Paraprofessional education candidates (associate degree level) and pre-service teachers participated in Visible Thinking (Ritchart, Church & Morrison, 2011) activities during undergraduate coursework to understand, inform, and then reflect on current topics in education while forming professional identities. The Visible Thinking process and reflections will be shared relating to professional development and inquiry.
Recent demands on professionalism and scholarship in teacher preparation require institutions to prepare active practitioner scholars prepared to teach. The session content is supported through the research of Levin & Rock (2003), Price & Valli (2005) and Mertler (2009).
Conferees will benefit from the session through a greater understanding of how-to integrate and scaffold the research process throughout an undergraduate education program.
Participants in this interactive workshop discover the value of peer-teaching observations in higher education, regardless of discipline, and collaborative peer feedback. Through visual presentations, dialogue, handouts, and small-group discussion, participants realize how colleague observations can inform and reflect on participants’ own practices and give insights to improve approaches. Results and reflections are shared to help participants gain skills, replicate the experience, develop professional identities, and further independent inquiry. This is an expansion in to higher education of research previously conducted with pre-service teachers during a clinical practice setting.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. To recognize and value the importance of continuing professional development in higher education.
2. To replicate similar reflective experiences in institutions of higher education.