Postlesson Conferencing Strategies and Preservice Teachers’ Reflective Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the effect of two postlesson conferencing strategies on preservice teachers’ reflective practices. Fourteen PETE majors each taught three 30-minute lessons to classes of 9 to 13 learners. After each lesson, the preservice teachers conferenced with a trained supervisor under either a directive approach (teacher tell-student listen) or a collaborative approach (student tell–teacher listen/question). The participants then completed two written tasks, a significant event task, and a video-commentary task. In the collaborative approach, the preservice teachers expanded the scope of their reflections to encompass the technical skills of teaching and critical issues related to teaching and schooling. For the video-commentary assignment, the main focus of both groups’ responses was on technical aspects of teaching, and for the significant event assignment, the focus of the responses was on technical, situational, and sensitizing issues of teaching.