REFLECTIVE TEACHER-EDUCATION - CASES AND CRITIQUES - VALLI,L

Reflection has become the commodity that no one wants to be without. P erhaps because of its attraction, or perhaps in spite of its attractio n, reflection has been assigned a multitude of meanings and beyond tho se meanings a multitude of interpretations. Valli attempts to search o ut the commonly held views of reflection and investigate how those vie ws are interpreted in practice. She compiles seven case studies, each from a different university, where reflection has been the driving for ce behind the design of the teacher education program. Each case study defines reflection, describes how that definition of reflection led t o the development of the program, and then describes the history, impl ementation, and evaluation of the seven public and private programs. F urther, each case study gnaws on the questions behind student teacher reflection. How do we help student teachers reflect? How do we know wh en reflection occurs? What should student teachers reflect upon? Does or should every student teacher reflect in the same way or about the s ame things? And finally, just what is reflection? The second part of t he book consists of six critiques of the cases. The critiques range fr om summarizing and problematizing the cases to examining each case fro m a critical perspective. Cases are analyzed according to cognitive, c ritical, or narrative approaches; academic, social efficiency, develop mentalist, or social reconstructionist traditions; feminist pedagogy; and postmodernism. Each critique assesses the implementation of the de scribed program in reference to its stated definition of reflection. T he critiques then extend the concept of reflection as it has been deve loped from the stated critical perspective. The combination of case st udies that examine important teacher education programs and critiques that open the floodgate of questions about the fuzzy, but essential, c oncept of reflection makes this book enlightening and well worth readi ng.