As part of our Teacher Inquiry here at NPS we need to share our new learning with others. We also need to reflect on the impact our inquiry has had on our students. Here is my reflection/evaluation/summary!
I feel that there have been no direct impact on my students however I know that I have made huge shifts within myself in terms of the way I view my role in teaching and as a person. I am a lot more comfortable with who I am, what I am doing in terms of teaching and leading and how I actually do it.
I found my first uni paper in a very long time, Teachers as Professionals challenging in terms of actually ‘doing’ it and the points it raised about my role as a professional.
The most powerful component for me was the reflective essay. Reflecting on my progress in thinking and developing a sound pedagogy was both enlightening and reaffirming. I have come to recognise and value a willingness to change and make change happen. This year started off with me questioning everything I believed in and did, as well as taking any dialogue as a direct criticism of me personally. This paper and other assistance have helped me look at myself with different eyes. I came to the realisation that I invest a lot of myself intimately with any questioning and this in turn becomes a fraught undertaking. As I read more during the ethics component of the paper I acknowledged that my values and ethics guide me and are important to me as a person. These also impacted on my self belief and expectations as a teacher. I needed to change the lens I viewed any discussion from me v them to ‘creator - challenger - coach’. This would enable me to step back, give myself space and change the purpose of the discussion. The more I did this, the easier it became.
I also had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Dr Lester Levy at the Owen Glenn Building at Auckland University with Neil. The focus was communication and was timely as this was an area I had been focusing on in my personal reading. I am very aware of my own non-verbal communication and how this impacts on my responses to criticism and conflict. Dr Levy’s presentation was insightful and thought provoking - dovetailing nicely into the paper Teachers as Professionals and the counselling I was working through. Key points he shared were
- The need for dialogue to be a mindset of possibility, as well as having the ability to paraphrase to understand and clarify.
- Evoking people’s genuine voices, listening deeply, holding space for and respecting as legitimate other people’s views and broadening awareness and perspective are all key components of dialogic leadership.
- Listening particularly to those who have no voice
- Practice inquiry especially when you experience strong emotion
I also found that asking questions is also key to creating an outcome. So I am doing this more - making my questions count: “Tell me more…”, “Can you explain…”, “This is what I think you are saying…”. I’m not afraid to ask questions anymore and feel that I am more comfortable with equalising the power relationships that I have allowed to dominate my world.
When I came to writing my last assignment - a reflective essay about a particular experience of professional change that I have had, I found that I could write with honesty and open eyes. I also realised that I have been on quite a journey and it was valuable to take another look at what I have achieved with a different lens. Mindset is massive when it comes to being willing to make change happen and, to be totally honest this is an area that I have struggled with.
I have never read as much professional reading as I have in the last 12 months! I know that I have some ways to go yet but I am getting much braver at stepping away from the ledge out into the not so known!