New reflections x 2

A new semester has started and I have 2 new courses to enjoy, Teaching practice in Action and Mobile Learning & Teaching. The first class was yesterday and it was great to see everybody again, ready for the next chapter. 

Teaching Practice in Action:

We had been given our new communities and paperwork 2 weeks ago and that was a really smart move because our first assignment is due on August 8th. We are to write an analysis of our teaching practice, develop our teaching philosophy, and identify potential areas for professional growth. That will be presented with an action plan designed to improve an aspect of our own teaching, as a form of professional development. I delved into what it means to write a teaching philosophy and was overwhelmed with the variety of formats and examples. Downloaded a few, and read a few as well. I filled in a template from Ohio State University and did the Grasha-Reichmann Teaching Style Survey. Interesting how I see this on a day to day basis and how I interpret questions. Overall my style is fairly even, just like my learning styles according the Honey and Mumford Learning Style Survey, or Fleming's VARK Questionnaire.

I think this is because I seem to be more open to ways of being and seeing than I used to be, and am more willing to try new tools. At the same time I found myself squirming a lot this week over the thought of having to dig deeper into the whys and hows of my actions and reactions in a teaching sense. I suspect this is going to get rather personal and I will have to face a bit more than I might be ready to.

Knowing someone would be taking my place for the theory classes this trimester, was quite disconcerting and I had to really scramble to make sure both Ralf and James had decent plans for those first three weeks! It made me see how much more detailed my lesson plans have to be if someone is truly to take over - we tend to have so much noted superficially and mentally that any one else would struggle to take over - despite our belief that we are quite clear!  The act of explaining my approach and having someone else carry that out was quite strange yet very good for the both of us. I think for Ralf it was really strange having to follow someone else's methods that use technology in a very different way than he does. The fact that I didn't have the most complete lesson plans ended up being a bonus for both of us: Ralf got some control back by revising and updating them and I had to explain what and why I was wanting certain things in place. I think together we have made a much better lesson package that a lot of other people would be able to work with.This collaboration is highlighting our strengths working together and hopefully improving our students experiences while they are with us. I feel that we are making good progress which is already enabling us to take the next step in creating more meaningful  learning experiences. This process has made me question more deeply what I mean to achieve in any given time frame, and the value of each exercise. It's also given me more confidence to explore with the students what their own thoughts and motivations for study are in an attempt to see how I can encourage them into more successful engagement.

Mobile Teaching and Learning:

Confusion reigned in my head for some time here. Were we supposed to include our peers in our current teaching groups? Were we supposed to evaluate each person's activity? If an exercise and a test was not enough then would it be acceptable to get students to learn how to do the order system I currently use for their shop planning? By the end of the day all my questions were answered and happily I can get on with planning and implementing my original thought, which is to record how to use the order sheet properly, and chunk that into bite sized pieces. Along the way I'll plan small tasks that allow users to review how successfully they are getting on with the exercise. 

I'm really pleased I decided to spend time last week researching and trialing some screen casting software. I think I'm happy with the SmartPixel format, and I'm excited to be getting a decent microphone to record with. I think I'm ok now with the idea of doing voice overs. Since making assessment videos in the last 2 years I include much more of what goes on in class as that makes it more authentic and personal to the students viewing. Hopefully over time they also get to recognise each other in the clips.

Lonely Screen lets me cast my iPad screen to the computer. For now I'm not sure how much screen sketching I'll do for this activity, but it's good to have all of that in place. I'm excited to be getting on with this as its been in my head for the past 3 months since I had to hand over the theory classes to Ralf. That really brought home to me how individually we all teach and how specific my teaching has become with regards to how I hand over more responsibility to the students. It helped me to confirm what is going well and highlighted areas that need refining, especially how to teach the ordering system for the shop day has been a work in progress for a really long time and I hope this final step of recording the process will really benefit everyone. The intention is to free up class time for helping solve problems with inputting, and let students confirm they are on the right path. The students will have a tool they can refer back to and let that guide them even if it is the middle of the night. They'll be able to give each other more support because there will be the step by step recordings to refer back to while they use the shared file to complete their work.

