Critical reflective essay
“What comes next gives one a little opportunity to look at what has just happened” (Hall & Gray, 2016). Writing from a student-teacher viewpoint, I figured out that it was a smart idea, to begin with, the quote above. Like other student-teacher colleagues, I spend time thinking about what I have to do next; I often needed a gentle reminder to be objectively mindful of my actions to enhance my potential teaching efficiency. If a session goes terrible, I’d not like to focus on it and re-examine what went wrong because it hurts my ego. This would be an easy option, and how many times in upcoming situations could be when I close my eyes and pretend to have a better experience. Hence, no matter how traumatic the context it is, we honestly focus on what we do as students, since we focus on the events of our personal life and that we don’t wish it to occur again. This makes us find it more difficult doing it in our lives of professional.
The notion of the need for contemplation goes back to the time of Socrates, who believed that unexamined life was not worth living. However, in the days of mainstream educational institutions, the notion of equality of literacy has become controversial. Early 1930’s, John Dewey, the founder of experiential learning, wrote and promoted the need for inclusion of schooling. He was the first to bring forth the notion that education was about the experience rather than theoretical knowledge. Martin (2017) addresses Dewey’s work as a distinction between repetitive action and reflective practice. Daily typical tasks were observed as stagnant and not prone to the need and conditions. A reflective phase requires a desire to participate in continuous self-assessment and growth. However, Dewey thought the significance in every relationships and interaction is not enough to have the experience to learn since, without contemplation, it can be overlooked. Therefore it’s learning value get wasted (Martin, 2017).
As a student, the reflective instruction does not only help us; it also reflects the values and methodology of our work but also makes us prepared to adjust and alter our teaching in response to what we learn. At my first time to write an insightful journal, it was difficult to express my thoughts. A quote from one of my weekly newspaper reveals that “it was challenging to compose my studying autobiography, I was aware that it was just a summary of what I did; however I was unable to portray why I did that. It’s easy to question as to why I did that, but to my response is, ‘I just did, and I don’t know why’. There are things in my life that I put in a category. I find it not easy to applaud my accomplishments it may have been hard to understand, but after a range of rethinks and rewritings, I was glad and proud to express my successes and learning curve to date” ( Week 1 Journal).
My academic background in History and IT, and it was the first time to find myself in such a position to analyze myself. I consent with Martin’s argument, “feedback is important in our growth and not only about the input have we provided to ourselves.” As a regard, the input given on my analytical skills was great, and it made me become an insightful researcher. The next quote is another review that I got from the journal I described first, and it was necessary to remind me about objective reflect. ‘An interesting reflection method of writing your learning autobiography is that you need meta-awareness because some thoughts are only descriptions, and thus you may need to express your struggle through voicing your considerable achievements” (Journal week 1 Tutor’s feedback).
Sometimes it’s hard for me to be credited for the job I do; however, at the beginning of the course, have been satisfied with my preparation. I spend a lot of time training for my lessons and development of the environment that I needed to develop continually. Earlier, I had a fear of making lesson plans, because I have never done it before, “the precision of practising the preparation is getting less overwhelming, I may be able to understand how to make one soon” (Week 3 Journal). My fear of scheduling lessons has diminished over the time, but I do have two points from my current action plan that relate to the scheduling of lessons and still consider it to be something I want to achieve in the coming semester. While I am highly sceptical of my teaching preparation, I have received outstanding reviews from both of my teaching experiences. As I progress to become an instructor, I may be over-critical about trying to do something that is going to evolve with me.
