PTC 12

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

Key Indicators:

• systematically and critically engage with evidence and professional literature to reflect on and refine practice
• respond professionally to feedback from members of their community
• critically examine their own beliefs, including cultural beliefs, and how they impact on their professional practice and the achievement of students

What this means at Halcombe School:

• Reflect on and discuss appropriate professional readings eg at staff meetings and PD meetings.
• Share assessment data with colleagues as a basis for discussion on practice.
• Observe and be observed by colleagues and use feedback to improve teaching and learning.
• Include a self-reflective element in discussing student achievement.
• Continue to reflect on your teaching beliefs to ensure that they are supported by current pedagogical knowledge and research

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Guided Writing:  14 June 2016

I videoed myself teaching guided writing to my target group.  Following this, I watched the video and wrote a reflection about how it went.  I then shared all this information with the staff during a staff meeting on 21 June.

Writing Course:  22 July 2016

August 2016
Following our Guided Writing videos, we received feedback from the Principal.  I will be able to use this feedback to make some adjustments to how I teach Guided Writing in future.

12 April 2017
I read an article by a colleague working at secondary school in our area.  It was based on his observations on how we might improve outcomes for for boys' education.  Here are my reflections:

• When students are involved in cooperative activities, I often choose their groups for them or give 'rules' about who must be in each group.  The article encourages teachers to allow students to select their own groups.  I like this idea, and will try to give kids this opportunity - not all the time, but more than I do now.
• I will be more mindful in future, of the kind of comments I made regarding boys' toughness/'manly-ness'.  It is not appropriate to say things like, "Would you like a girl to help you carry that" etc.
• I completely agree about the importance of having the same high expectations for both boys and girls.
• I also agree that boys are good at giving you the answer they think you want to hear.  I need to be mindful of this when checking that students have understood the instructions.
• I agree that nagging doesn't help anyone, but sometimes students need several reminders to do things.  I need to be aware of this, and draw some boundaries.

12 April 2017

I read an article called 'Classroom technology fails knowledge test', which is based on a report by the OECD.  Here are my reflections:

• It's scary to know that significant investment by schools in digital technology has not made a difference to results in reading, maths or science.
• It would have been interesting to find out about the impact of digital technology on student engagement - are students more keen to 'learn' using ICT?
• This article reinforces beliefs I already have about the importance of a balanced programme.  I see ICT as a tool (similar to books, dictionaries, atlases) to be used to access information.  There needs to be an equal amount of handwritten work.
• I believe there is definitely a place for digital technology to create things - movies, powerpoints, art etc.  It's a shame the article didn't acknowledge these strengths of ICT.
• Should we continue with mathletics?

6 July 2017

I attended a course about Inquiry Learning by Kath Murdoch today.  It was excellent, and so inspiring.  Looking ahead to Term 3, there will be many implications for my programme.  Exciting!