On Becoming a Reform-oriented Mathematics Professor by
Reflection
Kyungsoon Jeon
The purpose of this study was to describe the process
of change that a senior mathematics professor with thirty nine years of
teaching experience had in his upper level course in secondary mathematics
education under the reform influence of a faculty development program and to
explain the role of reflection in the
change process. The researcher had an opportunity to observe the professor’s
teaching practice for a semester and served as a support provider for him to
sustain the change process during, before, and after the class through in-depth
conversations based upon the observation of his classes in the fall semester.
The method of teacher reflection was
utilized for the teacher who wanted to bring change (Jalongo, 1992) in the
on-going conversations between the professor and the researcher. Both the
teacher and the researcher understood teacher reflection in the way as John Dewey (1933) described; reflection as “behavior which involves
active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or practice in
light of the grounds that support it and the further consequences to which it
leads” (Grant and Zeichner, 1984, p. 4).
This method of reflection
addressed the professor’s personal experiences as a teacher and their influence
on shaping his teaching practice in a systemic way. The change in his beliefs
about the nature of mathematics teaching was reshaped in conjunction with his
understanding of learning represented by his students that he obtained through
the reflection on his teaching. Even
though the reflection process was a
time intensive process, the process served as an encouragement and structure
for the change to happen in his teaching practice. In this study, he was a
professional who can make reasonable decisions, and the process of reflection served for him. Consistently,
this study made a close connection between practice and research by influencing
each other. Understanding his beliefs about the nature of mathematics teaching
and many other different issues related to teaching practice helped the
connection be established. For the connection between research and practice,
the researcher tried to communicate with the teacher much insight about
mathematics teaching practice that the reflective professor tried to implement
in his mathematics course. The learning from the researcher’s presence in the
classroom where the practice of teaching was vividly experienced provided the
professor with on-going feedback and this acted as a vital source for
betterment of his teaching in practice. As the result of it, the professor
continuously reshaped his teaching practice in the reform-oriented way. In
addition, the learning through the communications was used as an importance
vehicle for providing a continuing support for the professor’s sustaining of
the change. This connection between practice and research was significant. I,
as the researcher, learned the importance of the environment and support for a
university faculty member to learn to be reflective about his teaching and
about his students’ learning. The professor, as the practitioner, became
thoughtful through the reflective process so that he developed his own
professional thinking and continued as a life-long learner with those many
years of teaching experience. As he always put it, everything was developing in
the process.
References
Dewey,
J. (1933). How we think.
Grant,
C. A., & Zeichner,
K. M. (1984). On Becoming a Reflective Teacher. In C. A. Grant (Ed.), Preparing
for Reflective
Teaching,
Jalongo,
M. R. (1992). Teachers’ stories: Our ways of knowing. Educational Leadership, 49(7), 68-73.