Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Provides opportunities for prospective educators to begin their development as reflective practitioners. Through readings, classroom activities and discussions, and interactions with students and practicing teachers, students will be exposed to various educational issues and questions. They will be given time to explore their own values and beliefs about education and teaching. Time may be spent observing in a selection of educational settings, and there may be opportunities to work with learners individually, and in small and large groups. Students enrolled in or with credit for EDUC 401, 402, 403 or holding a teaching certificate may not take this course for credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

“Questions are the basis of dialogue and stem from the basic human desire to know, to understand, to explain, and to story.  (G. Cajete, 1994, p. 188).

What is reflection and ‘reflective practice?’ How are reflective practices helpful personally and professionally, for learning, teaching, and education generally? How do we develop our “basic human desire” to reflect? Together we will explore these questions experientially, through developing dispositions of wonder, inquiry, and critical reflection. Written and oral practices, in combination with contemplative exercises, will inform much of our collaborative work, guided by principles of respect, equity, inclusion, and diversity.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Recognize and appreciate the inner orientation and inner work involved in reflection.
• Understand and practice the phenomenology, or inner experience, of reflective practice as holistic and complex, involving multiple human dimensions, capacities, capabilities, and skills.
• Explain the fundamentals of dialogue as a reflective practice and demonstrate how to overcome obstructions in the way of dialogue.
• Recognize and value the internal connections among democracy, dialogue, and reflective practice.

Grading