The Use of Journals to Promote Reflection

Abstract Students come to teacher education programs with distinct convictions regarding what constitutes good teaching. Therefore, they are often not receptive to new methods to which they are exposed during their courses. A key task for teacher educators is to assist students in understanding how their previous experience impacts their belief about teaching. After researching the learning to teach literature Virginia Richardson (1990) indicates that “… improvement of the teacher-learning process requires acknowledging and building upon teachers' experiences, and promoting reflection on those experiences.” (p.12).