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Encouraging reflection inpreservice teachers throughresponse journalsJennifer M. Good a & Patricia A. Whang ba Department of Curriculum and Teaching ,Auburn University ,b Field‐Based Teacher Education , California StateUniversity‐Monterey Bay , Monterey BayPublished online: 20 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Jennifer M. Good & Patricia A. Whang (2002) Encouragingreflection in preservice teachers through response journals, The Teacher Educator,37:4, 254-267, DOI: 10.1080/08878730209555299

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08878730209555299

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ENCOURAGING REFLECTION IN PRESERVICE TEACHERSTHROUGH RESPONSE JOURNALS

Jennifer M. GoodDepartment of Curriculum and Teaching, Auburn University

Patricia A. WhangField-Based Teacher Education, California State University-Monterey Bay

Abstract

Reflection is an essential quality that needs to be instilled in preserviceteachers in order for them to experience success in the classroom (Groce,Henson, & Woods, 1999; Hatton & Smith, 1995; Lin, Gorrell, & Porter,1999); however, the teaching of reflection and meaning making is sometimesexpected by instructors yet left untaught as a skill (Salvatori, 1996). Thepurpose of this study is to provide a tool for the teaching of reflection amongpreservice teachers-the response journal. Response journals can create anartifact of thinking (Pritchard, 1993) that offers a mechanism for reflecting,applying, and questioning. This study chronicles the use of journals in arequired undergraduate educational psychology course, offers a template forthe incorporation of response journals, and suggests relevant prompts andevaluation methods. In addition, the study provides a summary of preserviceteachers' perceptions of and final responses to the response journals that arecompiled throughout the course of instruction.

Teaching is a complex activity. On any given day, a teacher can beconfronted with a wide array of demands, expectations, and possibilities.The level of complexity prevalent in the teaching profession presents achallenge for teacher educators who have a responsibility to preparepreservice teachers for the day that they will step into their classroomsand be recognized as professionals. Groce, Henson, and Woods (1999)defined the "development of thoughtful reflectivity in teachers" as one ofthe cornerstones of teacher professionalization. Some teacher educatorspresent students with educational theories, yet they do not give theirstudents the chance or the instructional medium to transform thesetheories into practical applications or philosophies through thoughtfulreflection. Thus, teacher educators should be concerned with providingopportunities for their students to reflect upon the principles thatstructure classroom life and practice.

Reflection can be construed as a conversation with oneself(Richardson, as cited in Seifert, 1999) or as engagement in reflexive andquestioning thought that promotes self-knowledge (Hoshmand, 1994).

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All future educators have formed both explicit and implicit beliefs aboutteaching and learning based on their personal experiences. Therefore,cultivating reflective practitioners who recognize the effects of thesebeliefs becomes important (Holt-Reynolds, 1992). Teacher educatorsmust provide preservice teachers with opportunities to consciouslyexamine decisions in order to incorporate, alter, or abandon certainpractices or perceptions (Norris, 1994). Through active reflection,preservice teachers can "construct their own learning through aninteraction among their beliefs, their prior knowledge, and theirexperiences" (Lin et al., 1999, p. 5).

Occasionally, instructors do not actively teach or provideopportunities for reflection. Instead, instructors sometimes assignreading material without considering how to actively engage students inthe construction of meaning (Salvatori, 1996). Some educators expectstudents to engage in self-reflection even if they have never been giventhe opportunity to learn or acquire this skill. To combat this dilemma,Salvatori suggested that teacher educators engage in the followingactivities:

teaching reading and writing as interconnected activities, teaching students how toperform critically, and self-reflexively, those recuperative acts by means of whichthey can conjecture an argument and can establish a responsible critical dialoguewith it, as well [as] with the text they compose in response to it. (p. 250)

It is not enough to merely expose students to potentially useful theoriesthat they read in secondary texts. Teacher educators should movestudents to question, adopt, personalize, and reflect. Thus, aninstructional tool that encourages reflection while also demonstratingthat educational theories "have clear relevance to the decisions that aclassroom teacher must make on an ongoing basis" (Ormrod, 1998,p. iii) becomes essential in educational foundations courses.

