Week 32: APC - Reflective Practice – PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

“Unimaginable, cannot believe it’s all over!

Or just Started”

Before doing the mind lab's course I use to consider that I am a very reflective practitioner. However while working on “Leadership In Digital and Collaborative Learning” I came across Larrivee, (2000)’s article on transforming “Teaching Practice: becoming the critically reflective teacher”. This has been the most enlightening article I have across as the first phase of my journey which made me question my “Status Quo” and made me analyse the steps I use to take in the reflective process. This process provided me with a clear sense of vision and totally new perspective in my progression of experimental classroom. The biggest change I believe that has happened in last 32 weeks has been around following things:

Exploring, learning and trialing new technology related strategies in my classroom practice. Which I use to consider after spending two decades as educational practitioner that I am too old for this.

(First Animation)

Not being afraid of failures and developing growth mindset. To ensure that me as teacher promotes anything in the classroom must first adapt that it in my practice and my learning journey is important as my ākonga’s one. As rightly said

Lastly but the most valuable one is collaboration. Working as a team and understanding that, this team is not limited to colleagues or the network that one establishes while attending an external professional development. However this collaboration is possible while sitting in the comfort of your classroom or home. By engaging in professional conversation online and  by being part of professional community network online.

Two key changes linked with my practice in relation to the Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) in e-learning:

Criteria 3: Demonstrate commitment to bicultural partnership in Aotearoa / New Zealand.

It has been a helpful reminder to my professional commitment towards bicultural partnership.

I have incorporated flipped classroom model in my teaching practice, since I worked on “Digital & Collaborative Learning in Context 2”. I have quite a mixed ethnic group class, with whom I tried this model. The main focus while promoting this model has been around Mannaakitanga. Informing students why we are learning this way, building student’s trust in adopting to a new practice, involving whanau and ensuring during classroom sessions this approach will provide lot of opportunities to learn from peers. This peer support provided an excellent opportunity in building open and trusting relationship among students as well as teachers. So much so that initially when groups were created lot of students were challenged to move out of their comfort zone. However after a term or so when I asked my students to go back to their original friends groups they didn’t wanted to do that as they felt that groups that I had created for them are far more powerful in supporting each other’s learning, that students preferred to stay in groups that I had created for them.

Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice.

At the beginning of the course I had a goal to challenge myself by incorporating digital tools in my classroom practice. However I use to struggle to use them in a meaningful way, considering that my knowledge around information technology (IT) is poor. So I went for this perception that mind lab course will enhance my IT knowledge by teaching introducing me to the A-Z of IT. However after first few weeks I felt it’s going to be a struggle as tools were thrown at us without much demonstration on how to use them. Regardless as I moved deeper into the course I realised that this is been best way to create self-regulated learning environment, where I need to participate responsibly in professional learning opportunities within the mindlab learning community. Mindlab Initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills. Where now I am part of some online professional communities, I am embracing new tools around digital technology by giving it a go myself and not afraid of not only learning from my students but being open to them that I am learning and trying (whatever the new tool could be) for the first time. For example first time I created a blog my year 9's and my son helped and proof read it before I published it.

Even on simple things like twitter I never believed it’s for me, but now I am promoting it among my colleagues as well as my students.

Thanks to “Applied Practice In Context” I can actually do blogs Brilliant !

Though I am fortunate to be working at a school where ongoing professional development is considered as a big thing. In past sometimes I use to do it as a tick box thing then to be looking at long term personal and professional benefits in my teaching pedagogy. Mindlab helped me to understand differences between “Practitioners as passive consumer and Practitioner as action researcher” Osterman and Kottkamp, (1993).

Future:

While working on literature review in “Research and Community Informed Practice” a hidden learner inside me has been reborn.  The first time when I had read about growth mind-set in 2014, this concept had resonated quite a bit. However the real impact of it actually happened only while doing literature review around growth mind-set. In fact this has been so powerful, that I have already written my proposed research plan to carryout research (Ph.D.) in education. I have checked with a few New Zealand universities and am glad to know that I qualify to enrol straight into doctoral studies in education, due to my previous Ph.D. in Zoology.

So currently I am searching for a provider who could lead me into this field “To investigate the impact of micro-intervention of growth mindset in partnership with parents on student’s academic performance”.

To conclude I would like to acknowledge my Mindlab peers, mindlab facilitators, my friends & colleagues at Pakuranga College. Above all this journey has only being possible with regular support and encouragement from my husband and my two lovely kids my son Navrajdeep and daughter Afreshdeep.

References:

1. Action, E., Wha, P., & Haka, K. (2015). Weaving together as one. Ka Hikitia in Action. Page 8.
2. Larrivee, B. (2000Transforming teaching practice: Becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective practice, 1(3), 293-307.
3. 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
4. Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Registered-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning
5. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/10/twitter-for-professional-development.html