Critically reflective essay

Emma Purnell: 0522771

Our planning (or worrying about) whats happening next gives us little
opportunity or inclination to examine what has just passed Wallace (2005)
Writing from a student teacher ersective ! thought it "as very at to start "ith
the #uote a$ove% ! $elieve !& li'e many student teacher colleagues& send so
much time "orrying a$out "hat ! have to do ne(t& that sometimes ! need to have
a gentle rod or reminder that ! need to $e critically reflective of my actions in
order to imrove my future teaching erformance% )ometimes if a session goes
"rong ! "ould rather not d"ell on it and re*e(amine "hy it "ent "rong as it hurts
my ride% +o"ever& this "ould $e the easy otion and ho" many times in future
situations could ! close my eyes and retend $ad e(eriences hadn,t haened-
)o regardless of ho" ainful the e(erience it is vital that "e critically reflect on
everything "e do as teachers& after all "e reflect automatically on events in our
ersonal life that "e do or don,t "ant to haen again yet "e find it harder to do
it in our rofessional lives%
.he idea of the need for reflection goes $ac' to the time of )ocrates "ho claimed
that the une(amined life "as not "orth living% /ore recently ho"ever& the idea of
reflection in learning "as radical in the times of traditional educational
institutions% 0ohn 1e"ey as early as the 1230,s "rote and advocated the need for
reflection in learning% 1e"ey& the father of e(eriential learning "as the first to
ut for"ard the idea that education "as concerned "ith e(erience rather than
a$stract 'no"ledge% 4a"$ert (2003) discusses 1e"ey,s "or' in contrasting
routine action "ith reflective action% 5outine day to day action "as seen as
relatively static and thus unresonsive to changing riorities and circumstances
"here as reflective action involves a "illingness to engage in constant self
araisal and develoment% 1e"ey felt the imortance in any e(erience lay in
the relationshis and connections "ithin the e(erience it is not sufficient
simply to have an experience in order to learn because without reflection it
may be forgotten and its learning potential lost 4a"$ert (2003)
6ot only does reflective ractice encourage us as teachers to reflect uon the
rinciles and ractice of our "or' $ut also to $e reared to change or modify
our teaching in resonse to the feed$ac' "e are given& or that "e give ourselves
(/itchell) When ! first started to "rite reflective 7ournals ! found it #uite difficult to
articulate my feelings as this e(cert from my "ee' one 7ournal sho"s I found
it surprisingly difficult to write my learning autobiography as I was
conscious of it just being descriptions of what I had done but not really
being able to explain why I did them. Its all too easy when asked why did
you do that? to answer I just did or I dont know and there are definitely
events in my life that I have put into it seemed like a good idea at the time
category. I found it difficult to praise my achievements for fear of sounding
big headed it may have been hard to praise but after numerous rethinks
and rewrites I was content that I had conveyed how proud I was of my
learning curve and achievements to date! (7ournal entry "ee' 1)
! had come from an academic $ac'ground of !. and +istory and it "as the first
time ! had found myself in the osition of having to evaluate myself% ! agree "ith
/itchell,s oint that feed$ac' is invalua$le in our develoment and not 7ust the
feed$ac' "e give ourselves% ! have found the feed$ac' !,ve $een given on my
reflective s'ills "onderful in that it has made me $ecome a more reflective "riter%
.he ne(t #uote is art of the feed$ac' ! received for that first 7ournal ! have
mentioned and it "as crucial in reassuring me that ! could critically reflect& even
in those early days " fascinating reflection on the process of writing your
learning autobiography # you will need this meta awareness that some of
our reflections are in fact descriptions # also it$s really important that you
are articulating your struggle with actually voicing your considerable
acheivements! (.utor feed$ac' on 0ournal entry "ee' 1)
! do find it difficult to receive raise for the "or' ! do sometimes as ! never "ant
to sound $ig headed% ! have $een leased "ith my lanning since starting the
couse% ! have sent a lot of time getting reared for my lessons and have
criticised my o"n lesson lanning as an area ! "anted to continually imrove% !n
an early 7ournal ! noted my arehension at doing lesson lans as ! had never
done one $efore the clarity of lesson planning is becoming a bit less
daunting I might even be able to know how at start one soon8 (7ournal entry
"ee' 3) /y arehension of lesson lanning has lessened over time $ut ! still
have t"o oints from my current action lan that refer to lesson lanning and still
hold it it as something ! "ant to erfect in semester t"o% 9lthough ! am critical
ersonally of my lesson lanning ! have received good feed$ac' from $oth of my
teaching o$servations and so ! may $e $eing over critical in "anting to :erfect,
something that is going to gro" "ith me as ! develo as a teacher%
! thin' during my lacement ! have used )chon,s (12;7) model of reflection&
)chon $elives that rofessionals can :reflect in action, 5eflecting in action
re#uires ractitioners to thin' on their feet& $e a$le to "or' instinctively $y
dra"ing on similar e(erinces to solve ro$lems or ma'e necessary decisions%
<ne articular incident "here ! had to use the :reflect in action, model "as in my
second "ee' of o$servations% =et me aint the icture for you% .he >eys'ills !.
