Meta-Reflection: Learners in Context

8.2 Professional Practice – Growing and Developing  professionally.

Part of growing as a professional educator has been reflecting on my own journey as a student and challenging those ideas, beliefs, and practices I thought of as normal and acceptable in the classroom. During the course Learners in Context (EDU 6132) we covered self-efficacy and ego versus task involvement focused classrooms. Even though I grew up in competitive, mostly ego-involved classrooms I am now learning and processing how to create more a cooperative, task-involved environment for my future students. By understanding and treating students as individuals, using positive and personal feedback, and encouraging students to learn from failures I hope I can move away from my preconceptions and towards more fully supporting students’ academic motivation.

Reflection 2 – Learning Beyond the Test

Prompt: Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing nature vs nurture, the basics of biological development and a few different perspectives on cognitive development. Please reflect and write about the big ideas that you have learned and the implications for classroom practice. 

Recently I have been reflecting on how theories of cognitive development, through biological and environmental factors, have revolutionized my understanding of assessments and turning them into tools that my students can use for learning. As a student I have seen tests and grades as the stamp of value on my knowledge and the ultimate proof that I was succeeding in school. There were times I only performed for the sake of a test, cramming for a test and then forgetting everything afterwards just to get a good grade. Now as I become a teacher, these motivations make me uncomfortable, how can I ease the pressure that extrinsic scores and grades place on students? What are effective ways to encourage my future students to learn for intrinsic value?

Reflection 1 – Child Development Pre-assessment

Prompt: For preassessment purposes, tell about what you know about child/adolescent development. Also, describe how your current knowledge of development informs your philosophy of instruction.

A long time ago I learned about child development and the different ways in which we change, grow, and mature over the years. Unfortunately the only remains are a few catch phrases such as ‘sensorimotor stage’ or ‘multiple intelligence’ and ‘cognitive development’. While I do not remember the vocabulary or concept names, those lessons impressed upon me the importance of understanding student diversity, social norms, and interacting with students according to their development level.