Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
This article was downloaded by: [Texas A & M International University]On: 06 October 2014, At: 21:23Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Reflective Practice: International andMultidisciplinary PerspectivesPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/crep20
Shifting genres: a dialogic approachto reflective practice in teachereducationHeidi L. Hallman aa Department of Curriculum and Teaching , University of Kansas ,Lawrence, Kansas, USAPublished online: 11 Jul 2011.
To cite this article: Heidi L. Hallman (2011) Shifting genres: a dialogic approach to reflectivepractice in teacher education , Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives,12:4, 533-545, DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2011.590343
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2011.590343
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Shifting genres: a dialogic approach to reflective practice inteacher education
Heidi L. Hallman*
Department of Curriculum and Teaching, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
(Received 21 June 2010; final version received 20 May 2011)
Through a Bakhtinian approach, this paper works to highlight concepts of dia-logue, genre, and heteroglossia within one beginning teacher’s practice.Through a case study of this pre-service teacher’s reflections over the course ofone academic year spent student teaching in US public schools, this article illus-trates how reflective practice, framed through Bakhtinian notions of dialogue,genre, and heteroglossia, can unite the consideration of context with reflectivepractice. Though the goals of this inquiry seek to outline tenets of a dialogicapproach to reflective practice, implications importantly suggest ways thatteachers and teacher educators, in employing a Bakhtinian conceptual frame-work to the study of teacher reflection, can continue to stress reflection’s con-nection to action.
Keywords: dialogue; genre; reflection-on-action; pre-service teachers
Introduction
Fendler’s (2003) article on reflective practice in teacher education theorizes and his-toricizes the practice of reflection. Through her contribution and others, teacher edu-cators and researchers have understood that while reflective practice has beenalmost universally conceived of as beneficial to teachers’ professional behavior anddevelopment (Zeichner & Liston, 1990, 1996; Schön, 1983, 1987), it has oftentimessuffered marginalization, as a practice, due to its connotation with various modes ofthinking and writing, as well as loosely defined goals. Despite work throughout thepast two decades that has outlined the ‘how to’ in reflective practice (e.g., Kortha-gen & Kessels, 1999), as well as work that has offered classifications of differenttypes of reflection practiced by teachers and teacher educators (e.g., Carr & Kem-mis, 1986; Gore, 1993; Zeichner & Tabachnick, 1991), reflective practice in teachereducation still vacillates between associations with the personal and the pedagogi-cal. Researchers (e.g., Hatton & Smith, 1995) have recognized that there are,indeed, different ‘types’ and ‘stages’ of reflection, ranging from attitudes of techni-cal rationality to critical reflection, but these classifications still lean toward catego-rizing reflective practice as separate from its context of use, thereby promoting aprocess/product divide.
This article seeks to introduce and explore a dialogic approach to reflectivepractice in teacher education. A dialogic approach bridges the process/product
*Email: [email protected]
Reflective PracticeAquatic InsectsVol. 12, No. 4, August 2011, 533–545
ISSN 1462-3943 print/ISSN 1470-1103 online� 2011 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/14623943.2011.590343http://www.informaworld.com
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
divide and views all reflection as response to an intended ‘other’. The work of earlytwentieth-century Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin is useful in establishingsuch a conception of teacher reflection, as Bakhtin’s work (Holquist, 1990) employstools that reconsider the relationship between speaker/writer, text, and audience.Throughout this article, a case study of one pre-service teacher’s reflective practicethroughout her year of student teaching in two US schools serves as a site forunderstanding teacher reflection as dialogic. The following questions guide theinquiry:
In what ways is teacher reflection dialogic, meaning that it is a practice always situ-ated in response to an intended ‘other’?In turn, how does a Bakhtinian conceptual framework assist in illuminating tenets ofreflective practice as dialogic?
Conceptual framework and literature review
A Bakhtinian conceptual framework, what many have come to know as dialogism,is instrumental in rethinking how text, or ‘utterances’ (Bakhtin’s term), are alwaysresponsive in nature. Dialogism is primarily concerned with the idea that all lan-guage is produced as response to other language. Thus, a central tenet of viewingtext as dialogic highlights the ‘action’ utterances within one text make in relation toother texts. Nystrand, Gamoran, Kachur, and Prendergast (1997, p. 10) articulate adialogic view of text and utterances as:
fundamentally different from the common view that utterances are the independentexpressions of thoughts by speakers, an account that starts with thoughts and endswith words and verbal articulation. Rather, because they respond to at the same timethat they anticipate other utterances, they are ‘sequentially contingent’ upon eachother.
