Activity 2

It is ironic that my inquiry is asking students to critically reflect on their own work to see what they can improve, and to be a ‘critical friend’ to others when this is the part I myself find the hardest to do. Yes, as a teacher I feel like I am reflecting and changing all the time to suit the needs of my students, but writing it down and critically analysing it is not a skill that comes naturally to me. However Larrivee (2000) discusses that the idea of keeping a reflective journal is so that you are setting aside uninterrupted time to deepen your understandings and reflections, and therefore act on altering your practice for the better. I am trying to do this – and I think I will achieve this better if I schedule in time to each week to sit down specifically for this task.

I thought that using Rolfe’s Model of Reflection (Otago Polytechnic, n.d.) fits in nicely, because it is what I have intended for students to use as their model of reflection in regards to their writing. It is a simple, yet effective way to get a snapshot of what is happening with their learning and reflection.

What?

It is week 4 of Term 1 and I feel like I am so behind, every week there have been disturbances (Waitangi Day, School Mass, Athletics Day, RT3T training) and I only have the COWs 2 periods a week. I really want to implement this plan properly but I feel like the 6 week time frame is unreasonable, especially with starting at a new school and trying to build relationships and structure with my students. I also have found that it is taking students a lot more time than I thought to use the COWs. By the time they have logged on, found their password, and identified what is they are meant to be doing we have already lost 15 minutes of our 45 minute slot.

Seeing as my inquiry is about using ePortfolios to enhance reflection and identification of next steps in writing, I have found that the past couple of periods have been focused on looking at the ‘e-asstle’ writing rubrics (in ‘kid speak’) and having the students mark exemplars. This has moved on to them writing a piece and marking themselves against the rubric. However, I am finding it hard to get mileage out of some of the kids, which means that when it comes to marking themselves against the rubric, it isn’t giving them an accurate reflection of what they could be doing.

So what?

The idea of the inquiry was to use e-Portfolios to showcase work, and to showcase the journey of the work. Where students could comment on others feedback, being a ‘critical friend’ and where students could reflect on what they could do to improve. I’m just not finding time to do this, and the platform that I have picked (EduBlogs) doesn’t seem to be the right fit for this kind of work, I am thinking I might need to change the platform to something like Dojo (makes it harder to edit though) because it can also be done off of their phones and then we won’t be relying on the COWs for the digital part.

Now what?

Now I need to get some writing mileage up, introduce students to Rolfe’s reflective cycle and find a better platform for students to upload their work to. If students feel engaged and motivated then the e-Portfolios should not be too much work. It’s getting them to the stage where they know what they are doing, and they know what is expected from them.

In the future I would not attempt to start the Action Plan in week 1. It is unrealistic and it puts more pressure on the kids – and myself, to learn something additional when they are already trying to focus on all the new structures and guidelines in the class. It also takes a while to learn how to become a critical friend and explicit teaching is required before that can happen.

References:

Larrivee, B. (2000).Transforming teaching practice: becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293-307.

Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf