Courses: Gender Communication, Sexuality and Communication. Objectives: The goals of this unit activity are for students to (1) identify their emotions about transgender people's lived experiences, (2) describe some of the challenges that transgender people face, (3) define terminology used for and among transgender people, and (4) articulate and…

This article draws on the ecological model of teacher agency and elaborates on how teacher agency is achieved, its components and how it could be strengthened. This model highlights professional competence, structural and cultural context, and professional purpose as the main elements of achieving agency. In this paper, we specify some elements of…

Within teacher education in England, self-reflective practices commonly function as a tool for student development. However, with current philosophical thought tending towards social-constructivism whereby understanding is deeply influenced by social context, the extent to which student teachers can objectively express 'themselves' must be…

During work-integrated learning (WIL), student teachers usually practice what they have learned in theory under the apprenticeship of mentor lecturers and teachers. This experience might not adequately prepare them for the complexities of full-time teaching. To address this concern, 252 student teachers worked in small groups to identify…

The growth of the Maker Movement has had a profound impact on museum education, particularly in science centers and museums that have established Maker Spaces, Fab Labs, or Tinkering Studios. While this has resulted in new educational practice taking root in these organizations, it has also raised the question of how best to support museum…

Through reflection, learning experiences that students most-frequently valued during open-ended, scaffolded problem solving in a bioengineering two-course sequence were identified in this study. Reflective knowledge of this type can inform instructors in orchestrating experiences to scaffold problem solving of this kind and were useful in directly…

To put it simply, public reflective practice is a check-in: How are we doing, what are we learning from practice, what changes are making a difference, and so on. Teachers have these kinds of conversations privately but rarely have a chance to think out loud with others about what they are coming to understand about teaching and learning. That is…

Although the COVID-19 situation was stressful for all faculty, staff, and students at Mercyhurst University, it provided a much-needed opportunity to improve assessment practices across the institution. Changing assessment reporting procedures for the 2019-2020 academic year to a more reflective, collaborative model is helping to shift faculty…

Practical Implications: ILA National Recognition program involves reflection, self-study, on-site visits by peers to support and inspire ongoing literacy teacher preparation program quality and improvement. [For the complete volume, "What's Hot in Literacy: Exemplar Models of Effective Practice. Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation.…

While districts and policymakers focus on sweeping changes to schools, teachers can get big results by making comparatively small changes to their daily practice. This companion piece to the McREL book "Tilting Your Teaching" introduces you to the seven Simple Shifts--adjustments that every teacher can make immediately to turn dodgy…

This paper explores my role as co-convener of the Network for Educational Action Research in Ireland (NEARI). NEARI is a network where action researchers convene and engage in critical reflection and dialogue around their practice. They examine how they might enhance their practice and, in doing so, seek a way in which they might improve their…

The author began a project - the Technology Reflection Project - in May of 2019. As the last few weeks of tests and projects approached, her students needed to focus on academics and finish strong. As summer approached, she wanted to reduce her screen time, get outside, connect with her family, and form good habits. The author though, "Why…

Teacher attrition is a main contributor to teacher shortages; providing effective professional development leading to increases in self-efficacy, reflective capacity, and job satisfaction may support teacher retention. Effective professional development, self-efficacy, reflective practice, and job satisfaction are all directly related to teacher…

This article explores the problems associated with a pedagogy of severity, which influences how teachers read and respond to student papers, and suggests that reflection, especially reflection-in-action, can be useful to writing instructors as they respond to their students' texts. Reflection-in-action, or the reflection that occurs while one is…

At the level of classroom practice, forms of teacher thinking are central to local processes of educational change. In the last decade, "reflexivity" has been promoted as a mode of teacher thinking which has the capacity to transform several aspects of teaching practice. The developing interest in reflexivity both emerges from, and seeks…