Week32Mindlab- Changes in My Practice

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 During a particularly stressful week trying to finish a very demanding Mindlab assignment, ( needless to say, it was the dreaded Literature Review), I looked forward longingly to the day I would be writing my very last assignment. I revelled at the prospect of not having readings, video clips and loads of material to sift through anymore. 

And, that week has arrived! Yet, it does not find me in a joyous mood! of course, I am happy at the thought of having reached the end along with which comes a sense of satisfaction.

But, it also ushers the inevitable end to an immensely memorable 32 weeks that has opened up new horizons for me and has changed my belief in my ability as a teacher to "disrupt" the status quo of learning models when needed. 

So, it is a bittersweet occasion, a sense of success tinged with a sense of loss!

According to Osterman_Kottkamp, "To gain a new level of insight into personal behavior, the reflective practitioner assumes a dual stance, being, on one hand, the actor in a drama and, on the other hand, the critic who sits in the audience watching and analyzing the entire performance."

For this purpose, I will be using the Experiential learning Cycle diagram to maintain flow and coherence in my reflection.

Source: https://app.themindlab.com/media/32985/view

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

According to the situated cognition theorists, learning is the most effective when the learner is actively involved in solving an actual real life problem. The problem solving also needs to be collaborative and in a relevant context .

Of course, the entire 32 weeks at Mindlab fits into that category. I was there because I wanted to be.

It was my chance to practice my self taught technology skills, upskill myself and find a way to integrate it back into the classroom in a much more seamless and effcetive manner. 

Did every week at the Mindlab do that for me? No, not to the same extent. But that would be illogical to expect out of a course that was catering from ECC up to secondary teachers. 

Was there ever a week where I thought. "What am I doing here?" No, not at all.

Every week had something on offer. It was up to me to engage with the readings and the tasks, to sift through and take what would be potentially useful for me.

OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS

Let me attempt to be as objective as I can be on this part, stand back and analyse my participation, contribution and involvement in the whole process.

I enjoyed the first 16 weeks of interactive sessions. A few friendships formed very soon as there were some , like me who could only attend one particular session every week due to personal circumstances.

So, our informal collaborative group formed pretty early into the sessions. Yet, the group was fluid enough to include anyone who was not a regular.

That was an eye opener for me. My own education had been in an extremely competitive environment of exams, marks, reports, ranks and medals. And even though I have created a collaborative environment for my own learners and prefer to plan and teach collaboratively, as a student myself, I did not think I would fit so well into a collaborative environment. 

But I took to it like a fish to water!

So, my Mindlab course made the abstract theory of 'Learning to be the most successful as a collaborative process' very real for me, through my own experience.

And when the last 16 weeks rolled in, we set up our own little collaborative group through social media and the 'asking/ finding/ solving/ celebrating' as a group continued.

Sure, we missed the face to face but no one was left feeling isolated and lost. That group was my first "go to" even before my Google+ Mindlab community.

ABSTRACT RECONCEPTUALISATION

This is the area where I felt the most empowered through my 32 weeks of Mindlab journey. I was armed with the tools to really make changes in my learning programme. The 'big ideas' could be translated into reality, I could action them and bring my practice in alignment with my new found beliefs about what 21st century learning should look and sound like.

It was Blended Learning and Flipped classrooms that my Year 3 and 4 learners needed the most. I had begun to trial it with my class the week before and had kept it limited to one area of learning and had trialled it witha  small cohort. But that was just being driven by GAFE. 

Now, I had  Ed Puzzle and Blendspaces and even Seesaw ( an app one of the teachers in my collaborative group introduced me to ) to support me with this style of learning.

So, I integrated Blended Learning into my planning, teaching and learning with total commitment. My goal was to build student agency, which was fitting right into the Assessment for Learning PLD that we were doing school wide. My learners responded with enthusiasm and we cannot imagine not learning that way any more. Student agency and involvement is high and student ownership of learning is palpable amongst the majority of my learners.

What did not work for me? Very hard to find anything that did not work in it's entirety to be honest.

What I did find a huge drain on my time and energy were the assignments. But, that would be the case with any full time teacher with a family. It is the nature of the beast.

Would I have preferred to have the option to write blog posts right through for all my assignments? Possibly! But that would have limited my options and might have brought about ennui and boredom!

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

I guess I have mentioned most of my active implementation process with blended learning in my abstract reconceptualisation stage.

But, the journey is not over yet for me. Another area of growth for me has been in developing my Leadership skills. In fact, I should say 'discovering' my leadership style. Delving into the different leadership styles and trying to determine which style I primarily adopted was a very interesting process. I owe my growth to The LDC assignments that compelled me to dive deep into my role as a leader in my own class. I would have liked to have thought that I was primarily a 'coach' but I realised how often I did my kids' thinking for them. 

So, along with Blended L:earning, student agency I began to trial being a coach who was heard less than the learners.

This process is ongoing and will continue for as long as I am with a class. But there are opportunities in the horizon for taking up mentorship roles with beginning teachers. I can see my 32 weeks of experience as a Mind lab student having a profound influence on that.

In conclusion, this course has whetted my appetite for more learning and more growth in the area of 21st century learning methods but it has also made me take note of the time commitment needed to make the most of any post graduate course.

So, will look out for future opportunities for time off work to pursue further studies while practising what I have gained already.