Class 2 (Sept 11) Entrance Slip - On Becoming a Reflective Teacher

The part about how “prospective teachers very quickly adopt beliefs and practices of those university and school instructors with whom they work” really spoke to me. It made me think of how I wanted to focus more on learning physics through observation after going to my first field experience and seeing how engaging and fun his classes were. I realized after reading this passage that I, too, have adopted the beliefs of my school advisor at the time. I think the reason the author said this could be because in this program, we are all like sponges absorbing all the information given to us. However, after reading this article, I realized that while listening to and absorbing the information, it is also important for us to critically reflect on the information given to us in order to be a reflective teacher. I agree with the article that wholeheartedness is important in teaching. We are committed to teaching ALL students, so we need to actively find different ways of sharing our knowledge that makes sense to all, being open minded about the content, methods, and procedures, and actively thinking why we are doing what we are doing in the classroom. 

From this article, I understood the purpose of doing all those reflections in education classes, so that we are not passively absorbing the information. And I learned to start being a reflective teacher by finding what my current beliefs are, reflecting on my beliefs, examining the assumptions under my beliefs, comparing my beliefs to other people’s beliefs, and considering the consequences for me and others of holding the beliefs. From this article, I realized that I want to become a reflective teacher. I want to try my best to not force my own beliefs on students, but instead, share my beliefs and be open to listening to the beliefs of my students.