1st Edition
Reflection in Action A Guidebook for Student Affairs Professionals and Teaching Faculty
This guidebook aims to stimulate student affairs professionals and higher education faculty alike to adopt new approaches when discussing sensitive or controversial topics with their students. It provides teachers and professionals with a critical social understanding of social justice, social agency, reflection, and actionable knowledge to develop new and effective skills, practice them in safe spaces, and apply them in the field. It offers tools that are equally applicable in a classroom or cocurricular setting.The exceptional teachers, scholars, and professionals contributing to this volume provide a diverse and alternative lens through which to examine the intersection of social justice education and professional practice. The text is organized in three overarching themes: Part One, “Existing Theories, Examining Claims, and Proposing New Understandings”; Part Two, “Concrete Tools and Safe Spaces for Practicing Difficult Dialogues in Professional Practice”; and Part Three, “Professional Development, Action Research, and Social Agency.” In Part Four, “Moving Forward,” the book concludes with a chapter on implications for daily life and practice.The action-oriented research model provides strategies and frameworks for using social science research to engage in critical social and educational problem solving. The emphasis is on moving colleges and universities to widen their moral and ethical lenses, beyond understanding diversity, to developing multicultural competence and enriching their campus communities.Written for faculty in higher education and student affairs professionals, along with master’s and doctoral students in these fields, this book provides a framework that is grounded in research and sound pedagogies and theories.
Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction Part One. Existing Theories, Examining Claims, and Proposing New Understandings 1. Seizing Responsibility. Using Actionable Knowledge to Promote Fairness—Edward P St. John 2. Actionable Knowledge and Student Affairs—Megan Moore Gardner 3. Evolution of a Moral and Caring Professional—Kate M. Boyle Part Two. Concrete Tools and Safe Spaces for Practicing Difficult Dialogues in Professional Practice 4. Critical Social Dialogues and Reflecting in Action—Shakira Henderson and Kimberly A. Kline 5. The Game Changers. Moving Beyond Isms to Restore Civility to the Academy—Wanda Davis 6. Dialogue, Reflection, and Learning. From Our (Spiritual. Center—Richanne C. Mankey Part Three. Professional Development, Action Research, and Social Agency 7. Reflection in Action. Exploring Race and Culture in Critical Reflective Pedagogy—Pamela Felder 8. Teaching Professional Development in Higher Education and Student Affairs. Unless—Stacy A. Jacob 9. Moving From Social Justice to Social Agency. Keeping It Messy—Penny A. Pasque and Brittany Harris Part Four. Moving Forward 10. Implications for Daily Practice and Life—Kimberly A. Kline Index
Biography
Kimberly A. Kline is Associate Professor, Student Personnel Administration, Buffalo State College. Edward P. St. John is Algo D. Henderson Collegiate Professor of Education at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. He is interested in education, justice, and public policy. He serves as series editor for Readings on Equal Education and has received awards for his leadership from the Association for the Study of Higher Education and for scholarship from the National Association of Student Financial Aid.
"Kline and her colleagues deftly examine the art of reflection in pursuit of effectively addressing multicultural and social justice issues on campus. This book details the most contemporary principles and techniques that can assist emerging and seasoned professionals alike bring theory, research and reflection to bear on their practice."
John A. Mueller, Ed.D., Professor, Department of Student Affairs in Higher Education
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
