Operationalizing Reflective Practice in an Elementary Math Classroom

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate reflective practice. Specifically, it asked: What do reflective practices look like in an elementary Cognitively Guided Instruction classroom? Reflective thinking provides a framework for teachers to apply their knowledge and generate an awareness of their professional development (Dervent, 2015). When teachers become more reflective, they can slow down their thinking and reasoning process to become more aware of how to react to students and become more cognizant of how they respond to students. The ability to integrate research with practice in response to uncertainty qualifies the reflective practitioner for professional status (Russell et al., 1988). Reflection-in-action may provide the key to understanding not only what effective teachers do, but also how they are able to do it. Reflection-in-action accepts that teachers draw on personal experiences and are willing to engage in on-the-spot changes, creating solutions to the current situation. Teachers who alter tack mid-lesson based on both formal and informal assessment of student engagement and understanding make a move (an action) that generates an effect, and this effect is feedback for the teacher to reaffirm or modify their approach and continue the feedback loop (reflective practice). Highly successful practitioners utilize more than technical and procedural knowledge in their expert practice. They have developed a level of expertise characterized by their ability to spontaneously generate solutions within problematic situations. These practitioners use reflection-in-action to transform experience into knowledge and skills (Sch�n, 1983)