A Change in My Practice Towards Future-oriented Learning and Teaching

Mindlab Activity 2
Theme 4: "Changing the script": Rethinking learners' and teachers' roles

• Why did I make this change?

I have always been intrigued by the thought of children ‘driving’ their own learning. I wanted students to be able to take ownership of their learning and thus creating students that are engaged and motivated about learning because they choose the path their learning is taking. I wanted to empower students to be able to learning goals for themselves, and use the reflections of those to guide future learning. In my year 2/3 class, it has been very minimal, but already I can see that my students are setting goals based on their own needs. Often, they seek feedback from peers and collaboratively work out a next step/goal.  This requires students develop self-regulatory skills. According to ITL Research (2012), “Today’s complex world demands self-regulated thinkers and learners who can take responsibility for their lives, their work, and their ongoing learning. It requires individuals to monitor their own work and to incorporate feedback to develop and improve their work products” (p.31)

• How was this change triggered during my learning journey at The Mind Lab?

Focusing on the 21st century learning skills has supported my decision for this change. I have previously heard about self-regulation or students agency, however didn’t understand the impact it could have on my students and my teaching. By developing my first assignment, I have had the opportunity to further grow my understanding of student agency and how it would benefit my students, not only now, but also into the future.

• What have I learned from implementing this change?

I have learnt that teaching self-regulation take times. It needs to be model explicitly to students. Students need to be given the time to practise this skill, to fail and try again. They need to be able to do this in an environment where failures are celebrated. By my students being able to set their own goals for writing, they no longer needed to be directed about what to focus on in writing. Instead of them coming to me, asking what needs fixing, they can now come to me and say, “I have used the same sentence starters for each of my sentences. I’m not sure how I can change some of these, I just can’t make them make sense”. I like the students will tell me what they need help with, rather than asking what needs improving. This allows students to think critically about their own writing and can apply to future situations where students are applying for jobs, going for interviews, etc.

At the start of next year, developing students agency is going to be my big focus. I would like to see my students leading their own learning in other curriculum areas such as reading, maths and topic studies. This could further be developed in students talking about their own learning and changing the focus of our parents - teacher interviews. Although we currently have three way conferences, the students are a little less prepared to discuss their learning with whanau as I would like.

ITL Research. (2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

Critical evaluation of my reflective practice.

Mindlab Activity 1
To be honest, written reflections are non-existent for me at the moment. I am constantly reflecting about my teaching and practice in the weirdest places - bed, shower, driving, while cooking, etc when writing things down just does not happen or practical. I often discuss concerns with peers to gain greater insight or new ideas. But critically reflecting, on paper, just isn't happening. I have tried to set time aside to complete reflections, I have bought diaries, every time they just gets pushed to the side - viewed as not important, purely because they take time, which there isn’t much going around.  

I wasn't sure how to start this blog post, so decided to have a look at what other people have said. Looks like many of us are focusing on the description, rather than the reflection. To support my critical reflection of my practice, I need to focus more on the ‘how’, ‘why’, and ‘so what’, rather than the ‘who, what and where’.

According to Zeichner and Liston’s (cited in Finlay, 2008) five levels of reflection, I would say I am currently sitting at level 2. I do from time to time ‘research’ (level 4) when I come across a challenge I have no idea how to solve, or a child with behaviour issues I can not manage. However, never have I critically reflected about this in writing.

SO

How - I am going to critically reflect using a variety of models, looking for a model that is successful and that works for me. One that is effective, but doesn’t require writing novels. Because according to Finlay (2009), “different models are needed, at different levels, for different individuals, disciplines and organisations, to use in different contexts” (p.10).

Why - Because with critical reflection, there is growth. Not only do you need to think retrospectively - what has been done, but also about what you are doing right now, and what you are going to do next time. It is with this thinking that we can ensure that we are always improving our teaching practise, looking for better, more effective ways to teach, learn and inspire others.

So what - According to Dewey (cited in Finlay, 2009) “reflective thinking moved people away from routine thinking/action (guided by tradition or external authority) towards reflective action (involving careful, critical consideration of taken-for-granted knowledge)” (p.3).

I am looking forward to making critical reflection a habit.

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file…