Category Archives: 3.4 Prof. Reflection & Commitment

A Memorable Learning Experience

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Reflecting on my time at school, I have had various memorable learning experiences in and out-with the classroom environment. One which I remember particularly well, was the way in which we were introduced to our new class topic – “The Bermuda Triangle. “

We entered the classroom after interval, to an audio playing on the loud speakers. Initially, I was very confused with what I was hearing, but as the audio continued facts began to arise and I started to make connections.

Despite the recording being muffled, I managed to decipher a conversation between a group of people. One man was feeding back to another on their whereabouts and how they had mysteriously been brought off course.  They were miles away from their planned route for no apparent reason and were beginning to become increasingly panicked as things started to go wrong with their controls. The language used and the dialogue unfolding made me think it was a conversation between people in the cockpit of an airplane and ground control staff.

I was immediately engaged in the lesson without the teacher having to say a thing. The audio came to an abrupt ending and there was an eerie ringing sound coming from one end of the line. Ground control repeatedly asked for any sort of response from the cockpit but they received nothing. This left us all completely engrossed and wanting to know more. After asking the teacher to re-play the clip, we discussed its’ content and our thoughts collectively as a class. Following this we were introduced to our new topic and my assumptions were confirmed as we were told this was in fact a real-life cockpit recording, taken just before Flight 19 crashed into the North Atlantic Ocean. The teacher then went onto discuss how we were going to be studying and investigating “The Bermuda Triangle.”

For me, this was a memorable and valuable learning experience as I was immediately engaged. The clip acted as a provocation and allowed me to embark on enquiry within the classroom. As a result of this I became actively involved in my own learning. Furthermore, it stimulated my curiosity and triggered my ability to make connections. Reflecting on this experience has made me realise the importance of provocation within the classroom. This is therefore something I would like to draw upon in future placements.

Improving our ePortfolios

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Today’s tdt gave us all the chance to spend some time reading through our peers posts and reflecting on our own. From this I have become motivated to keep my own blog up to date and not only engage with the tdt tasks but write posts on other areas that may interest me.

Scrolling down my blog I have realised that at the beginning I was consistently writing blog posts but as the semester came to an end my focus shifted onto assignments and the VIVA. I think it is incredibly important to create a happy medium. We must engage with the ePortfolios on a regular basis but putting our full attention solely on them is not the best idea.

I have always been interested in looking at other people’s blog posts for a number of reasons. Reading other people’s posts can often spur on ideas and can result in improving our own writing. We can learn a lot by comparing our writing with others. Everyone takes on a blog post in different ways and by reading one another’s we can pick up on this and develop hints and tips which we can put to practice.

One of the many things I picked up on today was that many of my peers include pictures, links and references to further reading within their blogs which is something I want to adopt. By doing this I hope it will make my blog user friendly and attract more attention.

Today has also motivated me to become more involved with my peers posts and comment on the blogs I read. I have realised that the number of blogs I’ve read does not match up with the number of times I’ve left comments which is something I want to change. One of the main purposes edushare provides is enabling us to interact with one another’s posts. I firmly believe that if we do not follow this through we will be missing out no an opportunity to enhance our practice.

Reflection

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Reflection is a key element in anyone’s learning. We can actively reflect on our actions and how we handled things but we also will often do it subliminally and judge ourselves or begin to then focus where we can then improve.

Effective reflection allows us to breakdown a situation and analyse how we coped and handled each of the aspects within it. For example, I feel like I developed a good way of coping with exams throughout my senior years in high-school. After sitting my first ever two preliminary exams in third year I gained an appreciation for the pressure and desire to do well that I felt. I then went on to establish a method in which I could handle this pressure so I could achieve my best. I did this through trial and error, reflecting after each exam and finding an understanding of how I best coped. I would study hard and discuss with my peers and in the end I would succeed. I personally feel that I have therefore made effective use of reflection in relation to my own learning.

As a teacher I feel I would be able to stress the importance of reflection to my pupils; explaining that the one of the best ways to learn is to learn from our mistakes. Children should be encouraged to always try and if they fail then they must be helped to understand where they went wrong and then try again after reflecting. This can be applied in so many different ways be it behaviour in the class room and developing an understanding of right and wrong, completing tasks and solving problems, class tests and resits if required and ultimately primary education as a whole.

I remember leaving primary school but I feel like it was only in my high school education that I reflected upon it. It was then that I understood what I had learned and how ready I felt to move on. I feel like I can do that again now as I reflect over my high school education and begin the process of becoming a fully qualified teacher.

Reflection is something we all do whether we notice or not. The process is a vital part of everyone’s learning as it is incredibly important to be conscious of the fact that things can go wrong and there is always room for improvement. Reflection not only highlights to us where we can improve but it can help us learn from experiences.  It has many purposes but ultimately we reflect so that we can develop our understandings and learn.

What is professionalism?

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The video ‘Professionalism (teachers say)’ on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ychgs3rrdA discusses different views on the professionalism of teachers. The documentary gives us an insight into the views of several teachers on what it means to be a professional. Although they don’t go into great detail on the subject matter I do agree with what they have to say. 

Miss Catherine Long begins the video by discussing how there is a need for a greater focus on the professionalism of teachers and how they are represented in today’s world. She later goes onto talk about the current demand for benchmarking how well students are doing which I do agree with. However as parents are becoming more knowledgeable on the current education system and how classrooms are run there is an increasing pressure on teachers to provide the best learning environment for every individual pupil. I think this highlights that parents today are becoming more involved in their child’s learning which in a way is a good thing but this does add pressure on teachers. There has been cases where parents are quick to blame the teacher if their child is not doing as well as they expected in a specific area of the curriculum. This scenario illuminates the need for teachers to act in a professional manner to deal with the situation correctly.

Mrs Nursen Chemmi is the next teacher featured in this video. She raises the view that teachers are role models which I could not agree with more. Being a role model for pupils to me is a crucial part of professionalism. Children are easily influenced especially at the primary school age and as a teacher we are one of the main adults in their life so we should be setting a good example from the beginning. By acting professionally and displaying good morals we are automatically setting an example to pupils which they will hopefully adopt. In acting in this manner we are teaching children how to become well-rounded, responsible citizens which is a very important part of professionalism.

Mrs Colleen Walsh begins to talk about the changes that she has seen in education over the past 30 years. She underlines the point that it is vital we do not judge children because of their upbringing or the area in which they live in. We have to understand as a professional that children come from a range of different areas with differing family incomes, morals and opportunities. As a professional our job is to give all of these children an equal chance at learning and support them in every way possible.

This video on professionalism has certainly made me think about what it is to be a professional. I think each teacher takes a different outlook on professionalism but it is clear that they collectively share the same view in that they all want to do their best for their pupils which I think is a key part of professionalism.