Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice
By Tony Scott

Hillocks, George. Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice.  New York: Teachers College Press, 1995.

Even if we are not always cognizant of its function, reflection is inevitably a constant part of our practice as teachers.  Generally, we use reflection to negotiate between the everyday happenings of our classroom and the theories, skills, and knowledge that comprise our teaching objectives.  More specifically, we use reflection to assess the material processes of our classrooms: the effectiveness of our activities, discussions, and assignments; the dispositions of our students; and  the degree to which we are meeting our pedagogical goals.  In short, reflection is an essential part of our growth as teachers, yet most of us don’t approach it very systematically. Rather than applying a consistent method to the initiation and assessment of our practices, most of us tend to rely upon a rather random process of trial and error.

In Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice, George Hillocks develops a methodology for making teachers’ reflective processes more systematic through providing a framework within which teachers can assess their present practices and develop new strategies based on informed reasoning.  Two aspects of the book make it particularly worthwhile for teachers who emphasize writing in their classes but aren’t composition specialists: it makes some of the practices that have become mainstream in writing pedagogy over the past decade accessible to the general practitioner, and it provides a straightforward means for teachers to systematically evaluate their own practices.

Central to Hillocks' method are “frame experiments,” which enable a teacher to create and test hypotheses methodologically.  Any professional reflection takes place within the context of an existing body of knowledge which is formed by personal experiences as well as professional discussions and publications.  Frame experiments can help  teachers to invent and test new hypotheses based on that existing body of knowledge. Drawing from the work of Donald Schon, Hillocks breaks frame experiments into six basic dimensions:
Analyzing current student progress in relation to general course goals.
Positing some change or range of possible changes sought in the writing of students.
Selecting or devising a teaching strategy or set of strategies to implement the desired change.
Devising a plan for implementing the strategies.
Assessing the impact of the teaching strategy in order to discover consequences.
Confirming and changing the strategies used.

Though frame experiments are systematic, Hillocks emphasizes that this is a very dynamic and recursive process.  He uses a number of examples to illustrate that the reflective teacher “reflects-in-action,” searching for ways to help students realize their potential through planning real trials, evaluating their effectiveness, and making adjustments based on ongoing observations.

An especially useful aspect of Hillocks’ book is the extensive treatment it gives to the relationship between systematic reflection and effective planning.  Hillocks stresses that effective planning derives from a reasoned determination of learning objectives and goals that are clearly articulated to students.  When the teacher determines the goals of the class, “gateway activities” should be developed that address the specific features and strategies of the class writing tasks.  Gateway activities are calculated challenges designed to enable students to develop the skills necessary to tackle larger, often unwieldy, writing tasks.  Hillocks also provides an extensive and useful discussion of effective sequencing, which arranges gateway activities with as much efficiency and potency as possible.

George Hillocks, a professor in the Department of Education and the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago, is the Watson Visiting Professor in English for the Spring 2000 semester.  Incorporating his reflective practice into our pedagogy will help it continuously improve.