Kathleen Shahan, NBCT - NBPTS | Shaping the profession that shapes America's future.

Kathleen Shahan, Ed.D. has served in education since 1992 as a first grade teacher in an urban district for nearly a decade, Title One reading specialist, instructional coach, director of literacy public charter school, and as district READ180 facilitator in a rural school setting. Her current position is as an undergraduate and graduate assistant professor at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and this year she has renewed her National Board Certification. She recently published in the peer-reviewed Arkansas Association of Teacher Educators (ArATE) electronic journal with her manuscript: Value-Added Reflection: Promoting Higher Order Thinking, Inquiry, Learning and Change. Dr. Shahan can be reached at shahan@uamont.edu.

Fire up the Reflective Practitioners

Kathleen Shahan, NBCTJanuary 5, 2017

My own fiery reflective journey began in earnest over a decade of three attempts at certification in the National Board Certification process. I speak from experience when I suggest that for some, the “reflective practitioner” (Danielson, 2013) is not as much born; as is instead, forged in the twin fires of doubt and failure. Questions like “What went wrong in my class or with this lesson? Why did this end up this way?” are indicators that you too have been fired up in the reflective process. Danielson, 2013 recognized over time professional educators could develop this skill of reflective practice,…