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Learning to teach is developmental and a lifelong process. It requires essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions, delineated by professional teaching standards (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2007), in order to navigate effectively in today’s diverse classroom. Teacher preparation programs typically include competencies related to professionalism, planning and instructional strategies, assessment and evaluation, classroom management, and reflective practices. In learning how to teach, “it is no longer sufficient for teachers to be warm and loving toward children, nor is it sufficient for them to employ teaching practices based solely on intuition, personal preference, or conventional wisdom… As experts and professionals, they are expected to use best practice to help students learn” (Arends, 2004).
As a form of best practice, reflection is continually referenced for teachers and students alike (Boyce, 2007; Orland-Barak & Yinon, 2007; Romano, 2004; Tsangaridou, 2005; Tucker, Jones, Straker, & Cole, 2003). Reflection is understanding consequences of past actions in order to gain a new perspective for future actions (Howard, 2003; Posner, 1989; Rogers, Bolick, Anderson, Gordon, Manfra, & Yow, 2007). For teachers, the integration of theory and practice requires systematically reflecting on instruction to enhance student learning (Carrington & Saggers, 2008; Korthagen & Vasalos, 2005); and, for students, reflection fosters various levels of cognition (Camp, 1998). Reflection, though complex and exigent, is a form of self-assessment that is a requisite part of the learning process, not only in the classroom but also in our daily lives (Bannink & van Dam, 2007; Genor, 2005; Shin, 2006).