From rationalization to reflection: One teacher education law class

Abstract

This paper describes ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­the struggles of a teacher educator to acknowledge and honor her own liberal bias along with her students’ more conservative perspectives as these emerge in an education law class for preservice teachers. It illustrates the author’s ongoing transition from rationalization to reflection, as she considers both her students’ responses to class assignments on speech and expression rights and end-of-course evaluations, and reflects on the possibility that generational and experiential differences, rather than “resistance,” may be behind students’ reactions. The author concludes that transparency on the part of the teacher educator is critical to allow (re)consideration of our beliefs in more reflective ways.

Keywords

• teacher education
• reflective practice
• education law