Many teacher educators find that nurturing reflection and meaning-making skills in students can be a challenging task. Is it theresponsibility of teacher educators to offer students the opportunity tomake relevant meaning that will connect their personal lives with theirprofessional belief systems? According to Farris and Fühler (1996),"involving preservice teachers in an in-depth analysis of their ownthinking would be valuable learning, indeed" (p. 29). In other words, itis the duty of teacher educators to facilitate the transformation ofpreservice teachers into reflective practitioners. Response journalsprovide a method of inviting preservice teachers to actively engage inreflective thinking: "Urging preservice teachers to incorporate journalsinto their instruction is sound teaching, for there are numerous practicalbenefits to having students of all ages write" (Farris & Fühler, 1996,p. 27).

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Simply stated, "a response journal is a notebook or folder in whichstudents record, in a variety of formats, their personal reactions to,questions about, and reflections on what they read, write, observe, listento, discuss, do, and think" (Parsons, 1994, p. 12). When keptcontinuously, the journal becomes an "artifact of thinking" (Pritchard,1993, p. 24) that can be repeatedly re-visited. Parsons (1994) capturedthe importance of a response journal in the following statement:

In any classroom, regardless of subject area, and at any given time, students aretrying to make sense out of what's going on to determine what relevance, if any,it all has with their own personal lives. Since each student is centered in adifferent subjective context, each one finds the experience colored in a differentway. (p. 7)

The response journal allows preservice teachers to "make sense" ofeducational theories while personalizing them, applying them, anddetermining their relevance to educational philosophies and practices.

Essentially, response journals allow students to ask questions, admitconfusion, make connections, identify with others, and grow and changeideologically (Parsons, 1994). If the students' response journals havebeen implemented effectively, students will be able to trace theirevolving thoughts and perspectives throughout their coursework. Theywill be able to see the gradual changes in their thinking dispositions,perspectives, and beliefs. By reflecting back on their earlier journalentries, students can begin to assess their evolving understanding of thecomplexities inherent in teaching and learning. When reading responsejournals, Wilson (1989) is often "struck by their richness, by the sensethey give us of complex processes unfolding" (p. 63).

The purpose of this article is to describe an instructional tool thatcan be readily adopted in educational foundations courses in order tohelp preservice teachers develop into reflective practitioners. This studyprovides a practical template, replete with procedural suggestions,directions for assigning and grading, ideas for appropriate prompts, andresponses from students, which will make the use of response journalsmanageable and beneficial in preservice teachers' foundations courses.

The Nuts and Bolts of the Response Journal in Practice

Course Overview and Journal MethodologyThe journals were used in two separate sections of undergraduate

educational psychology. Each section was taught by a differentinstructor. The two instructors met and communicated regularly aboutthe development, assigning, and evaluating of the journals. In thisparticular College of Education, educational psychology was one of thecore educational foundation requirements for all undergraduate studentsseeking teacher certification. The course did not require a fieldexperience component; however, a requirement for acceptance into the

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Teacher Education program included a full week of observation in aschool. Forty-seven undergraduate students were enrolled in the twosections of the course. Most of the 47 students were second semestersophomores or juniors who were beginning to complete their corecourses in the College of Education. Attendance was comprised of avariety of students, including those in elementary, secondary, specialeducation, and physical education programs.

In order to garner their initial reactions to the idea of journaling, thepreservice teachers were asked to respond to a largely open-ended survey.The responses to the survey were analyzed using a content analysis. Theinstructors compared their analyses for triangulation of the data. As afinal journal prompt, students were asked to evaluate the course ingeneral. The students were given a completely open-ended prompt todetermine if journaling emerged as an important aspect or educationalexperience of this course.

