Week 32 - Changes in practice

34 weeks ago (so I maybe got an extension or two) I started on this Mind Lab journey. After convincing several of my colleagues to join me, we began - and what a journey it has been. 

Reflective practice, while often confused with reflection, is neither a solitary nor a relaxed meditative process. To the contrary, reflective practice is a challenging, demanding, and often trying process that is most successful as a collaborative effort. 

(Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993).

Solitary 

The above quote has certainly rung true for me. The whole process has been at its best when shared with others. When sitting, attempting to write a literature review by myself for the first time in several years, I felt alone and frustrated. The minute I decided to share my research questions and ideas with my fellow Mind Lab students I felt energised and excited. The ability to share this journey with so many like-minded individuals has surely been one of the highlights. The first 16 weeks were awesome; networking and being able to see what others' did at their schools was the hook that I needed to get me back into studying. Discussions were fast and furious and ideas, resource sharing and critiquing was a regular occurrence. 

Relaxed

The second 16 weeks were far from relaxing. I found juggling the work with school much harder without my set class time on Saturday morning (despite recognising the irony of in fact having those 4 hours of my life back). I found motivating myself difficult without sharing my struggles with the other Mind Lab students face-to-face. the Google + community sadly didn't quite cut it for me. 

Challenging, demanding and trying

Whilst some elements were challenging academically and it took a while to settle back into research and analysis, the most challenging part for me was the time management and setting time to be truly reflective. A majority of the second half of the course I found it a challenge to relate to some of the material and came to the realisation that the tutorials held back in the city were far more beneficial for me that the webinars. I am so grateful to my colleagues at school also on the Mind Lab journey for keeping me going and being a shoulder to rant on when I really needed it. 

PCTs

The course has allowed me to address a range of PCTs. The main 2 I think would be:

Criteria 4: Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of professional personal practice

Criteria 12: Use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice.

Below, I have used Rolfe's model (2001) to help structure my reflection on the two criteria. 

References: 

Ministry of Education (nd). Practising teacher Criteria and e-learning . Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/

Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective Practice for Educators. California: Cornwin Press, Inc. Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files.

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001).Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.