What is Teacher Reflection

A view in teacher preparation increasingly reported in the literature is that electronic portfolios can present an educator’s achievement, competence, and/or professional growth, and serve as a tool promoting teacher reflection (Amber & Czech, 2002; Barrett, 2003; Geier, 2002; Milman, 1999; Mullen, 2002; Walker, 2000; Wright, Stallworth & Ray, 2002). As a result, more frequently are they being used as an assessment or evaluation tool to document and measure teacher quality in areas such as technological literacy, competence according to teaching standards, and/or eligibility for initial teacher licensure or credential (Bartlett, 2002; Borko, Michalec, Timmons, & Siddle, 1997; Lehman, O’Brien, & Seybold, 2002; Perry, Smith, Woods, McConney, 1998; Ring & Foti, 2003; Wieseman & Wenzlaff, 2004). Reasons cited in the literature for its increasing popularity in the field of teacher preparation (e.g., Bartlett, 2002; Geier, 2002; Mullen, 2002) include: a belief that learning to teach is a dynamic and learner-centered process; a belief that knowledge is socially constructed, situated, and dynamic; growing interest in performance-based assessment to show teacher quality; a need for concrete demonstrations of teaching qualifications to compete for teaching positions; accountability for teacher quality; and teacher education initiatives, including competition for U.S. Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers for Technology (PT3) grants.