Professional Journal Workshop

Marigold Francis

Part 1

Aims

• explore the barriers to deep reflection

• provide strategies for overcoming writing difficulties

• provide hints to deepen reflective writing

• demonstrate relevance of the Professional Journal for Learning Evaluation assignment

What are the common barriers to reflective writing?

• lack of time• lack of motivation or commitment

• overkill• concerns about assessment

• lack of experience• dislike of writing

• stress• lack of objectivity

• negative past experiences

How do I overcome the barriers to writing the Professional Journal?

• establish a set time and surroundings to write at your best time (eg morning or evening)

• Focus on your professional learning - it’s not a diary of personal experiences!

• don’t worry about spelling, handwriting or sentence structure

• make lists/dot points to begin

• use concept maps or graphic maps to start off

• write a haiku verse to start off (5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5 syllables)

• try content free ‘free writing’ for 5 mins on another piece of paper and then write for professional purposes

How can I vary my reflective writing approach?

• take one sentence from a reading that sparked your interest and reflect on its meaning to you as a beginning teacher

• ask yourself a series of questions about the weekly topic• vary your format eg double entry format (left hand side for

descriptive and right hand side for further/deeper reflections from Whitton et al)

• write an imaginary dialogue with a teaching issue or intrapersonal or interpersonal conflict or difficulty or puzzling problem eg write a greeting, state the problem and wait for response from imaginary mentor or theorist (Progoff).

• write about a specific issue in the present, past and the future (Currere)

• write a letter to or have a debate with a theorist/author from your set or wider readings

• read your entries aloud! (Progoff)

How do I prevent falling into the ‘negative spiral’?

• don’t judge your writing - be spontaneous and constructive

• use a self assessment model for some objectivity

• utilise the on-line feedback on Monday afternoons from 3-5pm on 10th and 17th September

• share your entries with another student to see how they are writing

• try a group reflection with some trusted friends

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How do I deepen my reflections for the

Professional Journal ?

Week 5Journal reflections

29th March 2006• Caring• Warm• Understanding• Love kids• Report writer• Active• Accepting• Reflective

Education involves community building and preparing a base where children can develop the knowledge and skills to face the outside world. Teachers need to relate positively with their students, work with other teachers and keep in contact with parents. Schools should care about and promote a safe community through their example.

•

To deepen this reflection you could:

• Prioritise teacher qualities and explain your reasons

• Reflect on why these qualities are important to you

• Try to find a working definition of the purpose of education from previous studies or a school philosophy or vision statement

• Compare two schools and how they fit your idea of the purpose of education

Week 9 Journal Reflections

What philosophical approaches (i.e. teacher beliefs, school philosophy, attitudes to human rights/social justice) have you observed being enacted in classrooms (or in the yard, in staff

meetings or the staff room). Were there conflicting viewpoints or mismatches between stated policies and observed actions?

Reflect on how these observations fit with your understanding of inclusivity and inclusive classrooms?

May 14 2006At X I have observed that the grade 1 and 2 teacher quite often asks for students’ opinions and feelings about topics. This gives the teacher an understanding of how the students are feeling and the children a feeling that there (sic) voices are being heard.

From the reading by Mel Ainscow and Ian Kaplan I have learnt that student involvement betters there (sic) sense of belonging and I strongly believe teachers need to make students feel like they belong, that there (sic) opinions count. It also helps the children trust the teacher as they have shown that they care.

To deepen this reflection you could:

• Quote the actual belief or claim that has triggered your comments

Eg ‘Authentic participation is evident when all students learn alongside others, collaborate in shared learning experiences, actively engage with learning, and have a say in their education. More deeply, participation means being recognised, accepted and valued for oneself’. (Booth & Ainscow 2002 as cited in Ainscow & Kaplan 2004 p.9)

• Ask yourself why this statement was significant for you• Reflect on how you could use this philosophy in your own

classroom one day• Check the references for this article and find others to extend

your knowledge base and comment on how they compare • Brainstorm other issues that come out of this article such as

leadership or students with special needs and find ways of connecting these topics with the trigger question about policies

Week 11

Journal reflections

Reflect on school communities you have observed and whether and in what ways collaboration and cooperation

have been used to address issues of student behaviour management.

June 5 2006The only instances of this that I can reflect on are where individual class teachers support one another with misbehaving children by offering special jobs and peer support time amongst age levels.

For example, if a teacher has a student who has been having a disruptive day and the rest of the class’s learning is being disrupted, then another teacher may offer to have that child in their class to help students, or do jobs or even just do their work in a classroom that is not filled with their class mates.

I have seen that the students cope well with this, especially when an older grade student goes to a younger level class and gets to support the learning of the younger kids. They feel they have some worth to give.

To deepen this entry you could:

• use educational jargon (cooperation, collaboration)

• extract other significant learnings from your readings (eg preventative strategies for behaviour management or the Plan-Teach-Evaluate Model proposed by Barry and King (1993) and discuss the nature of being proactive as a classroom manager as opposed to being merely responsive to disruptive behaviour and

• discuss how this relates to being a reflective practitioner!

Is it always necessary to deepen my reflections?

No!

How can I use my journal entries for my

Learning Evaluation?

• read the expectations and criteria in the DLiT handbook and write your entries with these in mind

• write regularly so you have plenty of material to refer to• use a highlighter to track and summarise common themes

throughout your journal (eg learnings, challenges, new concepts, future teacher identity, topics such as learning or inclusivity, past school or learning experiences)

• use excerpts from your journal as examples of your own learning

• answer the questions in Week 13 which is a meta-cognitive exercise about your learning and use your answers to plan your essay

What other resources can help me?

• On line support Mon10th and 17th September 3-5pm

• Whitton et al reading

• Reflective Practice FLO site articles and references

• Reflective Practice FLO site discussions - keep them constructive, use them like a blog

• Practising teachers

Part 2

Aims

• provide opportunities to share journal writing experiences

• assess own levels of reflection using self assessment guide

• experiment with a group journal exercise

Week 7

Journal reflections

Reflect on the following “Best practice in promoting learning is that which proves empowering or enabling for

students”.

Remember …..

• Focus on your professional learning - it’s not a diary of personal experiences!

• don’t worry about spelling, handwriting or sentence structure• make lists/dot points to begin• use concept maps or graphic maps to start off• write a haiku verse to start off (5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5

syllables)• try content free ‘free writing’ for 5 mins on another piece of

paper and then write for professional purposes

Or try this ……

• take one sentence from a reading that sparked your interest and reflect on its meaning to you as a beginning teacher

• ask yourself a series of questions about the weekly topic• vary your format eg double entry format (left hand side for

descriptive and right hand side for further/deeper reflections from Whitton et al)

• write an imaginary dialogue with a teaching issue or intrapersonal or interpersonal conflict or difficulty or puzzling problem eg write a greeting, state the problem and wait for response from imaginary mentor or theorist (Progoff).

• write about a specific issue in the present, past and the future (Currere)

• write a letter to or have a debate with a theorist/author from your set or wider readings

And……

read your entries aloud! (Progoff)

Self assessment exercise• choose one assessment model

• compare the reflective level of today’s entry with your first entry but don’t judge! Be constructive.

• share your impressions with the group

Professional Journal Workshops 2007Minute paper

Date of Workshop:

What have you gained from this workshop?

Is there anything more you would like to know about Reflective Practice for 1) your Teaching Experience Days or Practicum?

2) the Professional Journal?

Thank you

marigold.francis@flinders.edu.au