Scheduled time for reflective work is common at many Swedish preschools. Reflection is a complex concept that is being used with many different purposes in preschools. The reflective work in Swedish preschools today has its roots in the theories from Vygotskij about how children learn by watching and cooperating with others. Also, many Swedish preschools have taken inspiration from the preschools in Reggio Emilia in Italy, who see the reflective work as something necessary in their work around children’s learning processes. “The learning group” is a way of seeing children and adults as members of groups who capture knowledge by social interaction, taken from the preschools in Reggio Emilia. In 1998, Swedish preschools got their first curriculum, which also took inspiration from Vygotskij and his visions of children’s learning. The aim of this study is to find out how reflective work can be done at some Swedish preschools, and also to investigate a group of teacher’s thoughts on reflective work. The issues in my study are: What meaning can lie in the concept of reflection in preschools? In what situations can teachers and children in preschools use reflection? What can be the purpose of this reflection? To answer these questions, I did interviews with teachers and observations of meetings and of the work that was being done with the children. The result shows that the term of reflection is ambiguous and is being used with different interpretations in the preschools I have studied. Reflection is for instance retelling events, solving problems, cooperating and curiosity. Teachers and children use reflection in various situations everyday, both at planned and spontaneous activities. The purpose of the reflection at the preschools I have visited was for instance to find a focus in working with the children, to know how to move on and to get deeper into what you do.

Thesis (M.A.T.) -- School for International Training, 2007. / Advisor -- Lauren Alderfer Includes bibliographical references (leaf 41).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed June 26, 2009). PDF text: 233 p. : col. ill. ; 5 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3350449. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-200).

Thesis (M.A.T.) -- School for International Training, 2006. / Advisor -- Bonnie Mennell Includes bibliographical references (leaf 300).

Calls for history teachers to adopt inquiry methods continue to go unabated in educational research and curricular initiatives. In recent years, there has been increased recognition of the important role teacher reflection plays in managing the uncertainty that accompanies such pedagogy in history classrooms. Accordingly, this dissertation was situated within theories of reflection and reflective teaching, which acknowledge teaching to be endemically problematic and teachers as autonomous in their curricular- instructional decisions and thereby resistive to certainty-driven models of history teaching. This dissertation sought to investigate the reflections of inquiry-oriented history teachers by examining how and upon what they reflect throughout a unit of study. Using an interpretive multiple-case design with video-stimulated recall methodology, reflective interviews were conducted with participants in four different schools within the same urban public school district. A cross-case analysis of the data led to several key findings. First, the process of reflection for teachers in practice revealed itself to be more affective and messy than conventional rational models of reflection found in the literature. Second, the results showed that history teachers’ reflections were prioritized in accordance with their values and sense of purpose. Third, the inclusiveness of teachers’ classroom environments and curricular-instructional decisions were a focal point of their reflections. Fourth, the teachers’ reflections were influenced by their understandings of their school cultures, with three of the four teachers finding their school norms and policies as oppositional to the promotion of inquiry methods with their students. Finally, the findings showed that reflection aided teachers’ examination of assumptions embedded within their professional routines and pedagogical decisions, particulary with regard to the selection and use of the essential questions that framed their units. This dissertation highlights the need for more and better reflective opportunites for pre- and in-service history teachers and for better research that might yield further insights into the nature of inquiry-based history teaching.

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-05-13T19:32:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marta Helena Longo Simione.pdf: 1792058 bytes, checksum: b7aa665b996b6e915ed53271892514aa (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Meirelles(rodrigomei@ufba.br) on 2013-05-16T17:40:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Marta Helena Longo Simione.pdf: 1792058 bytes, checksum: b7aa665b996b6e915ed53271892514aa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-16T17:40:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marta Helena Longo Simione.pdf: 1792058 bytes, checksum: b7aa665b996b6e915ed53271892514aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Através de uma perspectiva qualitativa, este estudo procurou saber de que forma a postura reflexiva do professor de inglês da rede pública pode contribuir para a melhoria do ensino e aprendizagem de sua disciplina, mesmo em face às adversidades encontradas neste contexto, a partir de um planejamento caracterizado por um ensino crítico-reflexivo, cujo aporte teórico embasou a análise dos dados. Dez professoras de inglês da rede pública estadual de Salvador e da região metropolitana participaram desta pesquisa. Os objetivos deste trabalho relacionaram-se a três aspectos inerentes ao planejamento. Primeiramente, buscou-se conhecer como acontece a prática social do planejamento entre dos sujeitos do universo pesquisado. Em seguida, analisou-se como os professores refletem sobre os objetivos de sua disciplina em relação ao capital-cultural de seus alunos. O último objetivo constituiu na verificação da postura reflexiva do professor em relação à racionalização de recursos a partir do planejamento. Esta pesquisa resultou na constatação da necessidade de uma maior interação entre os sujeitos interessados pelo processo de ensino e aprendizagem da disciplina em questão. Por outro lado, observou-se, também, a possibilidade de resultados positivos refletidos na prática de alguns professores cujos planejamentos apresentaram estratégias que possibilitam a participação ativa do aluno da escola pública. Estes últimos resultados contribuíram para a reflexão sobre algumas propostas apresentadas na conclusão deste trabalho. / Salvador

