Week 17 Reflection.

Week 17: My Reflective Practise.

For my reflective practise I have chosen to use Jay and Johnson (2002) reflective Model.

Describe

Wow! What a learning journey it has been, not only for me but for my work colleagues, my community, my tutors and especially my students. I am on my way to completing my second year in teaching and I can confidently say with my handheld close to my heart that my challenges and victories throughout my teaching journey have really transformed and reshaped the way I think about teaching and learning. There are three roles that I continue to fulfill on a weekly basis, my role as a father a teacher and a bandleader in the church. One word comes to mind when I reflect on my roles and responsibilities when carrying out these duties “leadership”. I am a leader to the many students I see in my classroom on a daily basis. No matter where my students come from, no matter what state they are in and no matter what battles they face outside the four walls of my classroom “I am a leader”. A leader that understands  I am the decisive element in the classroom and It is my personal approach that creates the climate Haim G. Ginott (1975). I believe that my classroom learning environment will transform if the reflective practice is embedded in my lifestyle. I have been critically reflecting on the way I lead my students to success and how my actions affect change in my students learning. As I reflect on my teaching I always ask myself Is what I am doing work for my students, if not what can I change and how can I change it so my students are understanding what I teach. Although these are the questions I am constantly asking myself I still feel that I am not taking enough time to stop for a moment to process my thoughts and critically think about what has happened. Larrivee (2000) posited two outcomes in developing the practice of self-reflection. Firstly, they learn to slow down their thinking and reasoning process so that they are aware of why they perceive students the way they do and secondly; they can bring to the surface some of the ways they respond to students unconsciously. I am now in my second year of teaching and although I continue to reflect on my teaching practice through taking down anecdote notes I currently believe that there is a lot more room for improvement in order for me to become a critically reflective practitioner. The way I reflect has been through taking down anecdote notes and verbally speaking to my peers about different situations that arise on a weekly basis. My thoughts are that words written on paper or words that are verbally stressed out are meaningless unless we bring these words to life by understanding how to act on them. In order for us to understand how to act, we must reflect, reflect and reflect every chance we get. With reference to Finlay (2008) When done well and effectively, the reflective practice can be an enormously powerful tool to examine and transform practice.

Comparative

Completing the reflection survey really put things into perspective for me because two scenarios came to my attention regarding how I was reflecting and whether reflecting is a regular routine in my teaching and learning practice. Comparing my findings with my other colleagues I found that I wasn’t reflecting as much as I would like. Although I have been reflecting on certain aspects of my teaching I ask myself, is this consistent in my practice or does this rarely happen? It is one thing to reflect on something but how you reflect also needs to be considered carefully. As Larrivee (2000) states, “critical reflection is not only a way of approaching teaching but it is a way of life. This means reflections should be done regularly and be a part of our everyday teaching practice. This will ensure that both teacher and student are both getting better at what they do best which is to become a lifelong learner. This has really encouraged and motivated me to make sure I continue to critically reflect on my teaching and learning practice because this will have a positive influence on me, my team and most importantly my students. According to Larrivee (2002), The more teachers explore, the more they discover. The more they question, the more they access new realms of possibility. These possibilities are the new ways of thinking that help us as teachers unlock or discover ways that will pull down barriers that hold back our students from achieving.

Zeichner and Liston (1996) talk about five different levels of reflection that take place during teaching and I believe that there are three that resonate well with where I am at today:

Rapid reflection: I believe that I am a very open minded person who is open to new ways of teaching so I can improve my teaching and learning practice. I believe that if you are not teachable than you become unmovable. This simply means that unless you are willing to see situations from others perspectives you won't get the chance to reach your full potential.

Repair: Throughout my learning journey I have really come to terms with realising that what you have planned may not work the way you thought it would. Accepting this is ok but keeping in mind that the important part in this instance would be to reflect on it and adapt accordingly to what has happened. Schon (1983) in order for professionals to cope they have to be able to do more than just follow set procedures. They draw on both practical experience and theory as they think on their feet and improvise.

Retheorizing and reformulating: research and literature has become a big part of my teachning and learning journey because this has reshaped and transformed the way I percieve teacher and learning. Research and literature challenges my beliefs in teaching and learning therefore helps me form new ideas and ways of thinking that contributes to improving the way I teach.

Critical Reflection.

I am very pleased that I got given the opportunity to reflect on how I reflect as a teacher because I now understand that this needs be a regular notion in my teaching and learning journey. As I continue to progress forward to the next chapter of my learning I will make it my sole duty to critically reflect on my practice and make sure that this becomes apart of my lifestyle. Even though I write down notes and verbally reflect with my peers, I have found blogging very interesting and will continue to use blogging as a way of critically reflecting on my teaching and learning practice on a regular basis.

My thought so far;

Has it ever occurred to you that we may have missed opportunities to help our students excel in their learning because we simply didn't take time to stop and really reflect on what happened?  

Have you ever wondered if we have overlooked or bypassed a moment that could have potentially been a stepping stone for that child to achieve?


Reference List

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. Practice-based Professional Learning 

Larrivee, B. (2000).Transforming teaching practice: becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293-307.

Schön, D. A. (2017). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Routledge.

Ginott, H. G. (1975). Teacher & child: A book for parents and teachers. Avon Books.