In this assignment, I will begin with a brief overview of what reflection is and offer a rationale for engaging in reflection. I will then identify three key themes that featured in my reflective journal and explore these using theoretical models and critical analysis in relation to the development of my professional practice throughout the course and as a trainee teacher . I will then conclude with a summary of my development and identify my future professional development needs. “Reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience aimed at acquiring new knowledge about oneself and/or about practice” (Boud et al 1985; Boyd and Fales, 1983; Mezirow, 1981 , Jarvis, 1992). Reflection has been an important element of teacher education over the past two decades (Dieker & Monda –Amaya, 1997; Henry, 1999; Parkay, 2000; Yost & Sentner, 2000). . Many theorists, educators, and philosophers have developed theories and models of thinking dating back decades. John Dewey was the leading educational philosopher of the late 19th and 20th centuries and his ideas are still influential in practice today. He advocated child-centered learning and emphasized the child's experience as the starting point for learning (Dewey, 1933) Key to his philosophy was the development of reflective thinking. Dewey believed that when things do not fit theory or turn out as expected, we learn from them, viewing these events as key moments for learning and by reflecting on the perplexity of the problems we develop a new vision of learning. Like Dewey, Donald Shön (1983) believed that reflection begins in practice when teachers are confronted with unique and confusing situations, he called them "the swampy shallows of practice" (Shön, 1983). He...... middle of paper ......offey- Barentsen,J. : Malthouse,R. (2009). Reflective practice in the lifelong learning sector. Exeter: Learning Matters. Parkay, FW (2000) Restructuring a teacher education program: the psychological, social and political dimensions of change, Action in Teacher Education 22, pp. 109-125. Shon, D. (1987). Train the reflective practitioner. San Fransisco: Jossey Bass.Skinner BF (1948): Walden Two, NY: MacmillanStenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development (London, Heninemann).Tripp, D. (1993). Critical incidents in teaching. London: Routledge. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Spirit and society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Yost, DS & Sentner, SM (2000) An examination of the concept of critical reflection: implications for teacher education programs in the 21st century, Journal of TeacherEducation 51, pp.. 39–49.