- Prescriptive professional development can prevent people from becoming autonomous learners responsible for their own growth. - Reflection is hard to define. Here they define it as active self evaluation coupled with effective communication. - Collaboration is a critical component of reflection since it allows you to hear and consider a variety of perspectives. - Usual reflection activities are journaling, writing autobiographies, observing colleagues, engaging in action research, participating in book clubs and discussing issues in inquiry groups. All of these are typically prescribed than chosen by teachers. - The following is what a group of teachers who valued the process of reflection came up with. - Most of the processes are either too structured or offer little to no guidance at all. - Recruitment - Members try out the process by attending one or two meetings but the membership to the group is closed so groups can keep going instead of catching people up. - Facilitation - Have at least one outside facilitator so there's a deeper obligation to attend meetings. The facilitator could also help the teachers take a step back. Facilitator must have trustworthiness, empathy and some teaching experience. They will ensure the environment is safe and should allow topics for discussion to emerge authentically. Eventually facilitators can emerge from within the group. - Ground rules - commitment to participate, being respectful, maintaining confidentiality, speak as individuals, don't bring up past issues unless relevant. - Each session should start with a venting pent up frustration session so members can get things out of their system. After this members can brainstorm challenges and issues they'd like to discuss. Members can propose topics for reflection. This gives a lot of flexibility. The facilitator gathers thoughts and prioritises issues. - During reflection the facilitator will help the group back on topic and ask follow up or clarifying questions. - At the end of the meeting a closure is done where the group might suggest topics for next meeting or just bring the meeting to a close. - During the testing of the process they found that the process actually wasn't so structured and linear. - This break down of linearity lead to more holistic discussion though having some sort of structure did help the group on the whole. - Topics were often interconnected and not always straightforward to talk about separately. Topics were suggested by group members and every topic proposed was considered for discussion. - Teachers were very supportive of each other and recognised that on some days some people need to vent more. They also encouraged their colleagues to vent and share and helped them communicate their thoughts. - Facilitators role is crucial - they guide the conversation, help keep the conversation flowing and encourage hesitant members to share more as well. Facilitators may also comment on the interconnectedness of ideas and share their own thoughts. - Problem solving. Teachers would often want to come up with something to solve their problems. Though it wasn't initially part of the reflection structure often teachers did problem solve together. Some educators explicitly pointed out that they didn't intend for their reflection to become an element of action since they often felt powerless. - Teachers noted that they learned about the school and themselves through this process. Teachers also felt that they were able to release stress and express emotions. - Personality differences could play a role in creating these kind of circles. One teacher noted that she struggled a bit because she was more shy and new to the group. - ---- Glazer*, Courtney, Lynda Abbott, and Judith Harris. "A teacher‐developed process for collaborative professional reflection." _Reflective practice_ 5.1 (2004): 33-46. - [Link](https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1109&context=educationpubs)