During my placement, I used Liu’s (2017) model of reflection, Liu claims that professionals should reflect in practice which allows the practitioners to be able to work automatically by relying on familiar experiences to solve challenges or either make the required decisions. One specific concept I used was my second week of observations. Let me paint a picture of you. The Key skills in a community that I have been studying have been separated into two categories. Every group had a tutor; however, the configuration of the computer suite meant that only one group could see the interactive whiteboard at the front of the school, while the other side could see the virtual whiteboard. I came to attend the lesson to find that one of the tutors had left. Then I was asked if I was going to be having their party. Owing to this ‘reflecting in motion’ order, I had to think on my feet. I was trying to figure out what the groups were going to do that week. After figuring out what to do, I stopped them from reading their e-mails and playing games. When I wanted to include the class in some action that I had received with the answer ‘we did that,’ but all I could think of was hoping that the hour would be over more quickly. I wasn’t ready and after that paused and made sure this didn’t happen again.
According to Gould and Taylor (2017), the principle of evaluation that happens follows an experience that has or has not been understood is a crucial factor of the learning process itself. Here’s an excerpt from my week five that reveals how I felt about the session. The (Week 5 Journal) says, “When I went to my main skills class, they told me to look after and teach one-half of the school when I only supported the school the week before, and I didn’t have something planned; however I had a good mental outlook and conversely made up my mind that I should do this and how hard could it be? Oh, my Goodness! “They shared a classroom with the other party in the centre of the school without a screen to show them what they were doing; however, they had better things to do that were an understatement! I have not been so under-prepared, I didn’t have the knowledge how to get through, and the students always insist they don’t have to work harder! I’m not going to let this continue this week. I’m going to schedule and apply to continue the course, and I hope I will have time to make a coordinated impact on the students I want to make.” Unless I had to comment on this journal article now and write it again, there would be specific changes. The three elements of Martin’s model of contemplation initially concern the perception of explanations. Thirdly, trying to observe and witnessing with my thoughts no matter how unpleasant it was, I was very vague and pessimistic. I was expected to lay aside my wounded ego and knowledge like I didn’t do an outstanding job that was rational. Maharaj, (2016) reports that “We conclude our insensitivity or unpreparedness triggers that aversion to learning shown by students… and by taking a critically analytical approach against our instruction helps us escape these pitfalls of demoralization and self-laceration,” I slipped into the pitfalls that I had not been conscious about what happened, I simply became demoralized and couldn’t do anything. Lundgren and Poell (2016) also they claim that through retrospect, one can get stuck on one perspective. It may be that you give up thinking rather than you whether you understand or acknowledge what has happened. I guess that may have been because I was so worried. After all, I didn’t have a suitable lesson that I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than feeling bad for myself. Finally, reviewing the experience, I realized I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen again, so I knew I had a chance to lead the session back and make a better impact. I fear I ‘m going to be short-lived in this insightful episode of staying student-focused. I know in retrospect that I was always afraid to appear unprepared. I was expected to be more worried about what research had taken place and what was going to happen in future.
My growth in being able to reflect critically is shown in one of my later journals in week 8. The article entry applies to the same class of students that I have already addressed. Lundgren and Poell (2016) note that ‘more optimistic conditions can also trigger reflection, for example, by the excitement of completing a challenge that was previously considered difficult,’ I think I have seen this kind of reflection here because I have handled my session; differently, I have provided candy because an incentive for the progress they have done so far, and I have developed personalized learning plans for each student. “The fact that they had a direction as to what they had to do next with their curriculum means that they sat down and began focusing on their tasks. I’ve been stressing for a couple of weeks trying to convince them what to do as it turns out that they performed better on their growth plans. That’s going to show me not to make decisions because I’ve been told that the primary qualities students wanted to be.
Even though we discussed how I questioned stereotyping in the last example of my reflective writing, Brookfield urges us to test all our hypotheses about teaching and learning methods. I have also adopted community study as a way of studying. Toda & Thompson (2017) encourages group practice as a way of learning through social contact. Acting collaboratively and together can promote interpersonal partnerships and coordination. While I’ve considered all of this to be true Liu (2017) encourages us to look at angles and future downfalls, a way of thought that even objectively analytical teachers will understand, but maybe until recently I haven’t. In one hand of the group work, Liu (2017) describes the role of teachers in group work as “it is common sense to visit small groups when you have given them a challenge as it reflects your dedication to helping them understand. Visiting classes is an example of compassionate, responsive, student-centred instruction.” I have to admit that this is the view of the role of my teachers in group work. Conversely, Liu (2017) states that this type of teaching can sound like an evaluation to students; they can believe like you are staring at them. We can even act differently when we know that you’re watching them, even when you’re joining their party.
In my teaching, I’ve always been frustrated that I couldn’t use the ‘chain’ approach while talking to students. The essence suites ensure that people are seated in more conventional rows than they can face each other. It helps all students to be seen and understood from a teaching point of view. However, Sullivan, Glenn, Roche and McDonagh (2016) points out that it may not be an issue for confident students. Still, it can create trouble for timid and less confident students who may find the situation awkward. In terms of questioning expectations when it comes to having an equitable opportunity in schooling, I have found that there may have been one type of teaching that I am doing, but I am looking at differently now. According to Zambon and Dumay (2016), several teachers believe that if they set the same learning goals for the classroom and offer support to everyone who asks for help, they have equitable opportunities. I used this tool myself in some of my courses. Zambon and Dumay (2016) told me that silent students frequently need more support than they ask for, and more optimistic vocal students often need guidance. From these two examples of daunting conclusions, I have shown that there are both pros and cons for various styles of teaching. The art of being an excellent instructor is flexible and able to determine everything to use, where and why objectively.
During the first term, I have sponsored and encouraged an unquantifiable amount from my classmates and my mentor. The connection between us as a collective has been a vital part of my development as a teacher. We have shared fun and worries, and above all, we have shared sincere support every time. It’s interactions with my colleagues and tutors that gave me the confidence to be more objectively insightful and to be grateful to earn positive feedback. My mentors and colleagues have provided all the support, and more than I will ever expect at my placement class. I realize now that I’m going to sound like I’m delivering an Oscar speech. It is, however, important to note how my colleague and family have helped me for the most difficult three months of my college and career life.
Historically, teachers were ‘accountable and responsible’ for student learning, and teachers decided where, how, when, and the role of teachers was primarily the dissemination of information. Shaw (2018) argues that this position is long out of date and that the position of teacher facilitator will be even more widespread.
On a personal level, I have managed to be a writer-facilitator for a while. I always sought to cultivate self-esteem among my students and to be the motivational teacher mentioned as mentioned by Wlodkowski (Shaw, 2018) I wanted to offer experience, have an understanding, show enthusiasm and consistency, however by this I tried to inspire the community about what they want to know. Above all, I want to go through the next semester and be a successful coach, and I want to be able to continue to focus frankly and un-defensively on my skills, no matter how difficult it might be. According to Zambon and Dumay (2016), the study reveals that no sort of personality makes a good teacher. Whether you’re a quiet introvert or an energetic extrovert, you can instruct successfully, but only if you’re an introvert.
References
Gould, N., & Taylor, I. (2017). Reflective learning for social work: research, theory and practice. Routledge.
Hall, E. T., & Gray, S. (2016). Reflecting on reflective practise: A coach’s action research narratives. Qualitative research in sport, exercise and health, 8(4), 365-379.
Liu, K. (2017). Creating a dialogic space for prospective teacher critical reflection and transformative learning. Reflective Practice, 18(6), 805-820.
Maharaj, N. (2016). Using field notes to facilitate critical reflection. Reflective Practice, 17(2), 114-124.
Martin, D. (2017). A nutritionist and an educator in professional horseracing: using reflection to create ‘My process’. Reflective Practice, 18(5), 589-599.
Shaw, K. (2018). The (Spectral) Turn of the Century in Simon Armitage’s ‘Killing Time’(1999). In Hauntology (pp. 25-42). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Sullivan, B., Glenn, M., Roche, M., & McDonagh, C. (2016). Introduction to critical reflection and action for teacher researchers. Routledge.
Zambon, S., & Dumay, J. (2016). A critical reflection on the future of intellectual capital: from reporting to disclosure. Journal of Intellectual capital.