AssigningIn order to make clear the expectations regarding journals, students

were told on the first day of class that they would be expected to keep aresponse journal throughout the course of instruction. According toKerka (1996), in order "to overcome the blank sheet of paper that open-ended journals present, learners should be given some guidelines" (p. 2).The following instructions were included on course syllabi in order tomake the concept of a response journal an understandable tool for thestudents:

You will need a standard (8 1/2X11) loose leaf binder to use as a journal. Yourjournal should accompany you to each class session. Please write only on the frontof each page; the backs will be used for comments from your reflection partnerand the instructor. Required journal responses will include guided readingresponses, developmental activities, and in-class critical reflections, which applythe theories we discuss to actual practice. Completely fill each page beforeproceeding to a new page. Number your pages in the upper right-hand corner.The first page of your journal will be your title page, which you will complete onthe last day of class. The second page will be the table of contents. As each journalentry is assigned, you should enter the title of the assignment in the table ofcontents and indicate the page number on which the entry begins.

The purpose of this journal is to provide you with an opportunity to engage inauthentic reflection. Authentic reflection means that you have provided evidenceof really grappling with issues, concepts, and theories. Perhaps you raise insightfulquestions, draw parallels between theories or concepts, or provide meaningfulexamples of the ways that ideas or concepts might be used in your classroom.

Through these instructions, the teacher educator defined the logistics ofthe response journals for the students, and the students could begin toform an understanding of the response journal's purpose in the overallcourse, with emphasis on the definition and initiation of authenticreflection regarding educational theories.

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Responding and Reacting in the JournalFor this particular application of response journals, preservice

teachers responded to various journal prompts prior to, during, and afterclass discussions throughout the entire quarter of instruction. Accordingto Kerka (1996), if inadequate guiding prompts are provided, learnershave difficulty responding reflectively. Thus, clear prompts were offeredinitially to the preservice teachers to help direct and guide theirresponses. Often, the journal response prompt would directly relate tooutside assigned reading material. The prompts covered an array oftopics, ranging from establishing connections between theory andpractice to developing a professional ideology. (See Appendix for list ofsuggested prompts.) The prompts also required the students to respondin nontraditional formats, such as concept maps, poetry, collages, andcharts. The purpose of the guided prompts was to provide some focus tothe desired reflection and personal meaning making. It should be notedthat it was also necessary for students to develop their own entries inorder to meet the page requirements. Within the structure afforded bythe assigned prompts, students had the freedom to pursue their ownconcerns and interests. As the students' reflection skills improved, theycould deviate from the prompts and begin to create, choose, and refinetheir own responses.

To assist preservice teachers in engaging actively in meaning making,the instructors asked the students to select a "journal buddy" with whomthey would work regularly throughout the quarter. The journal buddywould read and react to the student's journal selections. After tradingjournals, they would write responses, reactions, arguments, andconnections to their buddy's selections on the opposite, blank page of thejournal. This encouraged students to become part of a discourseconcerning teaching methods, theories, beliefs, and ideologies. Moreover,both a questioning disposition and a disposition to think broadly wereexercised because students had to react and respond to alternativeperspectives (Tishman, Perkins, & Jay, 1995). In order to model effectivepeer responses, the instructors held discussions about what constituteshelpful and insightful feedback. Volunteers also read entries aloud togenerate discussion and allow for critique and exchange of ideas fromfellow classmates.

GradingIn addition to the consistent feedback that journal owners received

from their journal buddies, the instructors responded to each journaltwice during the quarter. Although both instructors used journaling asan instructional tool, they varied slightly in their grading methods. Oneinstructor allowed students to select when they wanted to turn in theirjournals for feedback, whereas the other instructor preferred to distributethe turning in of journals by assigning dates alphabetically. Both

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instructors attempted grading in cycles in order to prevent beingoverwhelmed by large numbers of journals that required feedback at thesame time. The instructor read the journals and commented selectivelyto add insights or probe thinking. The intent of the instructors' readingof the journal entries on this first iteration of feedback was not to assigna grade or assess writing ability. Rather, the intent was to spark furtherreflection from the students.

For the second round of feedback, the students turned in theirjournals at the end of the term. They were asked to identify a specificnumber of the most telling and compelling entries regarding theirgrowth as future teachers that they wanted formally graded for content,form, and thought. This, along with their meeting minimum pagerequirements (e.g., 40 pages for an A, 30 for a B) and the grading of twoof their responses to their partners, constituted the grade for theirjournals. Through this method of evaluation, students received bothformative feedback as well as summative feedback. The students clearlyunderstood minimum requirements, allowing them to negotiate part oftheir grade. In addition, the act of selecting entries for formal evaluationrequired even greater depth and reflection during the grading process.

Some Sample ResponsesSelected segments of entries are presented here to provide a small

sampling of authentic reflection that occurred as a result of usingresponse journals. In order to protect the identity of the students,pseudonyms have replaced their actual names. This portion of the studyis not intended to provide an in-depth content analysis of responses.Rather, samples are included in order to demonstrate the richness ofresponses and the depth of reflection that can occur through thepreservice teachers' written comments. Also, the samples help todemonstrate the individuality that becomes apparent among thepreservice teachers as they begin to develop their professional identities.

In response to a prompt asking the preservice teachers to share theirviews regarding classroom management, Marie wrote the following:

I've seen a lot of different problems in teachers. Some of these problems includeintimidation of students, not listening, not understanding problems (physical,emotional, and mental) associated with a child, yelling, having no compassion,and over strictness. Teachers who have these problems generally do not evaluatethemselves and change unless guided to do so.

In this segment of an entry, Marie possibly demonstrated that she candraw upon personal experiences in order to assess poor managementpractices. She also demonstrated that she is beginning to define herviews regarding characteristics of successful teachers and noting theimportance of self-evaluation and reflection.

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In another response, Tina was asked to react to a definition oflearning by a renowned educational theorist presented in the textbook.Tina replied in her journal:

This is a kind of generic definition to me. I think learning is knowing how to dosomething that you didn't know before. It's very important to understand thatpeople don't necessarily have to be instructed to learn, but they do have to betaught. Teaching can be something as simple as an environmental stimulus.

In this response, Tina demonstrated that the journal provided a safehaven for an honest response. She could disagree with printed andaccepted text. In addition, Tina began to articulate her own definition oflearning, one that countered what she had read.

In the next sample, Sarah connected a quotation from a book shewas reading to the class discussion:

"Teaching is primarily a matter of love." We can find something in everyone tolove. We talked about this in class today, and I think it is so true. And I think thatit is vitally important. As a teacher I will be with my students for 7 hours each dayfor 9 months out of the year. So the influence I have will be great.

Sarah's response demonstrated that she is actively connecting theassigned reading and the classroom discussion in her journal. She alsoformulated her own views of herself as a teaching professional andrecognized the potential impact she will have on her students.

At the end of the quarter, the preservice teachers were asked to readthrough their entire journal and design a cover that reflected its contents.Daren entitled his journal "We Have Different Gifts" and included apicture of a wrapped present below his title. Beneath the picture was theverse, "If a man's gift is teaching, let him teach," (Romans 12:7) and thefollowing mantra: "May I teach whole-heartedly, giving my completeability and, in so doing, recognizing the special gifts in each of mystudents." Through this simple response, Daren has shaped hisphilosophy of teaching into a brief summation. He has also connectedthis philosophy to personal spiritual beliefs from his earlier lifeexperiences. He has reflected back on the contents of his journal and

projected forward to his future career.

What Are Students' Reactions and Beliefs About Journals?

Initial ThoughtsThe initial comments from the students in response to the open-

ended survey given at the beginning of the course indicated that studentspredicted benefits from journaling. The benefits listed by the studentsdivided into four clear themes: enhance thinking skills, demonstrate andmonitor progress, offer opportunities to connect past personal eventswith future development (reflection), and provide moments for self-evaluation.

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More specifically, 15 of the 47 students (32%) saw journals as anopportunity to enhance thinking, to creatively and privately questionideas and issues in a logical and organized manner. This was intimatedby Jane's comment that "a journal helps you think about certain topicsin more detail and also helps you become more creative as you thinkabout the topics."

Twelve of the 47 students (25%) felt as though journals would helpto demonstrate and monitor their progress and development throughoutthe quarter as they began to define themselves as teachers. Consider theinsights of Lauren, who possibly had already used journaling: "I thinkthe journal is a wonderful tool for self-evaluation. I think it is veryhelpful in personal assessment of progress." Similarly, Matthew statedthat a journal could "help in keeping up with what the student learnseach day/week. It would help record progress in learning." Sarah notedthat journals would help students and instructor to "visualize" thechange, growth, and development of the students in the class.

Nine students (19%) commented that journals would allow them toreflect upon their past experiences and connect to their future actionsand decisions, and six (13%) of the students commented upon a journalas a mechanism of self-evaluation. The remaining students who did notfall into one of the mentioned patterns viewed journals as a mere tool toassist in recall or the improvement of writing skills. Courtney, however,seemed to capture the multi-faceted benefits of journals: "A journalprovides access to thoughts we have that might have been forgotten intime. It also makes you think and develop ideas so they can be writtenand understood by others." Note how Courtney's commentencompassed the private voice that connects to past personalexperiences, as well as a public declaration and sharing of thedevelopment of ideas.

Over half of the students (53%) had kept personal journals at somepoint in their lives, although only 35% of the students had ever beenasked to keep any form of a journal as a requirement in a college course.Their earlier comments, recognizing possible benefits of the journal,combined with the low percentages of students who had actually usedjournals suggested that the students were not averse to journal writing,yet most had not engaged in journal writing as an educational tool. Thepurpose of keeping personal journals (private reflection and spiritualgrowth) tended to be far different from the intent of the responsejournals (the creation of a public and professional ideology). Somestudents expressed concern over journals as "busy work" or a "waste oftime." They also stated that the journals should only account for amodest portion of the final course grade.

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The students' initial impressions of journals seemed paradoxical.Although their responses varied according to the themes that emerged,the overall majority of the students clearly stated potential benefits ofjournals as a learning tool, yet upon further inquiry the students weresomewhat ambivalent about the effectiveness of journal assignments.Simply stated, the students tended to feel uncomfortable about the ideaof creating, freely responding, and being challenged to articulate theirthoughts and understanding in nontraditional formats. Possibly, thetraditional class format, which encourages transmission of knowledgerather than transaction, was more familiar and comfortable. Thecomments intimated that the students felt more comfortable withcompleting minimum requirements to earn a satisfactory grade thanbeing openly challenged to express opinions or actively apply theories.

Later ThoughtsA final journal prompt was given to the students to solicit feedback

on the entire course. The instructors opted not to ask specifically aboutthe journals in an effort to determine whether the journals emerged asan important instructional tool in the course without guiding thestudents' responses in that direction; nonetheless, 64% of the studentsopted to comment on the journals as a significant aspect of the course.Three major themes emerged on this topic. These themes underscore theways in which use of the journals fostered the use of each student's"inherent intellectual powers in productive and probing ways" (Tishmanet al., 1995, p. 38). This is important because what distinguishes a goodthinker from an average thinker is not superior cognitive abilities, buthow abilities are used.

The first theme noted by half of the students who opted tocomment on the journals was that the journal required students toorganize their thinking. As explained by Brittany, "This journal helpedme keep my thoughts about this class together and organized and gaveme the opportunity for personal thought and probing." Similarly, Janestated that she "particularly enjoyed the journal assignments. I feel that ithas helped me sort out my facts and my opinions. I feel it will help mein the future to look back and remember the important foundation thatI set here."

A second emergent theme (noted by approximately 40% of thestudents) revolved around the ways in which journals encouraged depthof thought and the construction of meaning. Steve made this point:

The journal is one thing that you don't enjoy as much while you're doing it, butafterwards realize that you are better off because of it. I enjoyed the journal causeit really got me thinking, like when I was reading, rather than reading informationthat's just going to be on a test.

