REFLECTIVE THOUGHT

How different do you think is reflective thought from any other casual or idle thought?

Reflective teaching is the one in which you reflect, it goes beyond the simple recalling of memories, or pictures of your past or imagination, it’s more than an opinion or any idle idea than comes to your head. It is a more complex process; it is to think about reasons, whys, hows, and all the explanations you can come up with for a problem or situation. When thinking reflectively, you tend to find the solution, using any method or strategy.


Watch the video clip “Reflective Thought defined by John Dewey” and write down what is said about reflective thought. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGF-Oh_G7zc)

Reflective thought is not just an idle thought, it is a much more considered process, it helps you systematize your knowledge, to plan your thinking, to consider every detail as causes and consequences, it adds a richness of quality to our lives, it takes a little bit more than mere intelligence to be a clear reflective thinker, intelligence may help a person to become a good thinker, but intelligence alone is not enough, but what is more important is that you need a discipline of your thinking, your logic, and of the scientific method.


How do you personally read the following excerpt from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

“And that Inverted Bowl we call The Sky, beneath which crawling, cooped, we live and die; Lift not your hands to it for help, for it as impotently moves as you or I!”

As it is a poem, it can take me through so many points and ways my imagination, perception and sensitiveness let. But, trying to focus on the context we have, I want to recall the part of the “inverted bowl” as the way we perceive the world that surround us, we see only what we want to, and we think the way we are used to, but it usually happens that something that seems so big and magnificent as the sky can just be a bowl who gives or take our liberty and limit our thinking. So in our world, in our mind this sky can be as broad, as huge, or as narrow and small as we can perceive, or think.


What would you add to the following Dewey´s definition of reflective thought:

"Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which attends

I would also add that it should tend to action, to the practice and the continuous growth of possibilities.

1. What is the difference between the four types of reflection (technical rationality, reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action) presented by Farrell in Table 1?

The difference is based on the moment we reflect and the results we get from every stage. In the technical rationality you examine your own concepts and skills, your theory base before teaching in order to teach; reflection-in-action deals with the fast, maybe intuitive way to solve problems we face when teaching, in class. Reflection-on-action or in-depth reflection is rigorous, systematic and ongoing, just after you have taught, you recall the actions and situations presented when you were in class and reflect on that. Finally, reflection-for-action is a proactive thinking of what happened and the best way to face with the same problems when they later appear, to guide future action.

2. In what ways can Reflective Teaching benefit EFL teachers?

There are many ways in which Reflective teaching benefit EFL teachers. To start with sth, reflective teaching helps teachers avoid or not fall into impulsive and routine behavior in class. Also, because it allows teachers to act in a deliberate, intentional, and planned way; moreover, it is a natural quality of our human nature as intelligent and rational thinkers. Finally, as teachers gain experience and grow, it allows teachers to reconstruct his own educational approach or perspective, innovating and improving his labor and routines with a sense of self accurate professionalism.

3. How do you think reflective teaching can be implemented in your particular teaching situation?

I personally believe that reflective teaching is a process I can start in my class, everyday, taking the rime to think about the best ways of teaching them what they need, based on how they learn and letting them understand the why of our actions during a lesson.
I really like the idea of recording my classes to have an accurate source of observation in order for me to criticize my labor and performance, as I am a very self critical person and I like to improve my teaching techniques every day, and to do the best I can.

What are the main beliefs about teaching and learning a foreign language I think I am comitted with in my teaching practice?

I have learned a lot by practicing and interacting with my students throughout their process of learning and acquiring a new language. One of the most important things I have figured out is that grammar is the base for an accurate communication. At first, I tried to stick my practice just to "communicative" games and activities, but due to the lack of structures my students had, it was such a difficult task for them to perform well, and sometimes they got very confused and frustrated about some activities. So I started to change a little bit my methodology by giving them some basic structures they could use when performing their roles, so they just had to use the vocabulary we were learning and the structures. In that way they were more motivated to speak and participate in class and to perform other activities which require more complex structures.So I consider grammar as an important part in the process, it helps increase the motivation of the students by giving them confidence to take the challenge to speak. And it is also very rewarding to see your students are learning.