Nystrand et al. (1997) emphasize the responsive, and therefore, dialogic qual-ity of all text. Bakhtin (1986, p. 81) notes the responsive nature of textwhen he states that ‘the single utterance, with all its individuality and creativ-ity, can in no way be regarded as a completely free combination of forms oflanguage’.
Fendler’s (2003) genealogical analysis of reflection in teacher education under-scores the ways in which teacher reflection is a product of multiple influences, sup-ported by a variety of constituents, including ‘conservative, radical, feminist, andDeweyan’ (p. 17). Fendler interrogates the notion that reflection is ‘natural’, andinstead posits that reflection is never neutral but always a product of historical influ-ences. A Bakhtinian inquiry complements Fendler’s (2003) genealogical analysis,yet works on a local level, highlighting the ways in which individual teachers’reflections are in dialogue with both history and a local-level context. Particularly, adialogic view of reflection permits the idea that the local context in which a reflec-tion is situated and produced is paramount to the way a particular reflection is ana-lyzed. While a genealogical approach such as Fendler’s aims to illuminate thebroad, historical influences on teacher reflection, a Bakhtinian analysis focused ondialogism enables researchers to attend to the local-level influences on individualteachers’ reflections.
534 H.L. Hallman
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Genre, in a rhetorical sense, becomes a key tool in attending to reflection’slocal-level influences. Genre refers to not just the forms of texts, but the work thesetexts actually do in discourse communities, thereby disposing of a notion of genreas merely form and text type, and instead embracing a new conception of genre – anewness that Devitt (1993, p. 573) calls the ‘dynamic patterning of human experi-ence’. This conception of genre shifts, then, from a focus on the formal features ofa text to the sources of those features. Text and textual meaning are no longerobjective and static, but formed based on the interaction between speaker/writer,text, and audience. Furthermore, viewing genre as only form of text divorces formand content, and a rhetorical framing of genre adheres to Bakhtin’s (1981, p. 259)description of genre as a space where ‘form and content in discourse are one’.Genre unites process and product and becomes what Bakhtin (1986, p. 60) calls‘the whole of the utterance’.
Genre, however, is malleable and is subject to change by speakers/writers. Asteachers, for example, reflect on their practice in writing, their reflections becomepopulated with many voices – voices of others, the institutions in which they work,and the jargon of teacher education itself. This multiplicity and diversity of voices,or what Bakhtin calls heteroglossia, is present in every individual’s utterance. WhenFendler (2003, p. 17) asserts the influence of ‘conservative, radical, feminist, andDeweyan’ viewpoints within teacher reflection, she calls attention to reflection’s het-eroglossic quality.
Finally, a Bakhtinian focus on the relationship between speaker andintended ‘other’ is particularly relevant to the study of reflective practice asdialogic, as it reminds us that the premise behind the development of reflec-tive practice is the urge to action. Teachers reflect in order to act – either onthemselves, on others, or on their practice. Text is viewed as always in rela-tion to and in response to an intended ‘other’. Bakhtin believed that we arealways intimately connected to the spatial and temporal contexts in which welive and these connections are how we articulate who we are, as well as ourrelationship to others (Holquist, 1990). In considering text to not only be rhe-torical, but to be dialogically rhetorical, Bakhtin highlights the relationship tointended ‘other’.
Text as dialogically rhetorical articulates a new relationship between speaker/writer, text, and audience. This works in contrast to an Aristotelian, or ‘tradi-tional’ notion of rhetoric. In an Aristotelian view, the author of text is situated asthe primary ‘director’ of text or utterance, and is therefore viewed as intentionaland deliberate in his/her language production. The author’s words are consideredas individual and purposeful, although not necessarily in dialogue with anintended conversant. Bakhtin (1981) responds to an Aristotelian view of rhetoricby claiming that the author of a text may not be the primary director of a text,as this uni-direction on the author’s part suggests an author’s removal from his/her context.
Through a Bakhtinian approach, this paper works to highlight concepts of dia-logue, genre, and heteroglossia within one beginning teacher’s practice. Through acase study of this pre-service teacher’s reflections over the course of one academicyear spent student teaching in US public schools, this article illustrates how reflec-tive practice, framed through Bakhtinian (1981, 1986) concepts, can unite theconsideration of context with reflective practice. Though the goals of this inquiryseek to outline tenets of a dialogic approach to reflective practice, implications
Reflective Practice 535
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
importantly suggest ways that teachers and teacher educators, in employing a Bakh-tinian conceptual framework to the study of teacher reflection, can continue to stressreflection’s connection to action.
Research methods
Context(s) of the study
The context of this study1 is Green State University’s2 secondary English languagearts teacher education program. This program is housed within the state’s flagshipinstitution, a large, research-oriented university in the Midwest United States. GreenState University is located in a community of 80,000 people, yet is only 45 milesfrom Marshall City, a large metropolitan area of just over 2 million. At the time ofthis study, Green State University’s teacher education program included an addi-tional year (‘5th year’ or ‘professional year’) beyond the undergraduate year tobecome a licensed teacher. This additional year comprised two distinct studentteaching experiences (the first comprised eight weeks and the second comprised 13weeks) and 15 credits of post-baccalaureate coursework.
This article draws from data that are part of a larger study investigating how 17pre-service English language arts teachers reflected on constructs of curriculum andinstruction within their ‘professional’ year. This article, however, specificallyfocuses on one participant from this larger study through a case study approach(Merriam, 2001). Through case study, this article attends to the interplay that Bakh-tinian constructs of dialogue, genre, and heteroglossia offer to the analysis of onepre-service teacher’s reflective practice.
Participant(s)
Annika York
Annika York, a pre-service teacher in English language arts education at GreenState University, was selected as a case study for studying a dialogic approachto reflective practice. Annika was selected for two reasons, the first being thatshe was representative of the majority of secondary education majors enrolledat Green State. A student in her early 20s and a native of the state in whichGreen State University was located, Annika was white and well prepared inher content area, English. Her plans for post-graduation from the teacher educa-tion program included residing within a one-hour driving proximity to bothGreen State University and the Marshall City metropolitan area. Second, Anni-ka was one of the few students involved in the larger study whose weeklyreflections rarely received a score of 10/10, the standard for the completion ofeach reflection submitted to her university supervisor. As a researcher interestedin teachers’ reflective practice, I intended to investigate reasons why Annika’sjournals received less than perfect scores, as well as investigate the ‘intendedother’ for Annika’s reflections. A dialogic approach to teacher reflection seemedespecially pertinent to studying a student who was perceived of as ‘weaker’than other students, as it suggested that I, as a researcher and teacher educator,probe the ‘intended other’ for Annika’s reflections. Zeichner’s (1996, p. 207)statement, ‘there is no such thing as an unreflective teacher’ resonated with methroughout my work with pre-service teachers, as it suggests that all teachersare always reflective.
536 H.L. Hallman
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
[Author of manuscript] (researcher and author)
During the study, I [Researcher and Author] was assistant professor and programdirector for the English language arts program at Green State University. All pre-service teachers who participated in the research project had been in my Englishmethods course one year prior to the study, but were not enrolled in any of mycourses during the time of the study. As the program director, I had close contactwith the supervisors of the pre-service teachers during the time of the study andalso had access to all of the work the pre-service teachers submitted to their super-visors. As a researcher, but also as an ‘insider’ to the English language arts programat Green State University, I assumed an active role throughout the study as a partic-ipant observer (Geertz, 1973), reading all Annika’s journal entries and watchingvideotaped records of her teaching.
Sherrie Adams
Sherrie Adams was a supervisor for the English language arts students at GreenState University. In her supervisory role, Sherrie visited the pre-service teachers intheir field placements at least three times over the course of fall and spring semes-ters. Sherrie was responsible for grading all pre-service teachers’ journal entries andawarding each pre-service teacher a final grade for student teaching at the end ofeach semester. She was also aware that, through her participation in the study, I (asthe researcher) had access to the scores she awarded pre-service teachers.
Data collection
To represent Annika’s case, data generation included the collection of reflective arti-facts (her journal entries), interviews, and video records of practice (recorded twiceeach semester). Annika’s weekly journal entries, in the fall semester, were struc-tured with an ‘open-ended’ journal format and were composed without a writingprompt. In the spring semester, several journal entries were written as a response toa prompt. As part of data collection, I also formally interviewed Sherrie Adams,student teaching supervisor, one time during the course of the study.
