Reflective practice is viewed as "a means by which practitioners can develop a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their performance, an awareness that creates opportunities for professional growth and development." (Osterman and Kottkamp, 1993, p.2).
I was both nervous and excited to take the opportunity of studying face to face and on line with a diverse range of educators. I can't believe that it is coming to an end. The most valuable part for me has been the opportunities to learn, make mistakes, reflect and grow as an educator in such a supportive and positive environment. The learning has been so much fun and has been something that I have looked forward to each week. This personal positive experience, in line with Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) 7, has been something that I have been keen to try to replicate in my classroom environment creating an environment where the ākonga continue to learn, contribute, collaborate and reflect and make changes to their learning pathways. For example in maths we are doing cafe style problem solving across groupings where groups of 4 students have to record and share their process and answers before moving on to another problem with a different group of 4. In reading the ākonga now work towards a contract, again across groupings, with increasing input into choice over how and when they complete, mostly, deepening understanding tasks based around SOLO taxonomy and the SAMR model, developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura. My MindLab journey has given me the confidence to apply and get a leadership role within my school, heading up the senior syndicate next term so the experiences that I have had in the last 32 weeks are something I want to apply in my new role, guiding other teachers to move forward with me in e- learning and building students who are equipped with 21st century skills and above all fostering a love of learning.
Another area of my practice where the Mind Lab journey has impacted directly is under PTC 6 , conceptualise, planning and implementing appropriate learning programmes. My planning is becoming a lot more student focused, often with an integrated approach planned around authentic learning where possible. The learning flows more from one lesson to the next. The introduction of a class Notebook and having all the planning, collaboration pages, teaching videos, assessments and student's work being assessable all the time has aided this.
My dreams and directions for the future include continuing to have the confidence to explore digital technologies that we have been exposed to on this course with my ākonga such as coding, robotics, Augmented Reality and Makey Makey. To stay connected, through readings, blogging, twitter and google +, to current day trends, issues, thinking and pedagogies not as an observer but as a contributor. With my new role as syndicate leader, I want to model leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning and promotes a collaborative, inclusive, reflective and supporting learning environment for the ākonga and staff.
References:
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
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