grou that ! "as o$serving "as slit into t"o grous% Each grou had a tutor&
ho"ever the layout of the comuter suite meant that only one grou could see
the interactive "hite$oard at the front of the classroom& the other grou could see
a regualr "hite$oard% <n the day in #uestion ! arrived to o$serve the lesson to
find that one of the tutors "as a"ay% ! "as then as'ed if ! "ould ! mind ta'ing
their grou% 1ue to this re#uest :reflecting in action, had to ta'e lace& ! had to
thin' on my feet% ! tried to find out "hat the grou "ere suosed to $e doing that
"ee'% ?y the time !,d found out ! then had to try to sto them from all reading
their e*mail and laying games% When ! tried to engage the class in any activity !
"as met "ith the resonse :"e,ve done that, ! tried to thin' on my feet $ut all !
could thin' a$out "as "ishing that the hour "ould $e over more #uic'ly% ! "as
simly not reared% ! needed to reflect to ensure this didn,t haen again%
?oud (122@) theory of reflection that occurs after the event that is "hat has or
hasn,t $een learned is a ma7or element in the learning rocess itself% +ere is an
e(cert from my "ee' 5 7ournal that sho"s ho" ! actually reflected on the
session& ! "ill use this as a $asis of comarison as to ho" "ell ! follo"ed ?oud,s
model Awent to help in my keyskills class they asked me to look after and
teach one half of the group where as I had just helped the group the week
before I had nothing prepared but I thought positive mental attitude that I
could do this how hard could it be? %& '( )%*+ they were sharing a
classroom with the other group in the half of the classroom with no
computer to show them what they were doing and to say they thought they
had better things to do would be an understatement+ I have never felt so
under prepared in my life how I got through the hour I have no idea and
still the students said that they didn$t normally have to work so hard+ I am
not going to let that happen next week I$m going to prepare and ask to take
the session again and hope I$ve still got time to make the organised
impression on the students I want to make! (0ournal "ee' 5) !f ! reflect no"
on this 7ournal entry and "as to "rite it again there "ould $e some changes% .he
three asects to ?oud,s model of reflection involve intially the e(erience itself
and its descrition% )econdly& returning to the e(erience and attending to or
connecting "ith my feelings% ! had done this& no matter ho" ainful it "as& ! had
ho"ever $een #uite descritive and negative% ! should have ut my hurt ride of
feeling ! had not done a good 7o$ aside and $een more o$7ective% ?roo'field
(1225) states that we think that resistance to learning displayed by
students is caused by our own insensitivity or unpreparedeness,and by
taking a critically reflective stance towards our teaching helps us to avoid
these traps of demorilisation and self laceration! ! had fallen into $oth of
these tras& ! had not $een critically reflective in "hat had haened& ! "as 7ust
demoralised that ! couldn,t do it% ?oud (122@) also imlies that sometimes in
reflection "e may get so fi(ed in one ersective of "hat "as going on that "e
are not a$le to recollect the events clearly% !t may $e then that you give u
reflecting anymore as you thin' you understand or accet "hat had haened% !
thin' this may have haened as ! "as so stressed that ! hadn,t had a good
lesson ! couldn,t focus on anything other than feeling sorry for myself% 4inally&
Evaluating the e(erience& ! had decided that ! "as not going to let the same
thing haen again and ! 'ne" ! "anted the chance to teach the session again
and ma'e a $etter imression% ! thin' ! fall short in this reflective eisode of
remaining student focused% ! thin' in hindsight that ! "as 7ust "orried a$out
loo'ing unreared% ! should have $een more "orried a$out "hat learning had
ta'en lace and "hat "as going to haen in the future%
/y gro"th in $eing a$le to critically reflect is sho"n in one of my later 7ournals in
"ee' ;% .he 7ournal entry is referring to the same class of students that ! have
already discussed% ?oud (122@) states reflection may also be prompted by
more positive states for example by an experience of successfully
completing a task which previously was thought impossible! ! thin' !
sho"ed this sort of reflection here as ! had aroached my session differently& !
had given s"eets out as a re"ard for "or' they had done so far and had
designed individual learning lans for each student& here,s my reflection the
fact that they had some structure as to what they needed to do next in their
project meant that they actually got down and started to work on their
projects. I had struggled for a few weeks trying to instruct them what to do
when it turned out they worked well by following individual development
plans. -his will teach me about making assumptions I had been told that
keyskills students had to be pushed forced and watched at every turn not
so+ 'y group are great! (7ournal entry "ee' ;) ! had reflected on the event&
"hat ! had done to change my teaching and challenged my assumtions% ! "as
gro"ing in my reflective s'ills%
Even though "e have discussed ho" ! challenged stereotying in the last
e(amle of my reflective "riting ?roo'field encourages us to challenge all our
assumtions a$out teaching and learning methods% ! have often adoted
grou"or' as a learning method% /itchell (1227) encourages grou "or' as a
means of teaching through social ineteraction% Wor'ing colla$oratively and
collectively can romote interersonal relationshis and team "or'% 9lthough !