Data analysis
Data analysis was both inductive and deductive. The analysis was inductive in thatrecurring themes in Annika’s practice were identified. The analysis was also deduc-tive in the way that Annika’s reflective practice was examined in relation to theextant literature on teacher reflection and Bakhtinian understandings of language.The inductive data analysis process was employed by reading all of the journalentries and interview transcripts generated as part of the study. After doing so,memos were created to accompany each of the entries/transcripts. These memosnoted the ‘content’ of the journal entries/transcripts as well as the ‘tone’ of theentries/transcripts. For example, a ‘memo’ often contained a list of the themes thatwere gathered from an inductive analysis of Annika’s journal entries. Such themesincluded, for example, ‘disillusionment with the teaching profession’ and ‘strugglewith classroom management’. The memo writing also included deductive themesresonant with Bakhtinian principles, and these themes included, for example, ‘genre
Reflective Practice 537
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
as fluid and contextual’ and ‘multi-voiced reflection’. The data analysis process wasrecursive and I, as the researcher, moved between reading and re-reading Annika’sjournal entries and memo writing.
Findings
Findings feature a dialogic approach to reflective practice in teacher education. Iorganize a discussion of Annika’s reflective practice through a Bakhinian con-ceptual framework organized through three themes: (1) teacher reflection as dia-logical rhetoric; (2) teacher reflection as genre: responsive, fluid, and contextual;and (3) teacher reflection as heteroglossic. Through these Bakhinian tenets, Ann-ika’s case unites the process/product divide in teacher reflection and garners evi-dence for what I call a dialogic approach to reflective practice, an approachthat shifts the conversation about teacher reflection to one that unites speaker/text/audience.
Teacher reflection as dialogical rhetoric
During her first student teaching experience, Annika was placed at Horner MiddleSchool in the Marshall City metropolitan area. Over the course of eight weeks,Annika assumed responsibility for teaching two blocks (90-minute class periods) ofsixth grade English language arts. Annika’s first journal entry of the semester detailsthe experience she was having in her first two weeks at Horner.
Annika’s first journal entry
I have been teaching two blocks this past week and will take on the last one startingtomorrow. This was quite possibly one of the longest weeks ever due to all of thestress that I have been feeling, which makes me not look forward to the next coupleof weeks. The past week was filled with lots of active learning about how much struc-ture is needed in a sixth grade classroom in order to avoid behavior disruption andhow it is impossible to avoid teaching to the test. Both of these things have beenweighing heavily on me in addition to tons of little meanings and forms that the dis-trict expects me to remember to fill out in addition to Green State’s expectations ofvideo recording, journal writing, textbook readings, observations, and formal readings.
In the meantime, I am beyond broke. I feel that I am giving all of this money to dosomebody else’s work and that does not make the profession attractive.
Because Annika’s first journal entry responded primarily to feelings of frustration inher classroom and in the profession, Annika’s assignment was singled out by hersupervisor, Sherrie Adams, as featuring a ‘negative’ tone. Sherrie, in awarding Ann-ika a 5/10 on this particular journal entry, commented repeatedly – but informally –to me over the first month of Annika’s student teaching experience that she wasconcerned about Annika’s negative tone and her focus on personal issues (such aslack of money). Sherrie indicated that she hoped that the beginning teachers wouldlearn to see the journals as a place where they could solve problems that wererelated to their teaching – problems like curricular content issues and classroommanagement. Mentioning that, while there may be some room for personal issues,
538 H.L. Hallman
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Sherrie primarily saw the journaling space as ‘professional’; therefore, topics dealtwith should be about professional issues (personal communication with SherrieAdams, 10 May 2009).
Annika perceived that her supervisor, Sherrie, considered the tone of her journalentry to be inappropriate, and in her next entry written a week later, Annikaaddressed Sherrie’s concern by beginning the entry with an apologetic tone.
Excerpt from Annika’s second journal entry
I realize I was negative in my first journal entry and this was because I have a lot ofstress due to the transition [to student teaching]. I am overwhelmed at times but this isimproving as I build relationships with the students at Horner.
