Term 2 Reflection

Where have I come from? At the beginning...

• I was an experienced observer
• I was capable of reflecting on the effectiveness of the practice of others
• Unsure of myself as a teacher
• Viewed myself as a ‘fast learner’ and expected that I would ‘pick up’ how to do teaching quickly
• Thought I would throw myself wholeheartedly into teaching and not do anything else
• Saw being in an MLE as three teachers doing three separate things but sharing the learners
• Attitude towards high decile schools was quite stereotypical

How am I going? Where am I now?

• Not afraid to get in and lead
• I have confidence in myself as teacher, learners respect me as a teacher.
• I have realised that you can have so many ideals about what effective teaching practice is and looks like, but in the thick of it when you have ten million things to do and another ten million going on it takes more than simply having those ideals to make it them a reality.
• I have gained pedagogical content knowledge- and in depth - a lot slower than I had anticipated but I now realise I am progressing at a realistic rate.
• I have realised that if you don’t look after yourself and emotional wellbeing first and foremost you cannot give your all to your learners and those around you, so self is most important
• I have been conditioned by my own personal educational experience in terms of one teacher teaching one group of learners - I am now aware of this and am lucky to have colleagues willing to experiment and try different things in terms of co-teaching and drawing on the affordances of three teachers.
• I understand now that just because high decile schools are made of people who may come from a higher demographic, kids are still kids and people regardless of their demographic still have many similar problems.

Where am I going? Where to next?

• Knowing learners better in terms of their learning, e.g where they are currently achieving at and the next steps they need to take etc. and subsequently being able to have quality conversations with parents about their children’s learning.
• Use of provocations to engage learners, getting buy-in and providing learning contexts which are authentic, applicable and transferable to their wider lives.
• Facilitating literacy in a different way (not much idea ‘how’ this might look yet!)
• More co-teaching and a less single-celled mindstate.