Changes In My Practice

Reflective practice is very powerful as Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) mention. “Reflective practice is a professional development process that we believe is highly effective in achieving behavioral change.”

MindLab November 2015, has been an incredible journey! I decided to change schools, in mid December (largely due to MindLab.) The learning has been massive from teaching new entrants and special needs children, school professional development, to leading a team, being part of the management team and literacy responsibilities. I had to factor in moving house… and my supportive family.

For these reasons I’m grateful for MindLab. I have loved the learning and being with like minded souls. I have felt like a ‘juggler’ as priorities had to be made. As a teacher, time is our enemy. I would love to revisit the topics we have covered in the 32 weeks at leisure, as honestly some of it seems like a blur.

However … the highlights for me have been reflecting on my practice, leadership, collaboration with colleagues - particularly my study buddies, the tools and apps we experimented with, Growth Mindset and the importance and relevance of all the 21st century learning skills. Pretty much the lot really!! Assignment time was challenging, however it was rewarding to finally submit.  

“Change is a process begun not by learning a new idea from an expert but by recognition that something is not exactly “right” in one’s own professional practice.” (Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993)

These are the two key changes in my own research informed practice in relation to the

Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) in e-learning.

Criteria 7:

http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Practising-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning/Criteria-7

How do I promote a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive learning environment that embraces e-learning and engages learners?

Collaboration has been the stand out issue for me during this course. From the title of this paper - it had me thinking - Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Practice (Digital and Collaborative Learning). Working with others - either as leaders, teachers, or students is vital.  As a classroom teacher I am starting to put my learners onto a collaborative path of learning. I am preparing them with digital citizenship and endeavouring to get them to start working together (as much as you can with five year olds!). Some groupings have changed to include mixed abilities with more co-operative activities. These are small steps towards collaboration. I am less vigilant about working in ‘certain spaces’, and give them more flexibility when it comes to decision making. There are those that need plenty of scaffolding who have just started school, however I am mindful of those who have maturity and a developed skill set. I will continue to use some new applications that are suitable to a larger set of young learners, that just don’t rely on ‘games’ or more traditional literacies. These are proving to be motivating and children have experienced success that they can instantly see and hear.

Criteria 4:

http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Practising-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning/Criteria-4

How do I/can I utilise e-learning to further my professional learning and development?

I’ve had a kickstart to reignite my e-learning journey through the MindLab course. I needed a pedagogical challenge for my own professional development. I have shared some of the readings and findings with colleagues, however I need to do more of this to bring them inline with current practice and thinking around e-topics.  I am eager to support colleagues more in my team, and model/show them different ways of teaching and engaging their learners. I want to keep pace with professional practice and developments both locally, nationally and globally. In our cohort there were some experienced practitioners who I want to visit and learn from. Previously I have attended an Educamp, a U-Learn Conference and taken part in Ed Chats via Twitter. These are all areas I need to get back to so I can further develop my skill set and keep learning.

For now I need to back the truck up and consolidate and implement some more of my learning. Going forward I would like to do some more research around Growth Mindset, which I am starting to teach my class about. I found this to be incredibly valuable during our study. I want to visit practitioners who have a good handle on e-learning who successfully work in Innovative Learning Environments with younger junior students. This will enable me to focus on the next steps in my practice. The jury is out on further study ...

It has been a challenging journey, and one that won't be forgotten easily!

References:

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California. Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf