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The benefits of reflective practice
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Recommended: The benefits of reflective practice
As a graduate student, tell us how you have personally experienced transformational learning. Please be specific and include how this has caused any changes to your educational philosophy or your approaches to teaching.
As a graduate student, transformative learning occurred for me when addressing my teaching philosophy as I critically assessed my assumptions, prior knowledge, and worldview. Throughout different courses in my graduate learning journey, I experienced challenges as I critically evaluated my role related to the contributions I desire to make compared to where I currently am in my career path. I began this journey with much trepidation but with a strong desire to teach. During my bachelor degree program, which occurred because
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The learning transformed my teaching style from being the star on the stage – talking (teaching) – to becoming more of a stage manager (behind-the-scenes). In the times that I have taught before becoming a graduate student (professional development courses & a college course), I did more talking than listening and controlling the classroom, based on fear and lack of knowledge I believe. My frame of reference, beliefs, and assumptions changed as a result of learning about myself as a learner, as a teacher and how these come together and have transformed how I intend to present material (Popovic & de Greef, 2014). As part of my transformational learning experience, I developed a greater appreciation for the energy and effort teachers put into structuring their teaching to facilitate student learning. Especially since over the 23 years of working in the classroom, I did not have a full understanding of all the considerations to take into account when teaching a group of students.
Tell us how critical reflection and self-awareness have been a factor in your learning experience. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your experiences with self-reflection and where would you do things differently if offered the
To what extent do you consider that you have already started to develop the approaches of a critical practitioner? Analyse and evaluate your progress using examples from your work to illustrate your arguments.
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.
During March 2016, in Stage 1 of the pharmacy degree, I attended a two day work placement in a community pharmacy as part of the Work Based Learning module within the Capability unit. The purpose of Work Based Learning is to increase engagement with learning and to develop skills specific to patient pathways. This will link to Stage 4 of the MPharm course in which the main unit is Patient Centred Care. Therefore, it is imperative that I enhance my patient education skills through my own education.
...g with Prof. Binder. Writing this final piece has allowed me to synthesize my experiences but I found it harder to reflect and make deep connections during the semester. I would like to explore and make a plan for a continuous, challenging, connected and contextualized reflection process as Collier and Williams suggest. I am determined to develop a more disciplined reflection process for my work in communities as a learner and as an individual.
Learning must begin with the teacher accepting the role of a learner by being willing to study and by being willing to apply oneself to becoming a professional educator, well prepared, and relentlessly endeavoring to advance one’s practice (Frere, 2005). As teachers apply themselves to becoming learners, then they can more aptly educate others. Teachers should not overlook professional preparation; however, they must also consider part of their efforts in scholarship to be constructing relationships with their students.
The ability to reflect critically on one’s experience, integrate knowledge gained from experience with knowledge possessed, and take action on insights is considered by some adult educators to be a distinguishing feature of the adult learner (Brookfield 1998; Ecclestone 1996; Mezirow 1991). Critical reflection is the process by which adults identify the assumptions governing their actions, locate the historical and cultural origins of the assumptions, question the meaning of the assumptions, and develop alternative ways of acting (Cranton 1996). Brookfield (1995) adds that part of the critical reflective process is to challenge the prevailing social, political, cultural, or professional ways of acting. Through the process of critical reflection, adults come to interpret and create new knowledge and actions from their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary experiences. Critical reflection blends learning through experience with theoretical and technical learning to form new knowledge constructions and new behaviors or insights.
As the time approached, my attitude toward student-teaching was one of confidence and in some ways overconfidence. I believed that I was equipped with all of the tools necessary to be a superior teacher. Little did I know what truly goes on behind the scenes of a teacher. Between grading papers, attending meetings, and preparing lessons, I would often feel overwhelmed. Still, student teaching would prove to be much more valuable than I anticipated. It would teach me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers, value or being organized and prepared, and lastly the resilience of students.
There have been many challenging experiences in my life that have contributed to my personal development. Every day I go through experiences that I believe make me a better person, ranging from being the president of debate club, to public speaking, to handling a problem between my friends. But the most significant experience is the disintegration of the relationship with my father. From this, I learned how to handle my problems in a more intelligent and sophisticated manner. This has been the most impactful experience of my life.
The biggest challenge before a teacher is the presentation of a lesson. If a lesson presentation is effective, students can reach the goals of life by acquisition of knowledge; and if the teacher is unsuccessful in his presentation, it is impossible to achieve the educational objectives. The method of teaching is directly related to the presentation of the lesson. The method of teaching depends on the nature of the subject, and the tact of the teacher. This essay is aimed at assessing teaching methods and strategies used in schools and discuss innovations that should take place to make them more effective and learner centred. Brandes and Ginnis (1996:167) acknowledge that the movement from established well-known ground to explore new teaching strategies is a tough challenge to teachers.
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.
In this course I experienced an important change in my beliefs about teaching; I came to understand that there are many different theories and methods that can be tailored to suit the teacher and the needs of the student. The readings, especially those from Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2011), Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007), and Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., Nanlohy, P. (2010), have helped me to understand this in particular. In composing my essay about teaching methods and other themes, my learning was solidified, my knowledge deepened by my research and my writing skills honed.
Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, Sinclair, C., Nanlohy, P. (2010). Learning for teaching: Teaching for learning. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning
As I reflect on my experiences observing in three different classrooms over the last three months, I cannot express how much I have learned by being in the classroom. I began the Master of Science in Education last fall and previous to the practicum experience I had taken 8 classes. I read books, listened to the experiences of my classmates and instructors, reflected on my own education, and tried to imagine how this information was going to prepare me to face a classroom of elementary school students. While I learned theories and skills that should be known by any educator, these classes could not teach me what I most desired to know: what tangible steps could I take to correctly implement all of the correct ways of teaching.
The reflective dimension is the journey of self-development through a critical analysis of one’s thoughts, behaviours and values. Reflection allows you to relate your inner self to the environment around you. It encourages social responsibility and constant improvement as you learn from experience and acknowledge success. (Olckers, Gibbs & Duncan 2007: 3-4) Reflection can boost learning by stimulating awareness of our feelings and practices. This allows health professionals to cope with unfamiliar circumstances and conflicts.
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