Continuing Professional Development

Introduction

Professional practice in teaching known as ‘pedagogy’ involves classroom strategies and?beliefs about teaching and learning, contextualized in the wider socio-economic and political fabric of teaching. When a teacher self-awareness is deployed to engage with problems and puzzles this result in reflection-in-action. The teacher takes time to look for evidence, thinking how theories and alternatives can support the action. To be a reflective practitioner teacher’s words and actions must be consistent, and failure to be so is short of ethical standard as the task facing the teacher is deeply rooted in personal attitudes regarding human potential, human nature, and human learning. The interest in describing things as they are or their essences in the taken-for-granted of daily life encapsulate critical hermeneutics. Hence the task here is not just for the teacher to describe but understand how the students engage with their world and to interpret and attempt to explain their action and beliefs. For example, to know how the students have experience deep engagement with their values, beliefs, and assumptions. As a result of reflection, the teacher can articulate this “fact of life” with the wider changes in policy and practice environment. (Benade, 2015)

The terms reflective thinking, critical thinking, reflective judgement, and critical reflection are ways of thinking that recognize uncertainty and allow dilemmas while crediting less important to the role of self in the reflective process. The dissension created generated in understanding that a problem subsist engages the reflective thinker to evolve into an active inquirer to critique present conclusions and create new hypotheses. Our daily practice progress to our momentary actions and it is making our ideals real by transferring them into thoughts, behaviours, and actions through moment-by-moment decision making. (Larrivee, 2000)

A systematic reflection process in practice

My belief is that good teaching leads to the learning outcomes for the study programme. In supporting learning my teaching method is to support students with the relevant materials and direct them to learning resources that will enable them a desire for deep learning in the subject and providing them with the right level of knowledge, skills, and ability to do well.

Many of us as teachers have our own theory on what teaching is, and this theory do affect the kind of learning environment we create in our classrooms (Gow and Kember, 1993).

In my classroom, I normally start with modelling what my class have learnt in the previous lesson and introduced the topic for the current one by asking “what we have learnt?”. In this way, I have broken the ice with agreeing what was taught, in some cases students were absent or inattentive so this opening statement put those who were absent or inattentive at ease. I am adopting a posture of an instructor, tutor, teacher, facilitator, mentor, and learner. These roles will be changed intermittently, as the learning environment develops, and student-centred learning takes focus. (Hogan and Pressley, 1997, p. 20).

The main benefit of this method of instructional scaffolding is to improve learning as my module on Combining Professional and Academic Practice has great relevance to this teaching methodology. In this learning environment, students can feel free to ask questions, provide feedback and support their peers in learning new material. Through interacting with each other student can take ownership of the learning event.

An example of how I teach is to tell a story of my past experiences and get students to relate to either the case study examples or to their own real-life situation. In small team, students can role play or demonstrate peer learning. In this way, my role would be transiting to a facilitator and mentor rather than the teacher.

Another example would be learning concepts, theories, and equations. Here I will need to explain and hence teaching and tutoring the students through power-point presentation, writing on the whiteboard, and articulating salient equations.

My teaching style is one that will explicitly bring out the structure of the topic or subject, to elicit active response from students, example by presenting problems, by questioning rather than expounding information only. I also teach based on building what student already know, eradicating misconceptions, assessing for structure rather than independent facts. I try to teach and assess in a way that encourages positive working atmosphere, so students can make mistakes and learnt from them.

My teaching approaches is one that emphasizes depth of learning, rather than breadth of learning. I use many references and selected textbooks with links to websites and URL for added information on each lesson. In conclusion and most importantly using assessment both formative and summative that support the explicit aims and learning outcomes of the course.

In addition to support students’ learning, I use the Virtual Learning Environment/Blackboard to communicate with the students on their progress and offer them valuable feedback and posting to relevant materials for the course of study. Occasionally other forms of technology like “blended learning” using “The Learning Designer” has aided me in creating better learning support for my students and “Zoom” are sometimes used. My presentation is always on power-point and sometimes hand-written illustration on whiteboards as well as the use of interesting videos to support learning.

In reflecting upon my teaching, to support students’ learning, I normally raised questions like “what student have gained in today’s lesson?” and “what questions do they have that were not answered?”. I will asked students to evaluate what they have learnt through the lesson and how they can apply them personally. I will also encourage student to work in small teams and get their peer to review their work. In addition, I normally asked my student to reflect on how they have performed through their formative assessment and their improvement plans. I will also try to create a self-awareness for students’ progress and whether some of the lessons learnt relate to the other modules.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the set of my underlying beliefs about how learning will take places is through fostering a desire for deep learning. I have planned an assessment that consider the methods for student to progress well through their learning journey. The assessment provides instructionally useful information and works towards the same aim in aligning what I teach (curriculum) and how I teach (instruction). It is working in unity with the assessment for learning to take place.

An example of an assessment is the use of a model articulated in a journal, I have given noticeably clear instructions on how student should use this model and replicate their application using this model, by giving them explicit illustrations on drawing up the diagram on the whiteboard (instructional) and bridging this to the curriculum design where they need to demonstrate the theory to practice.

References

Benade, L. (2015, Jan 19 ). Teachers’ Critical Reflective Practice in the Context of Twenty-first Century Learning. 2(1), 42-54. Retrieved Mar 21, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23265507.2014.998159

Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming teaching practice: Becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(2), 293-306. Retrieved from https://ed253jcu.pbworks.com/f/Larrivee_B_2000CriticallyReflectiveTeacher.pdf