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Certainly, as suggested by Rosenblatt (1978), this student has engagedin active transaction with the reading material. Similarly, Sarahcommented that the journals helped her "to really see your views andstances when you write." Thus, the journals helped to achieve thereflection, probing, and meaning making among the students, activitiesin which teacher educators hope to engage preservice teachers. Possibly,the variety of prompts given to the students encouraged them to thinkabout theories of educational psychology in a multitude of ways.Interestingly, students demonstrated their ability to argue and questionconcepts, theories, and authors presented in the course content. It wasnot uncommon to see journal entries beginning with phrases such as "Idon't think" or "I disagree." Students could openly question the ideasthey were confronting as they made meaning of them and applied themto their own lives.

The third theme, and perhaps the most rewarding, was that 30% ofthe students viewed the journal as a resource that will be valuable tothem when they start their actual teaching careers. Jean stated this wellwhen she commented that, "I also think that these journals will be usefulto use later on in our careers. They're something to look back on andrefer to. I'll probably keep a new one when I start teaching." Janice alsocaptured the importance of journals as a resource in her comment:

Keeping a journal helped me to reflect on myself as an individual. My thoughtsand feelings felt really organized. I hope when I am a teacher, I will remember howhelpful the journal in this class was and keep a journal of my students. When Ireflected on the topics we covered in this class, I learned more about them andunderstood them better. I think this is so because I applied them to my life andwas able to give an opinion. When keeping a journal on my students, I will bebetter able to understand them. I will also be able to use this journal to look backand reflect on my students' behavior.

Interestingly, Janice was able to take the response journal format andplan on changes and adaptations in order to make the formatmanageable in her future career. Although she kept a response journalthat revealed information about herself as a learner and teacher, sheintended to do the same with her students to explore their strengths aswell. Eighteen percent of the students, in addition to recognizing thepersonal benefits of the journals, stated that they planned to continuejournals in some form in their future careers. In essence, the studentsbegan to form their professional identities in these journals, and as theycontinue to develop professionally, they anticipate using journals as amethod to assist them.

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Final Reflections on Journals

Smith (1995) reviewed the current state of education and warnedthat our system has become inundated with disastrous, negativemisconceptions and beliefs. Smith advocated the following:

When we focus on teaching specific skills, students frequently fail to learn themand rarely become enthusiastic about engaging in them voluntarily. When weconsider engaging our students in interesting and comprehensible activities, thenthey learn, (p. 13)

Based on the comments of the preservice teachers engaged in this educa-tional psychology course, the journals were interesting and meaningful.In fact, some of the preservice teachers involved in this course intendedto continue journaling during their teaching careers.

The prompts and activities generated in the journals assisted thestudents in authentic and applicable learning. Related to this notion,Smith (1995) stated the following:

Instead of talking all the time about what teachers should teach and what studentsshould learn, we should talk about what teachers and students should do. Weshould talk about experiences that they should be mutually engaged in, involvingreading, writing, imagining, creating, calculating, constructing, producing andperforming, (p. 113)

The journals provided the preservice teachers with the opportunity toconstruct, create, read, write, and collaborate. Although the promptswere meant to initiate these activities, an additional array of promptswould benefit the students by allowing more choice and ownershipduring future iterations of journal use in this course.

Hatton and Smith (1995) stated that reflective practitioners areformed in teacher education when preservice teachers develop their ownphilosophy of teaching, investigate teaching in collaborativeenvironments, recognize the problematic nature of teaching,demonstrate sensitivity to diverse backgrounds, monitor programimplementation, and build a repertoire of skills. Response journalsencourage all of these professional characteristics. The journals allowedthe students to discover a private voice and to share this voice with theinstructor and fellow classmates. The voice reflectively expressed views,challenged others, applied knowledge, and grappled with thedevelopment of a professional identity through the explicit articulationand creation of personal and professional ideologies. Possibly, withfuture journal use in educational psychology and other foundationscourses, instructors can encourage students to publicly voice theirphilosophies and instructional choices with more confidence, using theirjournals as a medium to organize their private thoughts.