Through reading Annika’s first journal entry and the beginning of her second entry,we witness a shift between Annika’s first and second journal entry, as the mannerin which the communicative interaction between Annika and her supervisor takesprecedence in the opening of the second journal entry. Rather than merely being ajournal entry framed by Annika’s feelings and frustrations, as her first journal entryexhibited, Annika changes her approach to journal reflection in her second entry.Sherrie Adams, Annika’s supervisor, scored Annika’s first journal entry a 5/10.Though Sherrie did not make comments on this entry, Annika perceived a need fora different approach to writing her second journal entry and, in the second entry,initiated a personal exchange between herself and Sherrie. Annika’s initiation of thisexchange resonates with Bakhtin’s (1986) view of utterance as exchange betweenconversant and intended ‘other’. Sherrie, as the intended ‘other’, becomes the audi-ence for Annika’s second journal entry. In receiving a low grade on her first entry,Annika was prompted to restructure her journal writing approach, therefore openingwith an apology to Sherrie.
The move Annika makes in response to Sherrie is evidence of dialogical rheto-ric. Dialogical rhetoric is conceptualized by Bakhtin to be not merely about aspeaker’s intentions, but about the exchange between speakers. Bakhtin also under-stood that individuals are persuaded by conversants who have ‘authority’, thusestablishing a dialectic between oneself and intended ‘other’. As a prospective tea-cher, Annika perceives the expectations from her university supervisor and adaptsto these, forging a dialogue with her as one of the primary functions of herreflection.
Teacher reflection as genre: responsive, fluid, and contextual
As we view Annika shifting her journal writing in ways that attend to the influencesof an intended ‘other’ – in this case, her university supervisor, Sherrie Adams – wealso look to the mechanisms by which this shift occurs. Genre is this mechanism.As stated previously, genre refers not simply to text form as some have conceivedof it in a literary sense. Genre, at its core, is concerned with function and purposewithin a text and how writers draw on genres in order to accomplish intended pur-poses.
Over the course of her first student teaching experience at Horner MiddleSchool, Annika addresses the topic of classroom management repeatedly in her
Reflective Practice 539
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
journal entries. In week three of her student teaching semester, Annika reported thatshe had been told, by both her cooperating teacher and her university supervisor,that her teaching would be improved if she managed her classroom more effec-tively. As a response, Annika’s journals became increasingly focused on classroommanagement. Even when addressing topics such as curriculum or student learning,Annika began to frame her success in teaching through her ability/inability to man-age her classroom. Her journal entries developed as genres devoted to classroommanagement. In the opening of her journal entry written in week four of her studentteaching experience at Horner Middle School, Annika addressed this shift in thecontent of her reflections.
Annika’s journal entry, week four at Horner Middle School
I am having trouble with classroom management and this is my area of neededimprovement. I have known this throughout my time at Horner and others (Sher-rie [university supervisor] and Anne [cooperating teacher]) have agreed that thisshould be the area I focus on. The students and I have developed a very goodworking relationship. However, lately it seems that they have been really chatty.They are usually on topic, but I’m having trouble distinguishing between goodconversation and inappropriate chatter. I’m afraid that I haven’t been toughenough about staying on task. This is something I really want to work on beforeit gets out of hand.
A rational approach to reflection is being promoted implicitly through both Anni-ka’s university supervisor and cooperating teacher’s reaction to her work in theclassroom. Annika’s journal entries, over the course of eight weeks of studentteaching, become more focused on rational approaches to solving her classroommanagement issues. This focus, though, was also always in response – in dialogue– with her evaluators, Sherrie and Anne. Annika’s shift to deliberately focus onclassroom management in her reflections is evidence of genre at work within herpractice.
Annika is propelled to focus primarily on classroom management issuesthroughout the remainder of her journal entries during the first semester of studentteaching. Whether motivation for better scores on her journal entries, or for ease/appeasement of her evaluators, Annika’s reflections respond to Sherrie and Anne’sprompts to work on classroom management. Annika’s journal entries increasinglyrespond to the goal of improving her classroom management over time, and shewas convincingly able to argue that this area of her practice improved throughoutthe fall semester. An excerpt from her final journal entry, written in week eight atHorner Middle School, documents Annika’s perception of where she was at withregard to her classroom management practices.
