ABSTRACT
For many, the term reflective teaching sounds redundant. It raises the following questions: In order to teach don't you have to think about your teaching? And isn't such thinking the same thing as reflecting on your teaching? These questions get right to the heart of the matter. In what follows, we argue that not all thinking about teaching constitutes reflective teaching. If a teacher never questions the goals and the values that guide his or her work, the context in which he or she teaches, or never examines his or her assumptions, then it is our belief that this individual is not engaged in reflective teaching. This view is based on a distinction between teaching that is reflective and teaching that is technically focused. In order to make the most of this initial distinction, we first describe a teaching situation and then offer two accounts of the teacher's thoughts about her situation. We begin with a description of her situation.