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Wasserman (1999) challenged those of us working with preserviceteachers to move beyond providing.answers to providing tools that allowstudents to do the following:

Perceive dilemmas with intelligence and sensitivity, and to make thoughtful,informed decisions that guide their teaching actions—tools that help themnavigate the murky seas of uncertainty, so that they are not hopelessly adrift.These tools might include learning to use knowledge to make meaning of what ishappening in their classroom, learning to make teaching decisions that areappropriate to the meanings being made, and learning to evaluate the effectivenessof those decisions, (p. 466)

Teacher educators can provide that tool to students by using responsejournals.

References

Farris, P. J., & Fuhler, C. J. (1996). Using response journals with preserviceteachers. The Clearing House, 70, 26-29.

Groce, E. C., Henson, R. K., & Woods, B. S. (1999, April). The examination ofpreservice teachers' journals for reflective thought patterns concerningprofessionalism. Paper presented at the meeting of the American EducationalResearch Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (ERIC DocumentReproduction Service No. ED 436 481)

Hatton, N., & Smith, D. (1995). Reflection in teacher education: Towardsdefinition and implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11, 33-49.

Hoshmand, L. L. T. (1994). Orientation to inquiry in a reflective professionalpsychology. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

Holt-Reynolds, D. (1992). Personal history-based beliefs as relevant priorknowledge in course work. American Educational Research fournal, 29, 325-349.

Kerka, S. (1996). Journal writing and adult learning (Report No. EDO-CE-96-174). Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, andVocational Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED399 413)

Lin, H., Gorrell, J., & Porter, K. (1999, November). The road to preserviceteachers' conceptual change. Paper presented at the meeting of the Mid-SouthEducational Research Association, Point Clear, AL. (ERIC DocumentReproduction Service No. ED 436 508)

Norris, L. (1994). Representation and reflection: A preservice teachersunderstanding of collaborative planning. In L. Flower, D. L. Wallace, L.Norris, & R. E. Burnett (Eds.), Making thinking visible: Writing,collaborative planning, and classroom inquiry (pp. 243-255). Urbana, IL:National Council for Teachers of English.

Ormrod, J. E. (1998). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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Appendix

Suggestions for Journal Prompts

1. Select your favorite three quotations from the reading and explain how they applyto your views as a future teacher.

2. Create a collage that represents all of your perspectives on the reading and thenwrite a paragraph to explain the pictures in your collage.

3. Create a chart that compares the learning theorists we have studied. Beside thetheories you list, be certain to explain their relevance to you as a future teacher.

4. Draw a visual representation of the theory we discussed in class and be ready toexplain and share it with your journal buddy.

5. Trace your own social and cognitive development using the theorists we have dis-cussed as your guides.

6. Create a chart with three columns representing what you already know about thereading topic, what questions you have, and what you learned. Complete the firstcolumn prior to reading, the second column while reading, and the third columnat the completion of reading.

7. Select and respond to any one of the following prompts:"As a thinker, I am . . .""As a student, I am . . . ""As a teacher, I will be . .."

8. Three stops: Choose three stopping places during the reading. At each stop, pauseand write down your reactions, reflections, applications, questions, and connec-tions to the reading material.

9. Create interviews with authors and theorists.10. Create a cover page that represents your entire journal and development as a

teacher. Explain the cover page in a journal reflection.11. Evaluate your development as a teacher. What areas do you consider to be your

weakest? What areas will be your strongest? Using the ideas and theories we havediscussed this quarter, what will you change to address your weaknesses?

12. Write a last chapter to the book.13. Record words that were essential to the thesis of this chapter. Use those words to

write a poem.14. Use the journal to record pre- and post-teaching philosophy statements. The

post-teaching statement can include reflections on how your understanding ofteaching has evolved.

15. Create a concept map of prior understanding of a topic. Use a different coloredpen or pencil to indicate changes or growth in understanding after you have con-sidered and studied the topic at length.

16. Draw a picture of your "ideal" classroom. Compare the drawing with suggestionsof the "authorities."

17. Write a final letter to the course instructor evaluating the class. What activitiesmost helped you to apply the theories of the course to your future as a teacher?

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