Dr. Rachel Wlodarsky Professor Ashland University

 Develop a practical model of reflection.  Continually work through the model as a way to refine and improve practice.  Enhance reflective capacity.  Dedication towards systematic program improvement, collectively and individually.

 Societal Conceptions of College Faculty  Call for greater accountability, investment in assessing and documenting outcomes of education (Levine, 2010).  Philosophical Tension Surrounding Teacher Education  Is teacher education fundamentally an academic activity or a clinical activity or somewhere in between?  Budget Pressures  Historic “cash cow” relationship of colleges of education to their universities is increasingly threatened by demographic changes in the U.S.  Increasingly precarious state of affairs in federal and state government budgets.

 Technology Pressures  College classrooms are increasingly isolated from the digital revolution shaping national and global culture (due to role/function of professors, financial limitations, cultural histories, challenges of change).  Globalization  To what extent do we prepare students, as eventual classroom teachers, for the global community? Will this become a requirement in which space will need to be created in very thick, 4-yr baccalaureate degree programs?  Academy Issues  Highly contextual; some may have an entirely different list of these struggles from their context that another may not recognize.

What are the answers to the above issues? We don’t pretend to know… We do know that reflection is a tool with GREAT power to align and clarify these tensions, and to, at least reveal management and planning solutions, coping strategies and reasonable avenues of attack. The Wlodarsky-Walters Event Path is model for which individuals and organizations can use for the reflective process. We are going to consider an academy issue that although may be contextual, it is likely recognized by many college faculty and their students as a problem believed to be status differentiation.

A precipitating Event, followed by an intentional period of Cognitive Processing of information. The Cognition component serves as the point in which the problem is formulated. The information processed during this cognitive period is derived from Tools, which vary from individual to individual. The tools component of the path serves as a form of data collection. These phenomena are followed by a Change Point, where a decision or judgment is made about future behavior. When the individual creates a behavior that is different/changed from the precipitating event, this is a New Event. If the precipitating event is confirmed as effective, no new event occurs, rather confirmation and satisfaction.

 Actual Event  Gave an assignment to students to reflect on a specific topic by providing 10 journal entries. Realizing that students likely don’t know what “reflection” is. Realizing that students likely don’t know HOW TO walk through the reflective process effectively, nor think there is a problem to reflect on. Realizing that I forced the students to use a tool of my choice expecting them to already know how to journal.  Off the record, admitting my error, as an expert in the reflective process.  Problem identified as status differentiation between professor and students regarding topic discussed and assignment given.  Status differentiation is one of the social inequalities within the educational context.  Considered an Academy Issue.

 Tool Used-Peer Feedback, Not Directly Observed (p89)  What is Status Differentiation?  Inequality in human society in which certain individuals or groups have access to more resources, power, and roles than others. Differentiation occurs through ranking of descent groups or the creation of classes of people. hill.com/sites/ x/student_view0/glossary.htmlhttp://highered.mcgraw- hill.com/sites/ x/student_view0/glossary.html  Why is this a problem of status differentiation? What creates this differentiation between professor and students?  Lack of knowledge and skills on the part of the students.  Lack of experience on the part of the students.  Assumptions on the part of the professor that the students have such knowledge, skills and/or experiences.  Official role, as defined, of the professor and the students (p82).

 What questions/comments can be made about the precipitating event to help determine decision/judgment to be made?  What decision/judgment is actually made?  Will there be a NEW EVENT, and if yes, what does it look like?

 Chapter 1: Colleges of Education in 21 st Century America.  Chapter 2: What Is Reflection, Its Capacity and Why Is It Important?  Chapter 3: Characteristics of Reflection among College Teachers.  Chapter 4: What Does the Reflective Process Look Like?  Chapter 5: The Event Component as a Phenomenological Trigger in the Reflection Pathway.  Chapter 6: Cognitive Processing of Information.  Chapter 7: Tools that Help Professionals Facilitate the Reflective Process.  Chapter 8: Change.  Chapter 9: The Reflective College of Education.

“The event path is posited; it is a useful and practical tool that is consistent with the intellectual reality of reflection.” “The elegance of the path is clear and the focus on praxis is a wonderful way to end the journey this monograph outlines.” “I encourage every faculty member to read and to think about the idea of reflection as presented by the authors. It will help layout a rewarding and profitable journey.” Ann Converse Shelly Past President, Association of Teacher Educators

Reflection and the College Teacher: A Solution for Higher Education Information Age Publishing