Week 17 - My Reflective Practice

I have chosen “The 3 Steps of Reflection” (adopted from Jay and Johnson’s 2002 reflective model) as my reflective model of choice.

“There are many pathways to becoming a reflective practitioner and each teacher must find his or her own path. Any path a teacher chooses must involve a willingness to be an active participant in a perpetual growth process requiring ongoing critical reflection on classroom practices. … Critical reflection is not only a way of approaching teaching - it is a way of life. The more teachers explore, the more they discover. The more they question, the more they access new realms of possibility.” (Larrivee, 2000: p.306).

For me as a teacher, making a critical reflection on my own practice is an ongoing process.  In addition, I have realised that I was incorporating both Schon’s two types of reflection: the reflection-on-action and reflection-in-action (cited in Finlay, 2009: p.3) over the years of my experience.

Being a solitary reflective practitioner on reflecting upon my own practice at most times allowed me to alter my practice. For examples, reflective thinking in my head before transferring them into journals in my diary. At the same time, I have gained benefits from any dialogical reflection with my syndicate colleagues and my appraiser (Finlay, 2009: pp.6-7). This includes “appraisal” and the weekly syndicate and team meetings where my colleague(s) and I took the time to have “quality” learning conversations on our successes and failures, share best practice and thoughtful recommendations, as well as projecting our next steps and goals with new plans for improvement. For me, it is important to question and challenge my own assumptions and existing practices, thereby allowing me to constantly reflect and implement best practice (Larrivee, 2000: p.296).

When I compare my answers with my peers’ responses to the survey, one challenging aspect that I would add to my current reflective practice is, writing my reflections on a blog and share with others. This aspect is huge for me, perhaps it will allow me to critically reflect upon my own as well as other’s teaching and learning. The blog is a useful reflective platform for educators and community of practice teachers (Yang, 2009). Stiler and Phileo (2003) claim that reflection through blogs empowers teachers to give and receive more positive and immediate feedback from peers to resolve personal and professional problems (cited in Yang, 2009: p.12).

Another aspect come to mind which I believe it will improve the quality of my own reflective practice, is adapted from Zeichner and Liston’s Five Levels of Reflection (1996): (1) Rapid reflection; (2) Repair; (3) Review; (4) Research and (5) Retheorizing and reformulating (cited in Finlay, 2009: p.4). In addition, I have exposed to a range of academic theories through Mindlab that will help to challenge my own assumptions and practice, aiming for ongoing professional growth.

References:

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. Practice-based Professional Learning Centre, Open University. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002). Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.

Larrivee, B. (2000).Transforming teaching practice: becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293-307.

Yang, S., H. (2009). Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational Technology & Society, 12(2), 11-21.