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The principles that underpin professional development
Reflection in practice teaching
The principles that underpin professional development
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As an educator, there is always room for reflection and growth. Being in this class has provided an opportunity for both. From my knowledge gained in this class I believe that I have become smarter and have learned how to implement different tool into my teaching as well as general life as a teacher. Of the topics discussed in this class, commitment to students, avoiding burnout and reflective practices had the biggest impact on my professional growth. In the second week of this course we discussed professionalism and our commitment to students. A lot of the sources read during that week addressed why we decided to become teachers, how we would keep our fire for the field of education burning and how our passion and enthusiasm would impact …show more content…
This week had the biggest impact on my professional growth. During this week, I learned that meaningful reflection is " the practice or act of analyzing our actions, decisions, or products by focusing on our process of achieving them (York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere & Montie, 2006). There are many benefits of reflecting in the field of education. The most influential is the effect that reflection has on the learning that your students gain. If a teacher meaningfully reflects on their practices they will create lessons to better impact students. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson (2003), “Teacher reflection inevitably attends directly to students ' need for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge.” Each time a teacher reflects on their work, they empower their students to learn more. Students recognize their teacher’s reflection and mimic their behavior. I feel like learning about reflection impacted me most because it showed me that I should reflect on the good and the bad. Everything that I teach should be reflected on. The more that I reflect on my work, I will be closer to becoming an expert teacher. Reflection has the biggest impact on professionalism as a teacher. If I am willing to learn from my strengths and mistakes I will impact my students to strive to the best they
One reason for Reflection being used is to give practitioners the chance to change an aspect within their setting, which they feel can be improved in order to help the development of children within their practice. Reflective practice is about improving practice and coming up with theories to support the improvement (Holmes, 2011, p.7). Reflective practice using critical reflection will allow the practitioners to identify what they do well and what they need to improve on within their Early Years settings. It can also give practitioners the opportunity to develop their professional identity, and work at improving their working environment (Forde et al, 2006, p.65, 66). By allowing practitioners the chance to improve their working environment, it can have a huge influence on the children and their development within the Early Years. For example, a teacher looking back and being reflective over their lesson, will allow them to make amelioration for when they teach that lesson again, thus leading to further learning development of the
Reflection is a key element of the human learning process. It can be used to justify aspects of practice and legitimise the knowledge gained from it, as opposed to traditional forms of learning.
In conclusion I feel that I have gained knowledge that can only be obtained through hands on experience in the classroom. With this experience I changed my assumption about classroom management techniques and have a totally new outlook which will only aid me as a teacher. This will be of great help to me going forward but I feel as a teacher you must be constantly open to learning and improving
William Arthur Ward once said “Teaching is more than imparting knowledge, it is inspiring change. Learning is more than absorbing facts, it is acquiring understanding.” I have always believed equal opportunities must be given to all students. As teachers we are not just educating our students with knowledge, but also instilling values in them and developing their character. Our minister of education had mentioned four key attributes of a Student-Centric, Values-Driven Education. It is important for us to understand our students so that we could come up with the best strategies to help them learn effectively. Among the four attributes, “Every Student, an Engaged Learner” and “Every Teacher, a Caring Educator” are key characteristics which led me to how I perceive myself as a beginning teacher. I want my students to be cared for and be an engaged learner who is involved in learning in school and as a lifelong learner in life. How am I going to reach this goal? As a beginning teacher, I see myself as a reflective teacher through communicating, learning, observing and understanding my students. In my essay, I will talk about what I mean as a reflective teacher, what are the two major challenges that I may face and its respective
My first observation experience was eye-opening. Upon my arrival to Providence Catholic High School, I only had basic knowledge about what it took to be an effective teacher. After working with many different teachers at this high school, it became evident that every teacher adopted their own style of teaching. I also began to understand that in order to be a wonderful teacher; one must have the passion for the content he or she is teaching and the student’s well being. I was very fortunate to begin my educational journey at such a prestigious high school. The students were there to learn, and this was evident through their work and dedication to success.
I spent the whole night reading about the differences teachers make on student’s lives and how their hard work pays off in the eyes and minds of their students. The more I divulged in the books, the more I pictured myself leading the future of our community. From that day on, I was determined that teaching was going to be how I was going to spend the rest of life. I never knew that all I needed was for someone to see something in me as a student to affect my whole future and how I can possibly have that effect on future generations.
