Abstract:

The evaluation of the event which happened in the lesson is a very important part of the teaching process [2]. The teacher can change the next conduct in the lesson by repetition or improvement of successful events and avoid the failed events [1].

The aim of this paper is to examine the evaluative statements in the biology of preservice teachers´ reflections:
(1) sharing of evaluative statements in the whole reflection,
(2) whether these statements are positive/negative/mixed,
(3) whether they are in agreement with the mentor and
(4) if there are some differences in reflections written after teaching at ISCED 2 and ISCED 3 schools.

Participants of the research were ten biology preservice teachers. Four written reflections were collected from each participant, pre and post reflections of the lesson at the ISCED 2 school and pre and post reflections of lesson at the ISCED 3 school. Pre reflections were written within 24 hours after participant´s teaching, while post reflections were written after watching their own video within 14 days after teaching. All reflections were coded according to Sherin and van Es categorical system (2009) [3]. The statements of Evaluation and Interpret (if it included an evaluation of the lesson) were chosen. It was found that a total percentage of statements with the evaluation was increasing in post reflection, mainly at ISCED 2. There were more positive evaluations in pre reflections by participants who taught at ISCED 2. The representation of positive statements changed with an increase of negative statements in post reflections by this group of respondents. In pre reflections by participants teaching at ISCED 3 schools, the negative evaluation dominated the results. It did not change even when watching the video from the lesson. These future biology teachers can probably better assess their teaching so the evaluation of the lesson will not change. The percentage of mixed statements were very balanced for both groups of respondent in both reflections and stages of schools. The total agreement with the mentor was essentially the same for both types of reflections and both types of schools, ranging from 83 % to 87 %. Inconsistency with the mentor appeared in both positive and negative evaluations. In the contribution there is also a focus of statements discussed.

References:
[1] G. Gay, K. Kirkland, “Developing Cultural Critical Consciousness and Self-Reflection in Preservice Teacher Education,” Theory Into Practice, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 181-187, 2003.
[2] I. Z. Szűcs, “Teacher Trainers’ Self-Reflection and Self-Evaluation,” Acta Educationis Generalis, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 9-23, 2018.
[3] M. Sherin, E. van Es, “Effects of video club participation on teachers’professional vision,” Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 20-37, 2009.

Keywords:

Evaluation of lesson, preservice teacher, biology teacher, professional vision, reflection of lesson.