Working Portfolio Reflection
Learning Statment:
I am learning that a meaningful teacher-student relationship is the prerequisite for powerful and impactful teaching.
When I wrote my field study proposal, I had the following capacities as a focus.
ENGAGE in innovative practice, encourage risk-taking and support learning communities in local and global contexts.
SITUATE the student at the centre in co-learning, co-planning, and co- teaching pedagogical pathways.
COLLABORATE purposefully with students, colleagues, parents and other educational partners
When reflecting on my field study I now realize that the capacity that most of my learning falls under is situate. The capacity collaborate is a common thread in all aspects of the way my school and staff operates, but did not spark any new learnings during my most recent field study. With better understanding about how specific my field study was, I now know that the capacity engage should never have been included as an area of focus. It was a bit naive to think one field study would produce new understandings in three different capacities. I feel that I have a greater depth of knowledge and expercienced the most "Aha" moments within the SITUATE Capacity.
Below is a record of where I put myself, on the SITUATE Capacity rubric, as a mid way point in this Diploma Program.
Evidence:
The connection between the direct and indirect evidence from my field study and my learning statement, is that both educational and personal goals were present. My learning statement is about relationships and I feel that with a real understand of my students, I was able to use the Plan B appraoch to help address educational and health goals.
My field study was created with developmental psychologist philosophies and educational theories in mind. I have completed numerous courses with Gordon Neufeld, and taken part in four different seminars presented by Gabor Mate. My field study and statement of learning also is connected to Constructivism and it's philosophies. The guiding principle of Constructivism, that I connect with my learning statement with, is when the purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, and not just memorize the "right" answers and regurgitate someone else's meaning. I think that the most valuable way to measure learning is to make assessment part of the learning process. This makes sure to provide students with information on the quality of their learning. I find that I am always tailoring my teaching strategies to student responses and rely on open-ended questions and promote dialogue.