Descriptive Teaching Reflection

This assignment will critically reflect and analyse a microteaching session I presented to my peers in a clinical placement regarding Nursing management of chest drains. I will define reflection; teaching, learning and the rationale for choosing this topic will be clearly outlined in this paper. The preparation, planning, implementation and evaluation will also be incorporated. This assignment will be structured using Gibbs (1988) reflective model cited in Modular Training Course, 2003 because of its simplicity. Analysis will permeate through each stage of the Gibbs reflective model. Finally I will conclude by reflecting on my role as a joint practitioner outlining areas of personal, professional growth, identifying my strength, weakness

This movie, The Classroom, which was very interesting to watch, discusses all that goes on in the school system, the good and the bad. But it also shows how things at home can affect the way the student acts during the school day. This movie definitely makes you look at students that act out differently, instead of punishing them maybe we should all look deeper into the issue and find a way for the student to thrive and use school as an outlet.

My time spent in the Clinical setting, so far, has been extremely inciteful as to how to become a better educator in a classroom setting. Through the data I collected I was able to connect Borich’s Seven Variables of learning to the students. By being in the clinical setting for nearly two months, I have been exposed to new ways of thinking when it comes to structuring a classroom and instructing a classroom. Within this reflection you will find out how I would better plan an effective lesson for the pupils in my future classroom. You will also discover what I will do about certain issues in the classroom and how I will address/fix them.

‘Reflective teaching should be personally fulfilling for teachers, but also lead to a steady increase in the quality of the education provided for children.’ Pollard (2008, P.4) Here Pollard is suggesting that reflecting on our own teaching experiences is not only important for the standard of education we provide, but also for our own benefit as it can be rewarding and very worthwhile to reflect on our practices. By reflecting on my own practices in SE1, it will enable opportunities to analyse strengths and weakness and how to improve for future practice, which will allow me to develop more as both a reflective and a professional teacher. This idea of reflection stems from Dewey’s (1910) cited in McGregor and Cartwright (2011) ideas where he suggests that there are three attributes which enables us to be reflective, them being ‘open-mindedness’, ‘wholeheartedness’ and ‘responsibility’. By taking responsibility for our own teaching and reflecting upon our actions, it allows us to be open-minded about changing and adapting to new ideas from what we have concluded from our reflections, which then allows us to fully engage with these new thoughts.

Through my experience working with kids and my courses at Austin Community College and Concordia University I’ve established a philosophy of education that I plan to use in my future classroom. Being entrusted with shaping young minds, but also sculpting these children and lighting their way is a huge responsibility that I intend to take the utmost care with. Diving feet head first into teaching and letting it consume me, I plan to fall in love daily with my students and the profession that I feel god has called me to do. Teaching will forever be my calling and my plan is use everything that I have learned so far and continue to learn to help my students become the person that God wants them to be.

Carl A. Grant and Kenneth M.Zeichner wrote On Becoming a Reflective Teacher to ultimately question how to become an effective teacher. They reflect on the different principles of teaching, as well as explain how to break these conventions to always give students the best opportunities to learn. They do this while providing examples and suggestions on how to prepare for the unexpected and provide an adequate learning environment. Grant and Zeichner introduce the concept of a reflective teacher as somebody who can use their open mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness to truly implore the children to want to learn.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have noticed a variety of pedagogical decisions my teacher uses. She teaches a lot of her lessons in a whole group setting. Furthermore, within the whole groups settings she teaches a lot of rules and content. For example, the students were reading “The Eye of the Storm”, which is about a storm chaser travelling to Florida to capture and document Hurricane Andrew. She questioned the students about what he does for a living. The students answered a storm chaser; however, the teacher then asked why he would choose a career that is potentially dangerous. One student said, “I think he chose this career because his job could tell us how dangerous the storm is, and he could compare this storm to future storms and

I was very shy walking into the E room doors, after hours. Since I never participated in any extracurricular activities, it was kind of abnormal for me to be in the school past dark. It was 6 p.m thursday night, and all of the contestants sat on the floor anxiously awaiting for tryouts to begin. No one spoke, or moved, and for a while everyone just looked around, examining each other. Two men began to walk into the door, and I can hear my heart pounding a mile a minute, boom, boom, boom! However, to my surprise, the mood oddly began to shift as they stood in front of us. They were unlike anyone I ever met.

Question 1 How do you make work meaningful? What motivators are you using? Examine classroom climate. What would you change to make it better?

Similarly, when I am able to co-facilitate the Doctoral Consortium at the Organizational Teaching Society Conference I often get feedback such as the following quote related to my workshop presentation:

“The most distinctive characteristic of these very good teachers is that their practice is the result of careful reflection... They themselves also learn lessons each time they teach, evaluating what they do and using these self-critical evaluations to adjust what they do next time.” (Why Colleges Succeed, Ofsted, Paragraph 19). This excerpt from a paper published by Ofsted resonates with me and I feel it explains the concept of and outlines the importance of reflective teaching well.

I had two opportunities to try activities with students at the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts, as a part of the development of the curriculum and an effort to boost health education at the school. During my first visit, I was asked to give options for three nutrition activities. Students were able to choose between creating a visual representation of the 24-hour food diary they had just completed, redesign a food label, or write a song about deceptive labeling practices. Because this is an arts high school, participants showed little apprehension about participating fully without any social reservations – a problem that I will admit is much ore of an obstacle in other populations during initial stages of implementing arts integration strategies. Students showed no hesitation whatsoever, and were excited to be able to show off their artistic practices to a guest. With a little encouragement, students produced sophisticated work far beyond what I had expected. One student, for example, turned her food log into a comic, while another chose to create an abstract drawing of her food melting together. A group of students, dissatisfied with a piggyback song they were trying to write, elected instead to do an extensive freestyle rap. When the time came to share their work, every student excitedly volunteered. Students looking around the room were quick to note that there were virtually no vegetables represented amongst the food diaries, which led into an impromptu

Drama, as Heatchote ( Wagner, 1999) put it, is not special . It is something that people do everyday for different purposes , in a complex process that involve their emotion, imaginations, and intelligence. People recreate ( re-live) a past event or visualize ( pre-live) an upcoming role that they have to cope with . If it does not happen visually for other people to see, then it may occur only in our minds . One close example of this mental imaging activity is the act of lesson planning by teachers. When planning a lesson I often imagine what I will do in a class to make sure that I would do it properly . I will think how to begin : what ice breakers I will use to build up a case and how I will deliver them. As I think of core activities to have in a class, my mind also wonders about what jokes I will tell when students show signs of boredom and how I will deliver them. At times, my mind brought me to the memories of past incidents or successful teaching events and have all them mashed up with the plan. Soon as I have them organized, these staged plans are stored on writing forms , but many of them are just stored in my memory.

There were many strengths throughout my lesson starting with the anticipatory set. The Students were extremely engaged. I brought in a secret bag that contains items people would normally take to the beach. As I pulled each item out one-by-one, the students were eagerly raising their hands wanted to guess where I was going on my next adventure. Also, my lesson went smooth, due to my transitions, which aided in we handled classroom management. I had the students walk quietly to the carpet through playing a quiet game. They had to try to be as quiet as possible. I turned away from them and if I heard a loud noise I would jump at a face the students. They loved this game. Each student successfully walked quietly to the carpet. The sat on the carpet and were ready for me to read the book. Also, when I sought the attention of the whole class, I had them put their hands on their heads. This helped with making sure everyone was listening and not playing with something. They adapted to this strategy extremely well.

To truly reflect on one’s own teaching, to collect information on what you do in the