Janice's Reflective Practice Blog

What a journey the last 32 weeks have been! One that has seen me grow professionally and personally. Although my husband has referred to it as a ‘divorce diploma’. I read somewhere that the brain was like a muscle that needed to be worked out, just like the body. My brain certainly had the full fitness/boot camp workout.  Osterman and Kottkamp (1993, p.2) suggested that “reflective practice is viewed as a means by which practitioners can develop a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their performance”.  I have, as a consequence of this Mind Lab programme, moved from having a fixed mindset to employing a growth one. Carol Dewek (2015) stated that a growth mindset wasn’t just about effort but also about trying new strategies and seeking input from others when you’re stuck.  The Mind Lab course has given me new knowledge, countless strategies, many opportunities to create digital and collaborative goals, and to take risks. If someone ...

Andrews (1990) defines interdisciplinary collaboration as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger &. Schneider, 1998). My Interdisciplinary Connections Padlet. For a better view follow this link: https://padlet.com/janice_potts17/ptalcmst9fhl Interestingly, as I consider all my current interdisciplinary connections, my Padlet became quite a large arrangement. I also noticed that it is impossible to act as an independent. My current interdisciplinary connections and the CoPs I identify with, are interwoven. There are so many connections that we create to enable us to do our job properly that I have unconsciously adopted an interdisciplinary approach. Benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary practice in relation to my identified connections: The key benefit is that of mut...

Considering my Influence of Law and Ethics blog, I have started this reflection by referring to the New Zealand Education Council’s Guidelines on Ethical Use of Social Media. They say that; “teachers have commitments to: learners; parents/guardians and family/whānau; society; and the profession.” It further states that; “Teachers have a professional obligation to develop and maintain professional relationships with learners based on the best interests of those learners.” Do those ‘best interests’ involve using social media? Yes! Social media permeates today’s society with technology transforming the way that school's teach and children learn. General Social Media Reflection:                                                                ...

Today’s learning environment is completely different. We are faced with ethical choices that we did not have 25 years ago. On my CV, a section reads; At all times the attitudes and values that I display are reflective of my upbringing and as a professional in the community. I would never close my eyes to basic moral principles . I still use this as my ‘guide’. Nowadays I have to give deeper thought to ethical decisions as they now bring many differing challenges as we move forward in this digital ‘minefield’ world. Hall, A. (2001) noted that the decisions of teachers are now more frequently questioned and challenged by members of a more articulate and better-educated community, aided by mass media. That is frightening and sadly in line with the ‘blame culture’ we are promulgating in New Zealand. It is also another reason to be very clear where we stand ethically, when address issues, whether they be face to face or on-line. When reflecting on my ethical dilemma, I have cons...

To understand indigenous knowledge, people need to accumulate their own personal understanding of ‘culture’. Yes, it is the characteristics of a group of people, their music, dance, food and art. However, it is so much more. When applying the Mauri Model, I consider myself as sitting at the Mauri Ora level, the state of being actively engaged. My cultural framework is strong. I do not take on the perceptions of others, I have an open mind and develop my own understandings by being a listener and an observer. Gay (2010) defines culturally responsive pedagogy as teaching ‘to and through students’ personal and cultural strengths, their intellectual capabilities, and their prior accomplishments’ (p. 26). I believe this is the case, the bottom line. To be an effective cultural facilitator, you need to consider where you sit in relation to the Nine Cultural Intelligence Mega Skills, as identified by Bucher (2008). On reflection, I can check off numbers 1 to 8. A key contributin...

On reading Trends Shaping Education (2016), Family Matters was the trend that caught my attention and is most relevant to my practice. I could instantly see direct connections between the key topics discussed in this chapter and the positions of the families in our school community now and where that might lead to in the future. The fact that these trends are so closely interrelated, being a 'now' and a 'future 'issue was also an attracting feature. The most relevant issue that applies to our immediate school community and the wider community of Aotearoa, New Zealand within Family Matters, chapter (4) of Trends Shaping Education (2016), is that of Diverse Families. The institution of marriage is changing. Marriage rates are declining and same-sex marriages are now legal in almost half of the OECD countries. Our school community is following these trends with more children coming from a non-traditional family structure, when measured against many dynamics . Ou...

A ‘decile’ as defined by the Ministry of Education, school-decile-ratings (2017) “is a measure of the socio-economic position of a school’s student community relative to other schools throughout the country.” The decile rating attracts operational funding and resources. Deciles are calculated against the socio-economic indicators of income, occupation, household crowding, educational qualifications and  families receiving income support.                                                                                                                                Our school is decile 5. We have parents who are well educated, drive new cars and travel overseas r...

Finlay (2008) stated that to be a powerful tool to examine and transform practice, critical reflection needed to be refined and grown. After completing the reflective practice survey and considering the 5 levels of reflection as defined by Zeichner & Liston (1996), my current reflective practice is at the Rapid Reflection and Repair level. I need to shift to Research and Retheorizing and Reformulating to refine and grow my practice. Firstly, I selected a suitable model of reflection to augment the quality of my reflective practice. Finlay (2008) discusses a variety of reflective practice models; Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988), The three-stage model of Boud, Keogh and Walker (1985) and John’s Model of Structured Reflection (2006). I have selected Jay and Johnson’s (2002) model as the three intertwined dimensions of; descriptive, comparative and critical reflection are more consistent with the Spiral Model of Inquiry where it cycles through: scanning – focussing – develo...