of teacher education behavior not only includes rational factors， but also contains emotional factors. To implement reflective teaching， teachers must have an open mind. Responsibility is a premise for teachers to reflect their teaching behavior consciously， it can improve teachers' reflection ability. Wholehearted teachers often check their own assumptions， beliefs， and the results of their actions， to form a new understanding of teaching phenomenon. To form a good habit of reflection， it can not only improve the lack of teaching practice， but also can make teaching really student-oriented. Reflective teaching will contribute to the formation of teachers' moral sense， which is conducive to the professional development of teachers.

In a word， though reflective teaching is not the only way for teachers professional development， it is the most efficient way for teachers development. C.L.Posner has came up with a brief formula for teachers’ development： experience + reflection = development. And he pointed out that no reflection of experience is a narrow experience， it can only form superficial knowledge. If the teacher is only satisfied with the gaining experience and without thinking in depth of experience， then his/her development will be greatly restricted. Thus it can be seen that the significant of reflective teaching for teachers' development.

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