abstract: This dissertation presents reflective teaching practices that draw from an object-oriented rhetorical framework. In it, practices are offered that prompt teachers and students to account for the interdependent relationships between objects and writers. These practices aid in re-envisioning writing as materially situated and leads to more thoughtful collaborations between writers and objects. Through these practices, students gain a more sophisticated understanding of their own writing processes, teachers gain a more nuanced understanding of the outcomes of their pedagogical choices, and administrators gain a clearer vision of how the classroom itself affects curriculum design and implementation. This argument is pursued in several chapters, each presenting a different method for inciting reflection through the consideration of human/object interaction. The first chapter reviews the literature of object oriented rhetorical theory and reflective teaching practice. The second chapter adapts a methodology from the field of Organizational Science called Narrative Network Analysis (NNA) and leads students through a process of identifying and describing human/object interaction within narratives and asks students to represent these relationships visually. As students undertake this task they can more objectively examine their own writing processes. In the third chapter, video ethnographic methodologies are used to observe object oriented rhetoric theory in practice through the interactions of humans and objects in the writing classroom. Through three video essays, clips of footage taken of a writing classroom and its writing objects are selected and juxtaposed to highlight the agency and influence of objects. In chapter four, a tool developed using freely available cloud-based web applications is presented which is termed the “Fitness Tracker for Teaching.” This tool is used to regularly collect, store, and analyze data that students self-report through a daily class survey about their work efforts, their work environment, and their feelings of confidence, productivity, and self-efficacy. The data gathered through this tool provides a more complete understanding of student effort and affect than could be provided by the teacher’s and students’ own memories or perceptions. Together these chapters provide a set of reflective practices that reinforce teaching writing as a process that is affective and embodied and acknowledges and accounts for the rhetorical agency of objects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Chapter 3 Video Presentation / Doctoral Dissertation English 2017

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As a concept that represents teacher professionalism and expertise, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has received extensive research attention since the mid-1980s. PCK refers to the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular aspects of subject matter are organized, adapted, and represented for instruction (Shulman, 1987). Recent studies have shown that PCK impacts instruction quality and student learning (Beyer & Davis, 2012). Nevertheless, in the field of English language teaching (ELT), PCK remains unnoticed by many language teachers (Kind & Chan, 2019). PCK pertaining to speaking instruction is even more underrepresented. Meanwhile, English teaching in mainland China has undergone reforms aimed at promoting students' oral proficiency, but many problems still exist. Most studies have explored teaching methodologies, learning strategies, and the assessment of speaking. However, there is not much research on improving teaching effectiveness from the perspective of teachers' PCK. This qualitative multiple case study examines teachers' PCK from the perspective of teaching English speaking over a two-year period. Purposeful sampling was employed, and five EFL instructors were the key informants. The instructors worked in different universities in mainland China and taught various levels of speaking courses. The data include classroom observations, teacher interviews, student interviews, reflection journals from the teachers, and various course syllabuses. The study findings emphasize the contents and features of EFL teachers' PCK in a more systematic way and show that teachers' PCK comprises six components: knowledge of features of curriculum, pedagogy, learners' challenges, language enhancement, course evaluation, and the educational context. Each category contains a variety of subcategories. Two paths are revealed for the development of PCK: one path is for teachers to develop their PCK by studying the relevant literature and then transform that knowledge into students' comprehensible knowledge based on students' understanding; another path is for teachers to transfer or adjust PCK from other courses or people to their own instruction and then develop PCK through evaluation and reflection. The study also shows that based on three developmental models (the trial-based approach, top-down approach, and inquiry-based approach), the teacher participants advanced in three aspects: spiritual enrichment, renewed teacher roles, and philosophical inquiry. In addition, in this study, PCK is proven to be dynamic, personal, and transformative rather than static, canonical, and integrative. Theoretically, this study proposes a comprehensive framework of PCK components and development for speaking instructors and underscores the concept of meta-representations. It adds to the literature on EFL teachers' cognition in the Chinese context, thus broadening and enriching the research on EFL teachers' PCK in the educational field. Practically, the study highlights the importance of appropriating the educational context, establishing teacher beliefs and philosophy, and improving teachers' critical literacy as well as their language competency. The findings can also enhance teacher educators' and policy-makers'awareness of specific subject matter and deepen their understanding of speaking instruction. The findings shed light on how to improve overall EFL speaking pedagogy, empower EFL teachers, and facilitate their professional development within the context of English curriculum reform. Limitations of the study lie in its restricted timeframe, limited resources, and sampling size. Future research directions could be to conduct a longitudinal study with more participants or to develop and quantify PCK measurements.