חיפוש אחר דרך המלך בהוראה: הכתיבה הרפלקטיבית של פרחי הוראה הלומדים במסלול לחינוך מיוחד

The article describes research in which the authors investigated processes undergone by special education students during the course of their internship year at a center for remedial teaching at a college of education. The aim of the research was to examine the manner in which the students' professional self-awareness in the context of their satisfaction with teaching was expressed in their guided reflected writing. Eight students participated in the research group. They were requested to teach, observe teaching, transcribe every lesson, and then write reflective feedback. Furthermore, at the end of both the first semester and the school year, they wrote in-depth reflective summaries regarding their internship and final evaluations of the pupils' performances. An analysis of the participants' reflections and feedback indicated a substantial discrepancy in the profundity of the reflective writing between the reflections written after each lesson and those written at the end of the first semester and at the end of the year. While every participant related to the same three principal aspects in her teaching as well as to her awareness of her role as a teacher, she ascribed a different weight to each of the components. In the case of some of the students, there was a change during the year in the emphases and in the awareness of what they considered important in teaching. Since they were constantly engaged in reflective writing, the latter became increasingly profound, as did their self-directed ability to learn. The participants expressed both satisfaction with teaching and a feeling of success with regard to their pupils' progress. Their sense of satisfaction was bolstered as a result of discerning the pupils' emotional states and their reactions to the teaching. The students chose strategies and activities that suited their pupils and motivated them to learn.