Week 18 learning!

Create a reflective entry to critically reflect upon how you have positively changed your practice during your postgraduate journey. Your reflections should be based on a suitable reflective model of your choice.

Description

Signing up to MindLab has been one of the most posivitive changes in my practice since coming back to NZ from teaching and working abroad for the last few years.  I had been working in a country where there a very strong emphasis of 21 Century thinking in student learning and teachers needed to understand how collaborative learning looked for the student as well as for teachers and their practice.

What’s changed?  I guess for me, the main thing that I see emerging from my new learning is how I deliver my program so that my learners are co constructing their knowledge together with me. Learning has become ugly and messy, but the thinking process from my children continues to astound me.

Parents would ask me why their kids work didn’t look as pretty or as nice work they've seen in other classrooms.  When I explain to them this is all of their child's thinking and personal effort in the work  presented, they  slowly became more appreciative of what they see.  

I’ve begun to change (and hopefully improve) a lot of things within my practice and using  reflective models such as Gibbs',  has helped me better explain the changes made on my postgrade journey.

Feelings.

I am more aware of the  changes  made in my practice and have used research to help me better understand why these changes help me make better informed choices. When I see my students take charge of their learning, work collaboratively with each other and talk confidently about choices they make, I feel a sense of achievement and this is reinforced when parents see positive changes in their children too.  
Has it worked for all my students. No…no quite…but I am getting there.

Evaluation

“Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision and change”- Richard Branson

Some of my students have found it hard to adapt to change as they were used to teachers who would help them step by step to the point where activities were basically almost done for them.  I didn’t want that culture in my class. I wanted to cultivate a culture of curiosity and collaborative learning.  Parents thought that some of our work was not as aesthetically appealing as other classes or that their children found it hard to do things. But had to assure them it was there was thinking process behind the work.  Some parents understood what I was trying to achieve, some on the other hand still thought I could have done better to ensure their child’s work looked prettier or as good as others in our class.  I think within time, parents will better understand  that we are trying to create a culture of critically thinking and collaborative learning,  but in order to achieve that goal, I need to reflect and constantly make improvements my daily practice.

Being informed by research based evidence has opened my eyes to what I could do better on a daily basis.  It has also helped me when conversing with peers about current practice and ITL (2012) learning rubrics that describe what learning could look like in class.

Analysis

Research by Bolstard et al (2012) in Theme 4 talks about the rethinking the role of learners and teachers. Some teachers have their own interpretation of what this means but on the whole, it is meant that teachers and learners form relationships and roles that draw on strenghts of both parties to best support learning. This meant that my learning program needed to be authentic contexts that were meaningful, engaging and challenging too. Learning together to better understand the world around us.

Conclusion

I have been through many changes since being at my current school.  I have also taken on extra responsibilities within the school too. But, with all the new changes, my students and their families have seen how we have shifted from a traditional model of classroom learning to that of knowledge buiding and collaborative learning.  They see that learning can be fun, engaging and messy at the same time. The can see that learning can be integrated into areas of interest for our learners like STEM in the classroom.  But, communities and teachers need to understand, this process of learning is something I want to roll out school wide and it is with the help of fellow teachers who have completed MindLab postgrad program, and those in my team, I have found a like minded friends and peers with the strength and energy to do so.

Action Plan

What can I do to improve this plan? I guess for me, I would like  others to see the benefits of what I have learnt from doing postgraduate study and that they too, in time, will do the same. It is through this new learning that I have been able to implement a program that better suits my children and it is helping them to become more curious about the world around them.

This change has also impacted on the families of my children who are so used to teachers being the head of the class and leading from the front all the way.  Our families are given a voice to share and I value their imput  too. Its about creating a strong partnership to ensure the best outcomes for the children in my class.

Have I achieved all the goals I set out for myself when I began my journey? No…I think I still have a long way to go, but like they all say…Its not about the destiny, but the journey you take to get there!

Reference

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

ITL Research. (2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research