Next chapter

How time flies when you are studying, writing assignments and marking your own class work!
I was going to reflect on how the assignment writing went and so I'll post parts of my reflective essay since that really say what I learned in Semester 1 of 2016:

The whole process of writing a blog, thinking about what to write and creating a summary of progress (Blaschke, 2012), has been empowering and productive. I notice an increase in my vocabulary which allows more effective writing. Mistakes are more visible now, especially after a realisation that it is closeness to my chosen topic that prevents me from getting it right first time. By creating some distance, a more effective understanding of the criteria can take place. This circular process is really helpful; it just takes time.

By the third Patchwork summary, I evaluated the experience more closely, achieving a more effective way of expressing what I feel and think. Finding ways to be succinct and formulating opinions on what I am reading by using the evaluation, analysis and ‘what else could be done’ stages of Gibb’s Reflective Cycle is a big challenge. I now ask myself more often how implications and consequences impact on me and my topic.

.           This improvement in my approach to describing the emotive images in my head is very pleasing and I was blown away by the first feedback from a lot of classmates especially about my scattered thinking and the need to find my focus. The footprints resonated well here, starting off alone and expecting that soon more would join me on the learning journey. I did not realise how powerful the colours and metaphors generated by the word cloud would be to my classmates. Such imagery in a Reflection-on-action (Schön, 1983) allows for further exploration simply by reflecting on what the feedback from my peers means through what they have taught me, and how I could incorporate that into my future critical reflections.

I felt inspired, uplifted, humbled and really touched by how peer feedback has the power to set you thinking even further on what you have just shared. The act of giving feedback on everyone else's summaries is also very powerful and it helped me to see the variety of interest among eight people. Certainly through the relationship to Schön’s Reflection-in-action (1983), specifically in class discussion, we recognise that our progression and thinking is taking shape.

 Taking the advice to just think about my thoughts and feelings has enabled me to construct a more cohesive piece of critical writing as an informed action, a rationale for continued practise and helps me to take a more realistic view of my own limitations (Brookfield, 1995). This was evident in my third reflection when my lecturer’s main comment was that what I had written was much more pertinent. Classmates wrote that they gained insight into my learning journey, and they felt inspired and learned something from me each time. It feels amazing that I am able to help and inspire my peers into achieving something more than they first thought they could, so I try to always write feedback that will encourage them to reflect further on how their own experiences shape their learning, thus concluding Gibb’s Reflective Cycle with action planning.

In particular the discussion around procrastination and our interpretations of what was expected of us in class was helpful to my progress in critical reflection. Learning to deal with procrastination, allowed me to accept that there will always be distractions.  I can accept that I don't work from 9-5pm solidly on my studies. By having a flexible approach, and having daily and weekly goals, I will improve the end result. I have signed up for a study and so it is my job to complete it to the best of my ability.

 Furthering my ability to translate that into effective essay writing for my studies, I have enhanced my capability as a professional in the field of education, through clarity of thinking and writing in support of my colleagues and students. The process of giving and receiving feedback is an extremely powerful experience that inspires me to share that further in my own workplace in an effort to build a trusting relationship through which to learn and teach (Brookfield 1995).

It was worth spending a couple of hours researching and installing an internet capable referencing machine. I called the search ‘process procrastination’, but it was actually well worth the effort because it made a huge difference to collating and formulating ideas for my essay writing. Making proper notes when reading allows me to start the reference list early, stick to the topic and write effectively and critically what I'm learning and how I feel, giving me a significant sense of accomplishment to both my work as a lecturer and as a student.

When relating these developing reflective processes to Driscoll’s 2000 The What? Model, I feel I am reaching the detail of analysis, evaluation and conclusion into an action plan more effectively. Identifying my own barriers to learning and developing an insight into the benefits of critical reflection is helping me to find my own point of view on adult learning, getting to the heart of the matter by shaping the learning offered in this paper to fit my own personal context (Vella, 1995). In part, my willingness to be honest with myself breaks some of those barriers down, allowing the kind of transformative learning discussed by Nugent (2003) to be just as much a spiritual journey as one of intelligence. This transformation comes as an integral part of my own act of becoming aware of how I learn, react to my learning discoveries and find a way to express my reflective thoughts (Depraz, Varela & Vermersch, 2003) as my inner voice finds a way onto paper. There is still a long way to go in my ability to critically reflect, but I feel that this experience of Patchwork Text and essay writing has set me well on the way.

The purpose of this essay was to evaluate my experiences of self-motivated study during the past three months. Its main focus was the Patchwork Text reflections and the strategies I have developed and refined to improve how I study in relation to reflective models and theories in education. Setting out a clear plan of action on a weekly basis allows me to manage procrastination and enables me to reach my goals by following the plan. Using the tools and strategies such as focussed reading; a referencing machine; keeping the criteria and notes that belong to that in my assignment template, and writing issues that arise on a large sheet of paper next to me as I work, gives me an effective way to carry out study. This leaves me feeling as if I have uncovered something really big and really exciting to explore and share through my assignments, and I have combined the three reflective models as shown above accordingly. Moving from the centre outwards builds on previous experiences allowing a more complex critical form of reflection to take place as I move through each cycle completing the action plan by the end.

My learning, reading and writing challenge is to have a critical opinion about what I’m reading because I find that so much of the reading chimes deep notes of recognition in my soul. However, I am beginning to use discernment by looking for the parts that chime less true, helping me to clarify the way the assessment criteria and related reading become themes around which I can focus the analysis and critique. The experience of the three reflective models discussed in this essay has given me a surer grasp of my potential to succeed at whatever I set my mind to. In this manner the act of becoming aware of myself as a self-motivated student who is able to see to the heart of the matter has shown me how my own limitations can be stretched through transformative learning and recognising the benefits of becoming a critically reflective practitioner (Depraz et al, 2003; Vella, 1995; Brookfield, 1995; Bain, 2004; Nugent, 2003 and Driscoll, 2000).

This journey of self-motivated learning is inspiring me to continue critical reflections through my daily work and further study. Hopefully in the future my ability to help other adult educators will enable them also to become more fully aware of the possibilities and joys in learning and teaching.

 References

Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

Blaschke, L. (2012). Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning. The International Review of Research In Open And Distributed Learning, 13(1), 56-71.

Borton, T. (1970). Applying the Process Approach. In Reach, touch, and teach: Student concerns and process education. (1st ed., pp. 93–105). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Brookfield, S., (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Depraz, N., Varela, F. J. & Vermersch, P. (Eds.). (2003). On becoming aware: A pragmatics of experiencing (Vol. 43). Amsterdam, Netherlands: J. Benjamins Publishing

Driscoll, J., (2000). Practising clinical supervision. Edinburgh: Scotland. Balliere Tindall Retrieved 28/05/2016 from

http://www.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0748797661_302418.pdf

Gibbs, J., (1988). Reflective Cycle Gibbs. Retrieved 28/05/2016 from http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/public/liss/documents/skillsatcumbria/reflectivecyclegibbs.pdf

Nugent, D. (2003). Action Research Transforming Practice. In Zepke, N., Nugent, D. & Leach, L. (Ed.), Reflection to transformation : a self-help book for teachers (1st ed., pp. 213-228). Wellington, NZ: Dunmore Press.

Schön, D., (1983). Reflection in Action. In The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in action (1^st ed., pp. 49–69). New York: Basic Books

Vella, J. (1995). Learning to Teach, Learning to Listen. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.