Effectiveness of Group Reflection Activity for Professional Growth of Prospective Teachers During Practice Teaching

This study involved students who were enrolled in the 3rd semester of a Master of Educational Research and Assessment program at the Institute of Education and Research during their teaching practicum. The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of group reflection activity in professional growth of practicing teachers during practice teaching. The data was collected from eleven students who were videoed during teaching practice. The selection of students to be videoed was made on the basis of their grades in pedagogy related courses on campus. Five students with the highest grades and six students with the lowest grades were selected for this purpose. Each student was assessed through peer observations during practice teaching sessions. The data was collected through twenty-seven observations. Twenty-two observations were taken before the reflection sessions and five after the reflection sessions. During the reflection session they were shown their recorded videos along with summary statistics of peer observations. The activity helped in identifying strengths and weaknesses of each participant evident during teaching. The effect of the reflection sessions was clearly visible on their performance during post reflection peer observations. This effect was generally uniform for both high achievers and low achievers. There is little conclusive evidence that performance in pedagogy related courses can be helpful in predicting the difference in the ability to learn from self and group reflective activities in general