Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection

Self –Assessment

For the critical reflection assignment, I didn't learn a whole lot of new things. For the past three years reflection has been greatly emphasized in every professional development activity I have been a part of. It was a large part of my academics prior to teaching, and it is a big part of my academics here at Lamar University. Sometimes I feel that it is being beat to death, yet this assignment has made me realize that when it comes to reflecting, I don’t reflect enough.

I previously learned that reflection helps us to center ourselves in our activities, focus on objectives, and analyze the effectiveness of each classroom activity (Gerstein, 2011). I ask myself, “What could I have done better?” The “new” I have learned that I can synthesize with the old is the idea of reflection be systematic. Before now, I have been rather haphazard with my reflections – thinking about the latest classroom activities right after each class, making a cursory note on a scrap of paper, and then moving on as the next class crashes through the door.

Frankly, I hate to write papers and I just planned to fill my page with standard educational verbiage to complete this assignment. However, I can’t get the idea of systematic reflection off my mind. To me this means set of steps that, if repeated often enough, can lead to an automatic activity. Since reflection is a very good tool, I would like it to be something I do automatically and not just when I have the time (Pappas, 2010).

The other “new” is the idea of critical reflection.

Critical reflection is the process of analyzing, reconsidering and questioning experiences within a broad context of issues (e.g., issues related to social justice, curriculum development, learning theories, politics, culture, or use of technology).

In college and other professional development reflection is stressed, but not until now have I heard it put with critical. The critical part of the reflection is the part that creates the meaningful learning (Barrett, 2005).

Learn as a Learner

I read a good portion of the material for this week’s assignment, but not all. As I read I tried to critically view how much of the material applied to my learning and the classroom strategies I use with my students. In any assignment I read the requirements first, and then I go in search of the material that will help me fulfill those requirements. I often skip over pretty good material for just what is needed, but most times I go back and pick through them and glean what I can for my own personal use.

In working on the group web project, I spent time looking at what others did and tried to create my page so there would be consistency and unity between the pages, yet show my own flare. There was no clear leader for our group, but everyone stepped up and the project was a success. If I were to do it again, I would have made more of an effort to organize our group. We didn't communicate very well over the week and should have spent a little more time in planning as a group.  

Lifelong Learning Skills

The biggest AHA moment was the realization that critical reflection is the process to truly create meaning in learning. Deeper levels of learning occur when you are critically reflective. I shall take more time to practice critical reflection. I teach 8 middle school remediation classes split between math and reading. I have started writing a summary of each class activities: who I felt “got it” and those that I felt needed additional help with immediate suggestions for enhancing the remediation. This will have to be done quickly at the end of each class. In the evening I will look over my notes and reflect on the nuances of the day’s activities. What could have been changed, can I group the students in a more effective way, are the resources too hard or too easy for them; and at the end of the day, has the instruction made a difference.

I have to admit that I loved the collaborative web page project. I hope that future assignments will use this format. I will most likely seek out more learning opportunities in this format. It is a great way to work with others that are miles away.

One of the challenges of being a lifelong learner is keeping up with the lightening swift changes in technology. I no sooner become proficient with a specific technology and it becomes obsolete. I have held off buying an I Pad because I have been waiting for the competition. I don’t want to invest in that technology just to have something better come along.

I find that I love online classes, but I miss the camaraderie of classmates and the lively discussions that can be created in a classroom setting. So much can be learned by these activities. Blackboard does have a discussion board but it is just another assignment. We write what we must and move on. The collaborative web page was the most interaction I have had with other students outside of our cohort Facebook page. I have had more student interaction on our Facebook page than anywhere else and found it more helpful than the discussion board.

References

Gerstein, J. (2011, August 16). User Generated Education. Where is reflection in the learning process? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process.

Pappas, P. (2010, January 6). The Reflective Teacher: A Taxonomy of Reflection (Part 3). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.peterpappas.com/2010/01/reflective-teacher-taxonomy-reflection.html

Barrett, H. (2005). Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement. Retrieved from http://www.une.edu.au/tlc/alo/critical1.h

Describe how you would implement the use of web sites into a PK-12 classroom

Students love to use technology and they are very familiar with the web. These days they are practically weaned on a laptop. It is just a logical next step to have students create and display on a class web page. In my math remediation class, a web page could be used to list homework, examples, and videos from sites such as You Tube or Khan Academy. For reading remediation, a web site could be used to post book summaries, word clouds, links to their personal journals, and other projects.