Excerpt from Annika’s journal entry, week eight at Horner Middle School
Over the past several weeks, I have been helping Anne, my cooperating teacher, withreading the novel we are studying aloud. Initiating activities while also controllingbehavioral problems is challenging. For example, over the past three days, Anne andI have sent four people of the safe seat and one has gone multiple times. We talkabout these things during our team meetings about three times a week. In these
540 H.L. Hallman
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
meetings, we discuss common problems with common students (those who havebeen sent to the safe seat three or more times) and then we talk about possible solu-tions or next steps. So far, these meetings have seemed helpful to the teachers whowant to help the students. I am glad that I am taking more of a leadership role inthe classroom.
At the beginning of the spring semester, before entering her second student teach-ing experience, I was able to speak with Annika about the fall semester spent atHorner Middle School. In a focus-group interview with three of her peers, Anni-ka and I discussed the challenges she faced in her first student teachingexperience:
Annika: I struggled with classroom management and Sherrie [supervisor] agreed thatthis was the area I needed improvement on. But I know I got better. But I made thisseem like a real struggle when I wrote my journals.
Heidi: So was it actually a struggle throughout your entire experience in the fall?
Annika: Yes, it was. But it was also something that Sherrie kept telling me to thinkabout and improve. It was like she wanted me to have this journey through my reflec-tions of getting better and better at it [classroom management].
Annika’s reference to her journey throughout her journal writing process, whenviewed purposefully as a rhetorical move in response to her supervisor’s feedback,echoes the conflict that pre-service teachers often feel when responding simulta-neously to Dewey’s (1933) and Schön’s (1983, 1987) conceptions of teacher reflec-tion. Dewey’s conception of reflection, as concerned with ‘intelligent action’underscores the concept of a journey – one that is continuously related to ongoingprogress and discovery. However, the premise of reflection, according to Schön(1983, 1987), is intuitive uncertainty, and is therefore a rejection of sorts of anongoing quest for progress. This bind, Fendler (2003, p. 18) notes, puts teachers ina position where they are expected to meet both goals – goals that are indeed diffi-cult to meet simultaneously.
Teachers often find a solution to residing in this bind through genre, in thatthey attend fiercely to the contextual quality of their reflections. Annika, forexample, understood that she was able to shift her journal’s focus, or shift genre,when writing for her supervisor, Sherrie. Annika also knew that she was able toshift genres when responding to my interview questions about classroom manage-ment. By shifting genres, pre-service teachers, like Annika, reinforce teacherreflection as responsive, fluid, and contextual, therefore making genre shifts whenappropriate to meet the dual-goals of Deweyan ‘intelligent action’ and Schönianintuitive uncertainty.
Teacher reflection as heteroglossic
In the spring of her professional year, Annika found teaching secondary students ina US high school. Throughout the spring semester, Sherrie Adams, Annika’s super-visor, encouraged all 17 pre-service teachers to more fully articulate issues aboutcurriculum and instruction in their journal entries than they had in the fall semester.At the same time as responding through journal entries throughout the spring
Reflective Practice 541
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
semester, Annika was completing a document connected to teacher licensure calledthe Green State Teaching Portfolio (GSTP). In this document, pre-service teacherswere asked to reflect on a unit they were currently teaching. Annika, placed atBrighton High School, worked to complete both journal entries for her supervisorand reflections that were components of the GSTP.
The topic of Annika’s unit featured in the GSTP focused on her implementationof literature circles (Daniels, 2002), student-led book discussion groups that are fre-quently used in the teaching of English language arts in US middle and secondaryschools. In her reflections for the GSTP, Annika discussed her process of designingand implementing this instructional approach. However, in her journal entry aboutliterature circles, written for Sherrie Adams, she continues to emphasize classroommanagement.
Annika’s reflection on literature circles for the Green State Teaching Portfolio(GSTP)
GSTP prompt: How do you address critical thinking, problem solving, and higherlevel thinking in your lesson plans?
Annika’s response: Students have to self-manage in literature circles. They assign therole they will take in the group, make sure their group members stay on task, andwork on completing their work and reading at the same time. The literature circleroles demand that the students have comprehended the text they’ve read and know theliterary terms. The roles ask them to provide examples and do further research of thenovels. At the end of the unit, students synthesize their understanding of the novelsand transform their novel into a play version of the text.
Annika’s reflection on literature circles, written for her university supervisor
University supervisor’s prompt: How do you know if students are critically thinkingas a result of the lesson plans you’ve created?
