And so it comes to an
end…at least this part of the journey. The past 32 weeks have been challenging,
in both a positive way as I have developed my professional practice, and in a
less rewarding way as I have struggled to maintain any work / life balance.
Despite the drain on my family time, I see this as ‘short-term pain for
long-term gain’. I am looking forward to using some downtime to refresh and
relax, so that I can revisit the learning and ideas we’ve been presented with
and look to incorporate more in my classroom teaching.
I found the whole
course an exercise in reflective practice. Reflective practice is described by
Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) as:
“a challenging, demanding, and often trying process that is
most successful as a collaborative effort” (p. 2).
I
think this quote sums up the course perfectly!
Reflective
practice, as professional development, leads to behavioural change on the basis
of developing self-awareness. It is undertaken in response to a problem where
there exists “the desire to function well
in a professional capacity coupled with the awareness that current behavior is
not fully reaching this goal” (Osterman et al, p12). Reflective practice requires
active participation (experiential learning) by the learner and is usually most
successful when done with others (Osterman et al, 1993). The hands-on
activities, as well as the numerous professional discussions, both in class and
online, provided many opportunities for developing self-awareness and
questioning aspects of my practice and pedagogy. It also led to a number of changes,
including how I teach collaboratively and my purposeful use of digital tools in
the classroom. Personally, it was these professional conversations and
connections that were one of the highlights of the course.
I
have also gained a new appreciation of the place of research and using evidence
to support changes in practice. This has already proved useful in my team
leader role as I have needed to draw on evidence in research to support some of
the changes I have been implementing.
The
assignments, whilst all time-consuming, have had a direct impact on my
practice. My DCL assignments led to the development of a maths weebly that is
in constant use in my classroom. My implementation of this digital tool was the
focus of my LDC assignments. My literature review and subsequent research plan
have formed the basis of my leadership inquiry at school this year and I am
looking to begin implementing this next term. Within the Applied Practice part
of the course, I have found it an interesting experience ‘defining’ myself and
my practice, and having to share this online has opened up (still tentative for
now…) new online connections.
When
reflecting on this course against the practising teacher criteria, I think I
could find evidence for nearly all 12 criteria. However, the two most
significant would be:
Criteria 4:
Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of
professional personal practice.
- Any course requiring the amount of time and effort as this one did, is a definite demonstration of a commitment to ongoing professional development. To make the course meaningful, I tried really hard to make any changes or new learning relevant to my own context – hence why all the assignments have been implemented in my classroom.
Criteria 5:
Show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning.
- As I took on a new team leader role soon after beginning the course (big commitment!), I found the leadership aspect of the course very beneficial. I was able to use theories around leadership to support me in my new role and the assignments gave me a great scaffold for implementing change successfully.
Where
to next…
As already mentioned, I’m looking forward to
having some time and space (mental capacity!) to revisit many of the ideas and
learning that I’ve seen over the past 32 weeks – in particular, the digital
tools we were introduced to.
I have also been inspired to continue the
post-graduate journey and I have ‘pencilled-in’ the Masters course as a next
step. Not this year though, as I also feel a responsibility to dedicate some time
and energy to my team leader role at school, as well as to my family. In the
meantime, my own professional development will still continue through the
online connections I have made and communities I now belong to. I enjoy
following links and reading blogs and see great benefit and opportunities in
doing so – especially now that I’ll have more time!
References
Osterman,
K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators.California.Cornwin
Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 fromhttp://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf
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
