Reflection as a Critical Component in the Preparation of Teacher Candidates

Overview & Synopsis

Teacher education programs use a variety of assessment strategies to help their prospective teachers acquire the teaching skills necessary to teach physical education. Some educators have criticized teacher education for perpetuating the view that learning to teach is merely a personal challenge to acquire skills such as giving clear directions and providing accurate feedback. The purpose of this article is to describe an assessment strategy regarding refection skills used to help physical education teacher candidates improve their teaching. Although reflection as an assessment strategy can be applied to many different teaching areas, this article focuses only on the instructional and managerial aspects of teaching. An application of this assessment strategy within the standards of a teacher education accrediting agency and guidelines for candidates when writing reflective notes are presented. (Contains 1 table.)