Annika’s response: The literature circles have been overwhelming. Although the sixthhour group is smaller than the fifth hour, I struggle to manage the groups and keepthem on task. I try to rotate around the groups continuously to hear what students aresaying about the books, but no matter how hard I tried to maintain a distance fromthe group I was listening to, it seemed that when I got close to them they would startgiving the impression that they were ‘working’ the entire time. The group with thehighest-achieving students and the most difficult text finished before all the others. Idon’t even know if there was critical thinking involved in this group because they haddone their work so efficiently I didn’t get a chance to really see them in action.
In an interview at the conclusion of her second student teaching experience, Annikatold me [Author] that writing two different reflections on the same literature circleactivity – one for the GSTP and one for her supervisor, Sherrie – caused a dilemmafor her. Annika said:
they [the state requirement for licensure, the GSTP, and her university supervisor]want me to focus on different things in my reflections. It’s hard to do both. Sherrie[university supervisor] wants me to continue working on my classroom managementskills because that has been an area I need to work on. But the GSTP doesn’t know
542 H.L. Hallman
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
my history with classroom management so I need to shift my journals to be moreabout content. I need to have two different voices.
Annika clearly recognizes that, while writing about literature circles in both of thesespaces, she uses her many teaching voices as a way to address different audiences.The heteroglossic – or ‘many-voiced’ quality – of Annika’s reflections on the sametopic – is a quality she notes as producing a divide in herself. She also said:
Teachers are asked to do different things in different spaces. Like here at the univer-sity I am a critic. My voice in my journal critiques myself. But in the GSTP, I am theconfident beginning teacher with good ideas for my lesson plans.
The heteroglossic quality that Annika identifies in her own journal entries is, at first,troubling, as Annika recognizes how she has to inhabit many voices. But, as Anni-ka increasingly recognizes that her language always exhibits these characteristics,she views this quality not as dissonance, or as unnatural, but as part of language.Her reflections give credence to this diversity and demonstrate an ability to actwithin multiple contexts.
Annika, toward the end of the spring semester, begins to recognize another audi-ence for her reflection: herself. The ‘intended other’ of state licensure requirementsand her university supervisor, begin to fade into the background as Annika nearsthe end of her 13 weeks at Brighton High School. In the opening of a journal entrywritten in week 12 of her spring student teaching experience, Annika identifies her-self as a viable audience for her reflection.
Excerpt from Annika’s journal entry, week 12 at Brighton High School
I will never be a student teacher again. In many ways, I have come to see thatmy reflections on teaching do help me in seeing the issues I face more clearly;for most of my student teaching experience, I didn’t realize this purpose of myreflections.
Annika’s articulation of the heteroglossic quality of teacher reflection extending toherself as reflector is pivotal, for it explicitly acknowledges that the goals of teacherreflection are tied to action – action in one’s classroom or one’s teaching practice.Annika begins to connect her journal writing to herself as an active agent.
Conclusions and implications
Dialogical rhetoric, genre, and heteroglossia, as part of a Bakhtinian conceptualframework, can assist teacher educators and researchers in more fully recognizingthe qualities inherent in teachers’ reflective practice. Yet, what does a shift in theway teacher educators consider reflection as dialogic offer the field? First, usingBakhtinian tools allows for the acknowledgement of an explicit connection betweenthe local-level influences on teachers’ reflective practices and larger, historical influ-ences. Sometimes referred to as a push–pull relationship between speaker andintended ‘other’, recognizing this quality of heteroglossia as an inherent feature oflanguage and language use removes expectation that reflective practice in teachereducation must be tidy. In fact, the heteroglossic quality of language underscores all
Reflective Practice 543
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
text as in relation with an intended ‘other’, and therefore, is, at times, messy.Holquist (1990, p. 39), in pointing to Bakhtin’s notion about using language toachieve understanding, writes that ‘all meaning is achieved by struggle’.
Second, an approach to teacher reflection as dialogic moves us to a next step:exploring what such a framework may offer beginning teachers, supervisors, or tea-cher educators. For example, with an explicit framing of teacher reflection as dia-logic, might beginning teachers be moved to alter or improve their reflection? Doesrecognition of these dialogic features of reflection enhance, alter, or develop thevery process of teacher reflection? This may be a fruitful investigation with begin-ning teachers as we seek to find ways to assist students in making reflection moremeaningful to their teaching practice.
