ONLINE ASSIGNMENT

ONLINE ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC        : REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER

                                                   

  

                  

SUBMITTED TO,                                                              SUBMITTED ON,                                   

DEEPTHY.C                                                                        3 OCTOBER 2015

DEPT. OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE                                      SUBMITTED BY,

                                                                                              SARANYA KRISHNAN

                                                                                              PHYSICAL SCIENCE

                                                                                              Reg NO :18214379018

INDEX

TOPIC	PAGE NUMBER
Introduction	4
Developing as a reflective practitioner	4-5
Teacher as a reflective practitioner	5-6
Conclusion	6
Reference	6

INTRODUCTION

           Reflective practice is the habitual and judicious use of communication, knowledge, technical skills, reasoning, emotions, values and reflection in daily practice for the benefits of the individuals’ communities being served. Reflective practice can be an important tool in practice based professional learning settings where individuals learning from their own professional experiences, rather than from formal teaching or knowledge transfer, may be the most important source of personal professional development and improvement.

           Every day teachers faces many challenges ongoing chores of caretaking and clean up, planning and providing and engaging curriculum, communicating with families and co-workers and responding to the ever growing pressures for outcomes, assessment and documentation to demonstrate children’s learning etc. These pressures complete for teacher’s attention, making it difficult to keep the joy of being with children at the heart of their work. Reflecting on teaching is frequently cited as a fundamental practice for personal and professional development. The process of reflection for teachers begins when they experience difficulty, troublesome event, or experience that cannot be immediately solved. Reflection commences when one inquires into his or her belief. It has the potential to enable to direct their activities with foresight and to plan according to ends in view.

           For reflective teachers, their work is an ongoing process of closely observing and studying the significance of children’s unfolding activities. Rather than just following preplanned lessons and techniques, reflective teachers consider what they know about the children in their group and about child development theory to better understand and delight in what happens in the classroom. Reflection allows teachers to make effective, meaningful decisions about how to respond to and plan for children. It keeps them excited about their work.

A reflective teacher must be,

·         Examines his or her own reactions to children or their actions to understand their source.

·         Is curious about children’s play and watches it closely.

·         Documents details of children’s conversations and activities.

·         Take time to study notes and photos to puzzle out what is significant.

·         Eagerly shares stories about children’s learning with families and co-workers.

·         Ask co-workers and children’s families for their insights.

·         Read professional literature to learn more.

·         Shows children photos and stories of themselves to hear their views.

·         Change the environment and materials to encourage new play and learning possibilities.

Developing as a reflective practitioner

           Reflective thinking is a learned behavior that requires time and practice to develop and improve. Starting this process during the teacher education process is vital if it is to become a part of daily routine. Some ways to ensure that a teacher in training, develop the habits and skills needed to become a reflective practitioner include,

1.      Take the time to reflect on all lessons that we already plan and teach. Keeping a reflective journal and write the thoughts after each lesson.

2.      Video or audio tape teaching aid will help to check the clarity of explanations and interaction responses with students. And help to avoid unnecessary repetitions and the responses of the students. And help to avoid unnecessary repetitions and the responses of the students. This goal is help to improve teaching in future lessons.

3.      Invite a colleague to come into your class to collect information about your lesson. This may be with a simple observation task or through note taking.

4.      Student feedback: Ask the students what they think about what goes on in the classroom. Their opinion and perceptions can add a different and valuable perspective. This can be done by simple questionnaires or teaching diaries.

                    Reflective teaching is a cylindrical process, because one you start to implement changes, then the reflective and evaluative cycle begins again.

Teacher as a reflective practitioner

                     A reflective practitioner is a person who looks back at the work they do, its process and how it can be improved at regular intervals. This can also be referred to as a person who reflects on the work they have done.

Characteristics of a teacher who is a reflective practitioner

1.      Reflective teachers are purposeful and active: Reflective teachers initiate instruction cognizant of the needs of the students as expresses through their experiences. Reflective teachers aim instruction towards actions or convictions that resolve the questions, tensions and perplexities that initiated the student’s process of inquiry.

2.      Reflective teachers are open to the individuality of students: Reflective teachers recognize that the social process of education is also personal and that it cannot be coerced from others but must be chosen by them.

3.      Reflective teachers are sympathetic to their interests, needs and insights of students: Reflective teachers enhance relationships with students by acknowledging student’s capacity as reflective thinkers. Reflective teachers take seriously student’s problems, hypothesis and conclusions.

4.      Reflective teachers are patient: Reflective teachers know that bit takes time for ideas to be developed. Delineated and evaluated.

5.      Reflective teachers are flexible: Reflective teachers allow for divergence and technological change. They seek to expand operations.

6.      Reflective teachers are tentative: They explore, investigate and grow. They are suspicious of their own conclusions because they know that they are learners.

7.      Reflective teachers are self-regarding: Reflective teachers take their own reasoning process as part of their field of inquiry. They are conscious of their own assumptions, logic, choices, priorities and conclusions.

8.      Reflective teachers look at ends as well as means: Reflective teachers ponder how their decisions will affect the lives of the children they teach.

CONCLUSION

             Remember that changes take time. Most of us won’t change our teaching. Practice overnight. We have been trying to implement our ideas for several years and still have the old show-them-hoe-to-do-it tendencies. Also, we won’t want or need to change everything about our teaching. Some of what we are doing is working. If a teacher usually makes effective use of wait time, keep that technique. If we usually ask students to justify their comments, both right and wrong, continue to ask. Look for the positive in our teaching. The greatest reward of become a reflective practitioner is that become aware of how insightful and capable students were molded. Teaching becomes a positive and rewarding experience from which we learn every day.

REFERENCES

·         Bruner, J. (1960).The process of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

·         Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the education process (Rev. Ed.). Lexington, MA: D.C. Health.

·         Bracken, M., & Bryan, A. (2010). The reflective practitioner model as a means of evaluating development education practice: Post-primary teacher’s self-reflections of “doing” development education. Monitoring and Evaluation (11), 17-21.

·         Dewey, J., Kilpatrick, W., Hartmann, G., & Mel by, E. (1937). The teacher and society. New York: Appleton-Century.

·         Glad well, M. (2008, December 15). Most likely to succeed. The New Yorker, 16-18.