The Reflective Practitioner

Thank You Leah Goard for quoting me. #honoured

I think about my dissertation and my personal hold ups… cognitive, emotional, and logistic… and I can take one of two roads.  First, I could get down on myself and give up.  Or, I could look at the situation as a learning opportunity.  I choose the latter.  Ironically, I resist the notion of “The Reflective Practitioner” in my research, but it is something I do everyday.  As I reflect, I understand now that it is an integral part of my study and desire to learn more about as it relates to teaching and learning.  When I think about my teaching practice, I wonder… “Why do I do what I do?” with respect to content delivery, assessment, and the learning environment… you name it, I’m asking.  By asking, I am self-assessing the quality of my work.  Is what I am doing benefiting student learning?  Am I helping students or am I creating a barrier?  If I am not supporting students with their learning, how can I do things differently?  My next step is to modify it… try it… and assess again.  This process resonates with Kolb’s experiential learning cycle… Learning while doing.  My main objective is to foster the love of learning in others and myself.  If I can’t do that, I need to dig deep and ask why.