Category Archives: Recommened reading

An Enquiring Practitioner

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An enquiring practitioner carries out research in order to enhance their breadth of knowledge. The practitioner can then share this information with colleagues. To be an effective practitioner, working together with other people is vital. However, working with others doesn’t come challenge free. There may be communication difficulties which can be rather problematic when trying to work collaboratively and cooperatively as it could cause misunderstandings and interpretations that may lead to unpleasant relationships within the group. Disagreement is a good thing as it shows everyone has formed their own idea in their head. However, by not accepting someone’s opinion and not showing that you appreciate that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, conflicts can then arise. This kind of conflict between team members hampers the amount of work completed and lowers the group moral. In addition, certain members of the group could start to feel very isolated and become separated from the rest which may deter them greatly from taking part in group activities in the future.

On the other hand, there are many benefits that come from working in a group. Not only does group work provide the opportunity for and individual to gain confidence, it gives them a chance to get their voice heard and gain some kind of reassurance. Moreover, it also creates opportunities to share and develop ideas, allowing team members a chance to gain knowledge from their peers. Working as part of a team can also improve efficiency in the successful process and completion of group tasks. Moreover, the workload can be shared and any problems discussed, thereby reducing the stress and strain put on one person. The calmer the process of completing the task can be, the higher the quality of the finished product.

As a student teacher I think it is extremely important to be an enquiring practitioner. It allows student teachers to work with colleagues to develop and plan lessons in an effective manner. Furthermore, being part of group discussions also allows areas of improvement to be highlighted. This is extremely important for a student teacher so that they can take on board the suggested improvements in order for them to develop into the best teachers they can be. It is all about recognising areas of weaknesses and learning how to improve them. Working with colleagues in the school environment can also give you the opportunity to observe how other teachers conduct their lessons and perhaps adapt some of their techniques and incorporate them into your own lessons. Being able to research issues and share your findings is valuable as it demonstrates the ability to learn and share new ideas and how to reinforce your findings. I believe that being an enquiring practitioner can develop our teaching skills and professional attributes which are two key areas essential in order to provide a high quality education.

Reflection

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Having taken time to consider what reflection means to me I have come to the conclusion that I think reflection means to look back on a past experience. We should use reflection to learn, develop and improve on something we’ve already done. By doing this we can improve the quality of our future experience. Reflection is all about positively criticising past actions and thinking about what was done well and what we can do to improve. It is also about thinking clearly about what we felt during certain points and what we can do to enhance these feelings positively. Reflection is key to further our learning and without it we deprive ourselves of the chance to grow, build on what we have and continue in a positive direction. We are thereby taking control of our own learning and are being open minded to learning and adapting – skills that are so important for teachers to possess. I hope by reflecting I will be able to continuously improve all aspects of my work.

‘Study Skills’ TDT

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Having read pages 236 – 280 of the ‘Study Skills book’, it has been brought to my attention that there are certain aspects of my English I can make an improvement on. Reading the recommended pages I soon realised that some of the information I was reading I had actually considered to be just basic knowledge. However, on reflection I now realise that this ‘basic knowledge’ I just assumed I knew, isn’t quite as sharp as I would prefer.

The book really highlighted to me the importance of using punctuation correctly and the necessity of precise spelling. I was already aware of how important these both were but now that I am at University I have to be writing pieces that are clear and concise. This means that the expression and spelling all have to be completely accurate. From reading about this I’m going to be more conscious of what and how I’m writing and be sure to double, if not triple check my work before submitting.

The most interesting piece of advice I discovered during my reading was a completely new way of laying out a paragraph. ‘Study Skills’ suggested that a paragraph should be laid out as such:

  • Topic sentence
  • Developer Sentence
  • Modulator Sentence
  • Terminator Sentence.

I feel that this plan for a paragraph is very useful and will make essay writing that little bit easier and hopefully enhance the quality of my work.

This book is bursting at the seams with advice and suggestions and I hope to take on board this valuable information to further develop my writing skills.