Bahktinian tools (1981, 1986) articulate an epistemology by way of articulatinga theory of language. Teacher educators and researchers taking up a Bakhtinian con-ceptual framework as a way to understand reflective practice are able to betterunderstand teachers’ rhetorical moves in their thinking and reflective practice aspurposeful. Viewing reflection as both process and product urges teachers and thoseinterested in studying reflection to view reflection as intimately connected to thechoices teachers make. Furthermore, understanding teacher reflection through a dia-logic approach untangles the myth that teacher reflection is purely about growth asa teacher. Contrastingly, teacher reflection is often directed by other intentions:receiving a high grade on an assignment or appeasing a supervisor. As AnnikaYork’s reflections on classroom management illustrate, the genre of reflection sheimplemented was focused almost exclusively on documenting her improvement inthe area of classroom management, and was positioned rhetorically to meet thedemands of her university supervisor. Over time, as Annika met these demandsthrough journaling, she recognized reflection to also be for herself, and articulatedthis in a journal entry late in the spring semester.
As illustrated throughout this paper, a dialogic approach to reflective practice inteacher reflection bridges the process/product divide and views all reflection asresponse to an intended ‘other.’ All reflection is indeed action, and thereby urgesteachers and teacher educators to consistently question and deliberate the intent ofteachers’ reflective practice.
Notes1. This research study was supported through the New Faculty General Research Fund Pro-
gram (NFGRF) at the University of Kansas.2. All names of people and places are pseudonyms.
Notes on contributorHeidi L. Hallman is assistant professor of English Education at the University of Kansas,Lawrence, KS, United States. Her research interests include the preparation of prospectiveEnglish teachers, especially as this preparation relates to teaching in diverse school contexts,and the literacy learning of ‘at risk’ adolescents.
ReferencesBakhtin, M.M. (1981). Discourse in the novel. In M. Holquist (Ed.), The dialogic imagina-
tion: Four essays (pp. 259–422). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Bakhtin, M.M. (1986). The problem of speech genres. In C. Emerson & M. Holquist
(Eds.), Speech genres and other late essays (pp. 60–102). Austin, TX: University ofTexas Press.
544 H.L. Hallman
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical: Education, knowledge, and actionresearch. Basingstoke: Falmer.
Daniels, H. (2002). Literature circles: Voice and choice in book clubs and reading groups,2nd ed. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Devitt, A.J. (1993). Generalizing about genre: New conceptions of an old concept. CollegeComposition and Communication, 44(4), 573–586.
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking in theeducative process. New York: D.C. Heath.
Fendler, L. (2003). Teacher reflection in a hall of mirrors: Historical influences and politicalreverberations. Educational Researcher, 32(3), 16–25.
Geertz, C. (1973). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In C. Geertz,The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays (pp. 3–2). New York: Basic Books.
Gore, J.M. (1993). The struggle for pedagogies: Critical and feminist discourses asregimesof truth. New York: Routledge.
Hatton, N., & Smith, D. (1995). Reflection in teacher education: Towards definition andimplementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11, 33–49.
Holquist, M. (1990). Dialogism. New York: Routledge.Korthagen, F.A.J., & Kessels, J.P.A.M. (1999). Linking theory and practice: Changing the
pedagogy of teacher education. Educational Researcher, 28(4), 4–17.Merriam, S.B. (2001). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Nystrand, M., Gamoran, A., Kachur, R., & Prendergast, C. (1997). Opening dialogue:
Understanding the dynamics of language and learning in the English classroom. NewYork: Teachers College Press.
Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books.Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Zeichner, K. (1996). Teachers as reflective practitioners and the democratization of school
reform. In K. Zeichner, S. Melnick & M.L. Gomez (Eds.), Currents of reform in preser-vice teacher education (pp. 199–214). New York: Teachers College Press.
Zeichner, K.M., & Liston, D. (1990). Traditions of reform in US teacher education. Journalof Teacher Education, 34(2), 3–20.
Zeichner, K.M., & Liston, D. (1996). Reflective teaching: An introduction. New York: Law-rence Erlbaum Associates.
Zeichner, K.M., & Tabachnick, B.R. (1991). Reflections on reflective teaching. In B.R.Tabachnick & K.M. Zeichner (Eds.), Issues and practices in inquiry-oriented teachereducation (pp. 1–21). New York: Falmer.
Reflective Practice 545
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Tex
as A
& M
Int
erna
tiona
l Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:23
06
Oct
ober
201
4
