Are You a Reflective Practitioner?
“Do you see yourself as a reflective practitioner? Give specific examples.”
I do see myself as a reflective practitioner. One thing that I do is film lessons and activities in my class. For example, I have filmed everyone counting to 20 for the first time using a set of flashcards from our Everyday Math program. They had to order the cards representing the numbers 1-20 in the correct sequence. I filmed when they were ready to “read” their answers. I get all kinds of insight about their progress as well as my own lesson design by doing this. I make a point to film everyone, so that I can show how a lesson goes well, goes wrong, or even just different developmental stages that are natural and reflected in a child’s work product. I do most of my filming around the topic of project-based learning, mostly so that I can capture my own progress in teaching PBL. There is nothing more eye-opening than watching yourself and your direct instruction played back on film!
I have been able to use filming to improve my communication with parents as well. I had one parent who was sure their child was dyslexic because “someone had told her” they saw signs of it. This was one of the brightest children in my class and she was in no way dyslexic. I asked the parents to come and observe in class. They her read to me out loud and went home satisfied, but their doubts persisted. So I made them a little film of their student approaching a novel text and used the voice over to “teach them” the strategies she was accessing and give more evidence of her reading ability. After that, they said they felt satisfied she was not dyslexic.
I also try to keep taking classes to learn more about my practice. I got my GATE credential last year, and that involved a one year program with Dr.Susan Daniels which focused on creativity, critical thinking, and project based learning. The title was GATE, but the strategies we learned were for all children.
I am going to my fourth CUE conference this weekend, so that is another way that I try to create a reflective practice. I learn so much at those conferences. I’m even considering going to the Spring CUE in Palm Springs.
I also attend the Napa Valley Ed Tech trainings. I learned how to use Flip Cameras there, and that led to my taking on the after school film class. I had to learn Adobe Premier and then Adobe CS5 for that class, so that led me to Lynda.com which has been a gold mine! You can find anything you want to learn about there. I am taking photography courses, and blogging tutorials. I love it!
Taking this master’s program online is also a stretch for me. I am doing pretty well so far, but I have moments of anxiety where I think something will fall through the cracks which would not have if I was in a traditional classroom. It’s time to grow and stretch, I guess.
Finally, I began piano lessons this year. I inherited a baby grand piano, and a parent of a former student was offering lessons very close to school and at a very reasonable rate. I know that people will think that is crazy as I am starting a master’s program, but the piano lessons really relax me. They also serve to make me remember what it is like to struggle with something totally unfamiliar which significantly improves my teaching. I think it is always good for me to “remember” what it is like to “not have the answer”.
One of the best things I ever did (accidentally) for my teaching was to take a French 1 class when I was going on a family trip. I could not even count to 10 in French! Suddenly, I knew exactly what it was like to hope the professor would not call on me. My mind would be back at the beginning of the sentence thinking about whether a word was a “le” or “la”. I am certainly not a formal action researcher in my own classroom, but I would like to be. I would like to be on the cutting edge of whatever are the best practices in teaching.
I do see myself as a reflective practitioner. One thing that I do is film lessons and activities in my class. For example, I have filmed everyone counting to 20 for the first time using a set of flashcards from our Everyday Math program. They had to order the cards representing the numbers 1-20 in the correct sequence. I filmed when they were ready to “read” their answers. I get all kinds of insight about their progress as well as my own lesson design by doing this. I make a point to film everyone, so that I can show how a lesson goes well, goes wrong, or even just different developmental stages that are natural and reflected in a child’s work product. I do most of my filming around the topic of project-based learning, mostly so that I can capture my own progress in teaching PBL. There is nothing more eye-opening than watching yourself and your direct instruction played back on film!
I have been able to use filming to improve my communication with parents as well. I had one parent who was sure their child was dyslexic because “someone had told her” they saw signs of it. This was one of the brightest children in my class and she was in no way dyslexic. I asked the parents to come and observe in class. They her read to me out loud and went home satisfied, but their doubts persisted. So I made them a little film of their student approaching a novel text and used the voice over to “teach them” the strategies she was accessing and give more evidence of her reading ability. After that, they said they felt satisfied she was not dyslexic.
I also try to keep taking classes to learn more about my practice. I got my GATE credential last year, and that involved a one year program with Dr.Susan Daniels which focused on creativity, critical thinking, and project based learning. The title was GATE, but the strategies we learned were for all children.
I am going to my fourth CUE conference this weekend, so that is another way that I try to create a reflective practice. I learn so much at those conferences. I’m even considering going to the Spring CUE in Palm Springs.
I also attend the Napa Valley Ed Tech trainings. I learned how to use Flip Cameras there, and that led to my taking on the after school film class. I had to learn Adobe Premier and then Adobe CS5 for that class, so that led me to Lynda.com which has been a gold mine! You can find anything you want to learn about there. I am taking photography courses, and blogging tutorials. I love it!
Taking this master’s program online is also a stretch for me. I am doing pretty well so far, but I have moments of anxiety where I think something will fall through the cracks which would not have if I was in a traditional classroom. It’s time to grow and stretch, I guess.
Finally, I began piano lessons this year. I inherited a baby grand piano, and a parent of a former student was offering lessons very close to school and at a very reasonable rate. I know that people will think that is crazy as I am starting a master’s program, but the piano lessons really relax me. They also serve to make me remember what it is like to struggle with something totally unfamiliar which significantly improves my teaching. I think it is always good for me to “remember” what it is like to “not have the answer”.
One of the best things I ever did (accidentally) for my teaching was to take a French 1 class when I was going on a family trip. I could not even count to 10 in French! Suddenly, I knew exactly what it was like to hope the professor would not call on me. My mind would be back at the beginning of the sentence thinking about whether a word was a “le” or “la”. I am certainly not a formal action researcher in my own classroom, but I would like to be. I would like to be on the cutting edge of whatever are the best practices in teaching.