I have chosen to focus on the theme of "Personalising learning" as I feel that the Mindlab postgraduate course has changed this a lot through my own teaching and practice. Personalising the learning is when you specifically cater the learning around the individual. (Bolstad et al., 2012). Making sure that their needs are being met and the teacher knows what the students enjoy, like, know and what they need to work on. Within my own teaching I have made sure that I cater to individuals and make sure that I am working on catering to their specific learning needs. Some examples of this is that I have drawn on a variety of data from both summative and formative assessment. I know the learners and feel like I know what they need and how they learn successfully. I then make sure that I am using this information to help me plan and effectively teach. I feel like prior to the postgraduate study I was trying to personalise the learning in my classroom. But looking back at this I feel like I was just using data and doing the same things that I normally would do thinking that I had personalised learning but not taking any risks or trying different things like using ICT in innovative more creative ways.
Thinking back to my learning journey, it has changed a lot since I started out. I am really impressed with not only myself but seeing the progress in the students. I feel that they are becoming more independent and more confident with their own writing. The routine is fun and they understand what is needed from them. (Spillane, 2006) It even makes it easier for me to discuss with them what they have done well and what they need to work on as they understand what is needed in their writing to make themselves successful.
Reflecting back I know that this is very positive in my classroom as the students are more confident in their writing and they don't just come to me and ask what do I do now. Which is what I used to get a lot. Students are making sure that they use the models both on the walls and their self checking strips so that they can edit and re-craft their writing. I've noticed that I no longer have a line of students who have finished their work. Sometimes I do notice that students are not correctly ticking off their self checking strips and just doing it fast so that they can be finished. But majority I think are doing this task and it is successful. My teaching has improved from this as I am becoming more reflective and noticing what is working and what isn't. It is also great that they are sharing their work onto the Seesaw App for their families to see, as this is really important for their learning. (Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems & Holbein, 2005)
In conclusion I feel like the changes I have made have been very beneficial both for myself and the learners in the classroom. Students are becoming more confident and routine shows that they enjoy knowing what to do next and when they finish. As a class we still need to work on our feedback and feed forward to others but that will come. We have continued to do this throughout this year as I am noticing it is very beneficial and the students enjoy going through the editing process independently or with a buddy before they come to the teacher. To improve this in the future it would be great if they could feed forward to each other specifically what they need to improve on and then go and make the changes. As most of the time they do not like changing their writing or adding things because it is more work.
This change has shown students what they need in their writing and that although they may have finished writing it does not mean that the writing is done. Students are more independent in their learning and are becoming more confident when articulating what they need in their writing. I believe that this change has been a huge success as parents and other colleagues have commented on the work and that it is great to see the students so positively engaged in their learning in writing. I feel that this change could also be implemented through other year levels so that it progresses and students can continue with a pattern they are familiar with. I feel that I have become confident when personalising learning and think that this change was a success in my class and know that reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience. (Finlay, 2009)
Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306
Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Gonzalez-DeHaas, A.R, Willems, P.P., & Holbein, M. F. D. (2005). Examining the relationship between parental involvement and student motivation. Educational psychology review, 17(2), 99-123.
Spillane,J.P. (2006). Distributed Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
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