Reflective Practice

PGCE Primary

Seminar 2

25th January 2012

The seminar

“The aim of this session is to enhance your reflection in preparation for the assignment by sharing your evaluations and responding to others. You will present your three extended, reflective lesson evaluations, focusing on your pedagogical issue or question and making explicit links to theory and research. You should draw on a wide range of reading that will reflect your knowledge and understanding of the curriculum area, of teaching and learning issues and of reflective practice.”

BSE 1

Plans and Evaluations

Theory (again!) Meaningful Learning Good ICT Assessing ICT

The Essay Structure Criteria

Practicalities

BSE 1

“How have your views about learning and teaching ICT changed?”

Section 3

Plans

Present your annotated plans to two or three colleagues

Focus on… The intended learning and subject

understanding The role of the teacher What will be assessed and how

Is there reference to relevant subject texts to support the choices made?

Be a ‘critical friend’ to those presenting

Evaluations

Present your evaluations to two or three colleagues

Focus on… the extent of children’s learning and evidence for

this; evidence for the effectiveness of the talk used by

you and the children; what you have learned about how children learn

and your teaching.

Are the points made related to relevant reading?

Be a ‘critical friend’ to those presenting

Being a critical friendQuestion - Challenge assumptions - Suggest

interpretationsWhat did the children learn? How do you know that the children were learning? How did they learn? What were the factors that affected learning? How did you use your assessments to inform planning?How does any of this relate to your reading?

How did you bring about learning? How did the evaluation affect your teaching?How does this relate to your reading?

How does all this relate to your question? What changes would you make or aim to make in your practice? How have you changed in your view of yourself as a teacher and how children learn? How does this relate to your reading?

Meaningful Learning

Active

Constructive

Intentional

Authentic

CooperationalCC by-nc-nd Laura Burton, CC by Matti Mattila, CC by-nc-nd Mundocuardo, CC by-nc-nd Parl,

CC by mawel

Support pupil

autonomy

Develop

creativity

Develop ICT

capability

Enable high

quality work

Extend the

scope of

learning

Characteristics of good practice

Use ICT to support good practice

Capacity & rangeSpeed & automaticityProvisionality

Interactivity

• Pupils can access to large information sources

• A wide range of media formats is available.• Some tedious tasks can be completed quickly.

• Certain features can be set to operate automatically.

• Digitised information can be easily modified.

• ICT responds quickly and engages learners.

Use ICT to scaffold & extend learning

Dewey (1859-1952)

Engaging with experience

Enlarging experience

Interaction and environments

The importance of reflection

Education for all

Project based learning

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-dewey.htm

Piaget (1896-1980)

Constructing schema

Assimilation and accommodation

Stages of development

Concrete and formal operation

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm

Social Constructivism

Learners involved in a joint enterprise with one another and their teacher in creating new meaning

ATHERTON J S (2009) Learning and Teaching; Constructivism in learning

Pollard: Reflective Teaching; http://www.rtweb.info/content/view/361/42/

Vygotsky (1896-1934)

The centrality of social interaction

The more knowledgeable other

The zone of proximal development

Scaffolding (Bruner)

http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html

Constructionism

Constructivist learning happens best when ‘constructing a public entity’

“Constructionism boils down to demanding that everything be understood by being constructed”

“Concrete” materials rather than abstract propositions

“Soap-sculpture math”

http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html

Connectivism

CC by jean-louis zimmermann CC by-sa Hijod.Huskona

CC by-nc-sa Mr Ush http://www.connectivism.ca/

Communities of Practice

Challenges of assessing ICT

ICT is often taught with the context of another subject.

• How does one separate out the ICT learning from the subject learning?

Pupils often share computers when they work. • How do you decide who learned what?

An ICT activity results in a print-out or presentation of some kind.

• Can you adequately assess what has been learned from a pupil artefact?

The essay…

… is about evaluating your practice drawing on theory and reflecting on your assumptions.

You are not trying to generate a definitive answer.

The style of your answer is about discussion and analysis.

Structure of your essay

Implications for future practice

Evaluation of focus children’s learning and teaching

Extended reflective lesson evaluations

Annotated lesson plans

Social Constructivism with a focus on talk in ICT

Myself as a teacher

Towards Section 3

Drawing on your plans and evaluation discuss what you will write in section 3:

What did you learn about: how children learn ICT? the role of talk in learning?

How have your views about learning and teaching ICT changed / developed?

How does this relate to what you have written previously?

How does this relate to your reading?

Section 4

What are the implications for your practice?

What are the possible difficulties and tensions for yourself as a teacher of ICT in the current context?

How does this affect your teaching across the curriculum?

The current context!Disapplying the ICT programme of study is about freedom. It will mean that, for the first time, teachers will be allowed to cover truly innovative, specialist and challenging topics.

And whether they choose a premade curriculum, or whether they design their own programme of study specifically for their school, they will have the freedom and flexibility to decide what is best for their pupils.

Teachers will now be allowed to focus more sharply on the subjects they think matter – for example, teaching exactly how computers work, studying the basics of programming and coding and encouraging pupils to have a go themselves.

To pass…

evaluation of effectiveness of teaching strategies and the use of talk, related to theories of learning and demonstrating awareness of current research and developments;

identification and evaluation of children’s learning with implications for subsequent teaching;

demonstration of the ability to reflect on practice, including beliefs and values about teaching and learning in the national context.

Evaluation of teaching

Assessment of learning

Reflection on practice

Myself as a teacher

How to should ICT be taught

Evaluation of learning and teaching

Implications for future practice

Evaluation of teaching

Assessment of

learning

Reflection on practice

Myself as a teacher x x

How to should ICT be taught x x x

Evaluation of learning and

teachingx x x

Implications for future practice x

To get M level credits…

The assignment in addition demonstrates

a systematic understanding of related knowledge and a critical awareness of current problems and insights;

the application of theory to an analysis of practice;

the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development.

Systematic Understanding

Demonstrating understanding of key concepts by discussing what is problematic about them

Using definitions and referring to concepts with consistent meaning

Developing a critical frame of mind

Why am I reading this?

What question am I asking?

What are the authors saying and what is relevant to what I want to find out?

What type of literature is this?

How convincing is what the authors are saying?

What use can I make of this?

What claims are being made and how convincing are they?

Wallace, M. & Wray, A. (2008). Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates. London, Sage

Independent learning ability

Thinking things through for yourself

Researching original sources

Reading

Google Scholar

Becta and Futurelab

Cambridge Primary Review

Teaching and Learning

Practicalities

3000 words essay

Section word counts are advisory

+/- 10%

Doesn’t include appendices (which count as 2000 words equivalent)

Referencing

See the style guide. No, really. You should do this.

DfEE/QCA, (1999) The National Curriculum, London: HMSO

Chazan, M. & A. F. Laing, (1982) Children with Special Needs, Milton Keynes: Open University Press

Zotero, Mendeley

Timescale

Draft your essay

E-Mail me a copy when you’re ready for feedback, but not later than 13th February

Tutorial a few days after I get your draft

Revise your draft

Turnitin

Hand in by 14:00, 5th March – earlier is much better

Turnitin

The Turnitin file is in the RP folder on Studyzone (tutorials there if needed)

You must submit the final version of your essay via Turnitin and in hard copy.

Fill in the electronic cover sheet and make it page 1 of your essay.

You do not need to give us the copy of the originality report.

You can submit your essay at earlier stages to get formative feedback. Later submissions overwrite previous versions.

It could take 24 hours to generate the originality report at busy times (but you don’t need it before handing in).