have found these all to $e true ?roo'field (1225) gets us to loo' at all sides and
otential do"nfalls& a "ay of thin'ing that all critically reflective teachers should
thin' $ut erhas until recently ! didn,t% <n one side of grou"or' ?roo'field
(1225) illustrates the teachers role in grou"or' as its common sense to visit
small groups after you have set them a task since this demonstrates your
commitment to helping them learn. .isiting groups is an example of
respectful attentive student centred teaching8 ! have to agree that this is the
vision of my teachers role in grou"or'% Conversly& ?roo'field (1225) e(lains
that this form of teaching can seem li'e an assessment to students& they may
feel that you are chec'ing u on them% 9lso they may $ehave differnetly "hen
they 'no" you are "atching them and "hen you aroach their grou%
!n my teaching ! had al"ays $een disaointed that ! couldn,t use the :circle,
method "hen tal'ing to students% .he nature of !. suites means that eole sit in
more traditional ro"s than $e a$le to face each other% 4rom a teaching oint of
vie" it allo"s all students to $e seen and heard% +o"ever& Bore (1223) oints out
that for confident students this may not $e a ro$lem $ut it may cause ro$lems
for shy and less confident students that may find the situation em$arassing% !n
terms of challenging assumtions "hen it comes to roviding e#ual oortunities
in learning ! have found that there may have $een one style of teaching that !
use& that ! no" loo' at differently and "ill re*evaluate the "ay ! use it in the
future% Petty (200C) states that many teachers assume that if they set the same
learning activities for the class and rovide hel for anyone "ho as's for hel
that they are roviding e#ual ourtunites% ! have used this method myself in
some of my classes% Petty (200C) has reminded me that the #uiet students often
need more hel than they as' for and the more confident outso'en students
often need less% 4rom $oth of these e(amles of challenging assumtions ! have
seen that there are al"ays ro,s and con,s for different tyes of teaching% .he art
to $eing a good teacher is $eing fluid and $eing a$le to crtiically evaluate "hich
to use& "hen and "hy%
.hroughout this first semester ! have $een suorted and heled an
un#uantifia$le amount $y my eers and my ersonal tutor% .he communication
$et"een us as a grou has $een a fundamantal art in my gro"th as a teacher%
We have shared fun and fears and a$ove all else "e have shared unconditional
encouragement throughout% !t is conversations "ith my eers and tutor that have
given me confidence to $e more critically refelctive and to $e hay to receive
critical araisals% 9t my lacement college my mentors and colleauges have
rovided all the hel and more than ! could ever need% ! am a"are no" that ! am
starting to sound li'e ! am giving an <scars seech $ut it is imortant to mention
that my artner and family have suorted me throughout this most demanding 3
months of my academic and rofessional life%
+istorically& teachers "ere :resonsi$le and accounta$le, for student learning&
teachers dictated the ho"& "hat& "hen and if of learning& "ith a teachers role
$eing that of rimarily transmitting information% 5ogers (in 9rmitage et al 1222)
feels that this role is long outdated and the teacher facilitator role should $e much
more revalent%
<n a ersonal level& as a teacher& ! hoe !,ve managed to $e a teacher*facilitator
some of the time% ! also strived to encourage self esteem "ithin my students and
$e the motivating teacher descri$ed $y Wlod'o"s'i (in 9rmitage et al 1222) !
"anted to offer e(ertise& have emathy& sho" enthusiasm and dislay clarity
and $y doing all of this ! "anted to motivate the grou to "ant to learn% 9$ove all !
"ant to go into ne(t semester and $e an effective teacher& ! "ant to $e a$le to
continue to $e a$le to reflect on my a$ilities honestly and un*defensively&
regardless of ho" ainful it may $e%
/esearch shows that there is no personality type that makes a good
teacher. 0hether you are a shy introvert or an enthusiastic extrovert you
can teach effectively but only if you know how to learn from your mistakes
and your successes! Petty (200C)
?i$liograhy
AR!"A#$% A& et al% (2003) Teaching and training in post compulsory education%
?uc'ingham: <en Dniversity Press
'O()% )& et al% (122@) Boundaries of adult learning% B?: <en Dniversity Press
'ROO*+!$,)% - (1225) Becoming a critically reflective teacher% )an 4rancisco:
0ossey ?ass
'("./$R% 0 (2005) Developing effective 16-19 teaching skills% B?: 9$ingdon
+A1'$R" (2003) Teaching in post compulsory education% 6e" Eor': Continuum
!"./$,,% . (1227) Transforming teaching-Selecting teaching strategies% 4E
/atters 1:1C
2$""3% # (200C) Teaching today% B?: 6elson .hornes
1A,,A.$% - (2005) Teaching and supporting learning in further education%
E(eter: =earning matters