Week 32 - PRACTICE - Key change in Reflective Practice

Activity 8: Key change in my professional practice


Create a reflective journal entry in which you reflect on your personal 32-week learning journey and critically evaluate ONE key change in your own professional practice in relation to either any ONE of the themes from the Hack education research or any ONE of the themes from “Our Code, Our Standards”.


Then share your plans/dreams for your future professional development or your future practice.


I will use Rolfe's model of reflection to help me structure my blog post.


Step 1 - (What?) Key Change in My Professional Practice


The Key Change I am going to focus on is the standard of Teaching - Teach and respond to learners in a knowledgeable and adaptive wat to progress their learning at an appropriate depth and pace.



Image is taken from pg 20: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf (Education Council of New Zealand, 2017)


I have chosen this one because when I started this course I was most interested in how I can successfully apply digital learning to my practice. I liked how the first Digital Assessments allowed me to plan and implement a change in my practice. The feedback from the students was valuable and provided my colleagues and I, with the opportunity to adjust how we used the digital innovation and the time it took up.


Step 2 (Now what): Evaluate the identified change

Using Osterman and Kottkamp's 4 Stages of Reflective Practice - An Experiential Learning Cycle (2015), I will evaluate the identified change.



Stage 1: Problem identification


The previous year we had found that student engagement was a problem and the use of technology was not always being used educationally. We discussed ways in which we could help the children develop their literacy. We decided it was important to implement the change as student agency is an important component of learning and I believed the use of HaparaWorkspace was the tool that could do that. As Osterman points out, "Regardless of how the problem emerges, its recognition motivates us to develop a deeper understanding of the situation, particularly our own role in the situation." (pg 73)


Stage 2: Observation and analysis

We initiated a use of Workspace at the end of the year and the data of completed work helped confirm our identification and interviewed year 5 students to get their feedback on their initial thoughts. After the initiation of the use of Workspace, with modelling and set time frames, we saw a rise in submitted and completed work from the data and interviewed more students to get their feedback.


Stage 3: Abstract re conceptualization


I did a lot of reflecting with a colleague, who was an early adopter in using Workspace. This allowed us to see what we thought was working and change what we had done. I could've also sought advice from my Community of Learning colleagues as they might have made changes to their use of the programme to help the learning of the students.


Stage 4: Active experimentation


As a result of our reflection, we adjusted the time frame for the use of Workspace to help those who felt pressured to complete work. My colleague also integrated the use of flip grids that allowed the children to share their learning.


Step 3 (What next) Share your next plan(s) regarding your future professional development or your future practice.


One of the great aspects of doing the literature review and planning of a teacher inquiry was the fact that it allowed me to look at other aspects of my pedagogy. Introducing Workspace brought a digital element to my practice, but it has to be remembered that it is just a tool for learning. The important thing is that I build up a good educational relationship with my students and get them thinking and taking ownership of their learning. I'd like to incorporate more project-based learning in my practice to help develop their problem-solving skills, reflective skills and improve my formative assessment when providing and receiving feedback. I think Workspace has the potential for the students to structure and share their learning and build on their success.

Resources:
Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators: professional development to improve student learning.(2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Rolfe et al (2001) retrieved from https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf