Week 32: Reflective practice - key change in professional practice

Wow....thinking back over the last 32 weeks while reading "Our Code Our Standards", the biggest change I can identify in my practice is professional learning; namely, critical evaluation of my own beliefs and assumptions, being informed by research and innovations, and seeking and responding to feedback (The Education Council, 2017).

Two key areas that I adopted or had to use:

the collaborative nature of the course - while I work in a collaborative place at school- the assignments and group work each week helped refine and develop these skills further.

Online blogging to reflect- This meant I needed to be concise in what I shared and be willing to hear back from others. In fact I found it better reading other peoples work because I found that I was not alone in what I was thinking. This helped me share things that I may have been feeling or experiencing.

Now What

At the start of this course I though PL was a strength of mine. Willing to look, seek and learn new things to apply to the class. As Osterman & Kottkamp, (2015) state "Often we feel that identifying a problem or a need in our practice admits a level of incompetence, however if we cannot identify the ‘problem’ that we want to address then we do not have ownership, and therefore no investment, in the learning required" Due to the supportive group at Tauranga Mindlab I felt safe enough to open myself up for their feedback, questioning and reflections. This was due to the environment being we are all learners and here to help each other. Traditionally my readings/reflections were kept to myself, sometimes orally shared, but never really open for feedback. Maybe I was in a comfort zone? I was limiting perspective and therefore drawing conclusions that confirmed my assumptions (Osterman & Kottkamp, 2015).

I knew what I was thinking and seeing from my world lense. It's important that I open up to others ideas as it is important to remember that the purpose of professional learning is to continually evolve and refine so that we provide students with the best practice we can. It is our communities of practice that can help us achieve this - uncomfortable means new learning.

What Next

So - where to? I will continue my online presence with sharing my reflections and thinking as I now see this is a safe place to collaborate, share ideas, challenge, and overall critically reflect on my practice to make effective change. It also opens up to other people outside my own environment. This tool has at times made me feel exposed, however the impact it has had on my teaching practice has been effective.

Moving forward I intend to continue learning about the 21st century skills and the best ways to prepare my students for the ever-evolving world they will work, participate and contribute in. This will include making the curriculum available to all and how they use the tools/ resources around them to achieve success in all they/ we do.

References

Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators: professional development to improve student learning.(2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

The Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession. Wellington: The Education Council.