Imagining an ‘ideal school’: an approach for reflecting on principals’ educational creed

In this paper, we describe an approach to the study and development of school principals’ school creed. The approach and its underlying method are grounded in the phenomenological tradition, predominantly in the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty. School principals are asked to imagine an ideal school and present it both visually and verbally. We illustrate the potential of this process using one ideal school proposal developed by a high school principal in Israel. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the approach for research, theory and practice.     

Validation of a reflective practice rubric for evaluating the complexity of teacher candidate digital and written reflections

This study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of a previously published rubric for evaluating the reflective characteristics contained within reflective artifacts. The goal of the study was to test the validity of the rubric when evaluating written reflection and digital artifacts of teacher candidates. The theory of reflection is discussed, and the process of eliciting higher levels of reflection through various modalities from written prompts. Secondly, this study describes the process participants followed while learning to use the rubric, the methods of evaluating artifacts using the rubric, and the results the study produced. The rubric proved to be an effective tool when determining the level of reflection, a teacher candidate demonstrated. Lastly, this article discusses limitations of the rubric, as well as suggestions for further research regarding teaching reflective practices, and how to refine one’s own reflective skills to achieve a level of deep reflection on/for action.