In today’s classroom, the teacher is no longer viewed as the sole custodian of knowledge. The role of a teacher has evolved into being amongst one of the sources of information allowing students to become active learners, whilst developing and widening their skills. Needless to say, learning has no borders – even for the teacher. One of the strongest beliefs which I cling to with regards to teaching is that, teaching never stops and a teacher must always possess the same eagerness as a student. Through several interactions with other teachers, I always strive for new ideas, techniques, teaching styles and strategies that I might add to my pedagogical knowledge. Furthermore, through personal reflection, feedback and evaluation...
Along these two weeks we have been prompt to make a recall to our own way of learning and why we became a teacher: Was it because coincidence, due to life circumstances, maybe because family tradition, was it a conscious decision or because someone influenced us? Whatever the answer is, we have to face reality and be conscious that being a teacher does not only means to teach a lesson and asses students learning. It requires playing the different roles a teacher must perform whenever is needed and required by our learners, identify our pupils needs and preferences, respecting their integrity and individuality but influencing and motivating them to improve themselves and become independent.
As I reflect on the past four years at Virginia Tech, I am fortunate to have had the opportunities to work two semesters in classrooms and learn first-hand about children, teaching, and how I fit into the profession. As I prepare to move to the next chapter of my formal education, I realize that I am no different than the students I worked with. As a teacher, I will become a life-long learner by learning new techniques and experimenting with different teaching strategies. How can one become an effective teacher without constantly reflecting on what works, what doesn’t work and collaborating with colleagues. I recognize that teaching is no small undertaking but I am confident I will remain dedicated to the profession with my genuine enthusiasm, positive perspective, compassion, and zeal for learning.
For my assignment I have decided to choose a group which I have just finished taking for level 1 Hairdressing and they have progressed on to level 2 Hairdressing. This is within my current role as a hairdressing lecturer at Hugh Baird College which I have done since October. Within this group there are a couple of people who have support workers. There is one student within the group who has severe learning difficulties and is a more mature student. She also has many health problems which results in her having to carry an oxygen tank around for when she has any problems with her breathing due to her having problems with her heart. There is also another student in the class who has learning difficulties, she is very clever but just needs someone there for when she needs something explaining. She also has a support worker that comes in to give her support. This student has also been going through personal problems at home and has attendance issues. There is another student within this group who has severe dyslexia. She doesn’t have a support worker but the support people who are in there do give her help as she can have a tendency to give up, not to listen and just needs to be kept on track so by sitting next to a person that does have a support worker she gets the help from them. These three students have all had their level 1 qualification extended for a year were the rest of the group have progressed on to level 2 Hairdressing. Two of these students may progress on to level 2 but one doesn’t have the ability to be able to do this as the requirements are too high for her. The reason the course was extended for them was because they were struggling with the work that was required for this qualification, but as the col...
Coming into this class, I figured we would learn about how to handle different kinds of situations from a teacher’s standpoint. As it turns out, the class is much more than just that. I figured there would be group discussions consisting of some controversial issues, but I had no idea how the course would make me feel as a person and as a future educator. So far, this class has brought to light the incredibly difficult decisions I will have to make as a teacher. Not only will those decisions affect the child and parents of that child at hand, but myself as well.
Marcos, J.M., Sanchez, E., Tillema, H.H. (2011). Teacher Reflection: What is said to be done. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 37(1), p.21-36.
My cooperating teacher has been employed in the field of education for 19 plus years. She has been in her current position as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher at the Lighthouse Learning Center for 12 years. Observing a teacher who has so many years of experience in the classroom is very beneficial. She shared with me this week her teaching philosophy that has evolved from her many years in the classroom. The components of her philosophy include a focus on people, strategies, and tools.
For instance, I have learned that just simply reflecting on what I am seeing in the classroom is not enough that I have to comprehend and gain knowledge about the classroom in a more profound and meaningful way, such as relating observations to theories and psychology studies. Also I have learned to reflect more deeply on what is going on around me, not just looking at what is at the surface. I took notes during my observation. I tried to not only write what was happening, but also why it was happening and tried to convey any thoughts or feeling the students, teacher or myself had. Lastly, in my reflection, I improved my reflection skills by asking myself questions, such as, “what would I do,” “how would I do it,” and “how would I react?” Then, I would reflect back on what I had learned throughout the semester to see if I could find the most appropriate
At the end of the day or beginning of the school day, I communicated what I did with Ms. P to plan out better activities or lesson plans to meet each individual’s needs.