Professional Journal Workshop
Marigold Francis
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Part 1
Aims
explore the barriers to deep reflection
provide strategies for overcoming writing difficulties
provide hints to deepen reflective writing
demonstrate relevance of the Professional Journal for
Learning Evaluation assignment
What are the common barriers to reflective
writing?
• lack of time
• lack of motivation or commitment
• overkill
• concerns about assessment
• lack of experience
• dislike of writing
• stress
• lack of objectivity
• negative past experiences
How do I overcome the barriers to
writing the Professional Journal?
• establish a set time and surroundings to write at your best time
(eg morning or evening)
• Focus on your professional learning - it’s not a diary of
personal experiences!
• don’t worry about spelling, handwriting or sentence structure
• make lists/dot points to begin
• use concept maps or graphic maps to start off
• write a haiku verse to start off (5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5
syllables)
• try content free ‘free writing’ for 5 mins on another piece of
paper and then write for professional purposes
How can I vary my reflective writing approach?
• take one sentence from a reading that sparked your interest and
reflect on its meaning to you as a beginning teacher
• ask yourself a series of questions about the weekly topic
• vary your format eg double entry format (left hand side for
descriptive and right hand side for further/deeper reflections
from Whitton et al)
• write an imaginary dialogue with a teaching issue or
intrapersonal or interpersonal conflict or difficulty or puzzling
problem eg write a greeting, state the problem and wait for
response from imaginary mentor or theorist (Progoff).
• write about a specific issue in the present, past and the future
(Currere)
• write a letter to or have a debate with a theorist/author from
your set or wider readings
• read your entries aloud! (Progoff)
How do I prevent falling into the ‘negative spiral’?
• don’t judge your writing - be spontaneous and constructive
• use a self assessment model for some objectivity
• utilise the on-line feedback on Monday afternoons from 3-5pm
on 10th and 17th September
• share your entries with another student to see how they are
writing
• try a group reflection with some trusted friends
How do I deepen my reflections for the
Professional Journal ?
Week 5
Journal reflections
29th March 2006
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Caring
Warm
Understanding
Love kids
Report writer
Active
Accepting
Reflective
Education involves community building and preparing a base
where children can develop the knowledge and skills to face
the outside world. Teachers need to relate positively with their
students, work with other teachers and keep in contact with
parents. Schools should care about and promote a safe
community through their example.
To deepen this reflection you could:
• Prioritise teacher qualities and explain your reasons
• Reflect on why these qualities are important to you
• Try to find a working definition of the purpose of education
from previous studies or a school philosophy or vision
statement
• Compare two schools and how they fit your idea of the
purpose of education
Week 9
Journal Reflections
What philosophical approaches (i.e. teacher beliefs, school
philosophy, attitudes to human rights/social justice) have
you observed being enacted in classrooms (or in the yard,
in staff meetings or the staff room). Were there conflicting
viewpoints or mismatches between stated policies and
observed actions? Reflect on how these observations fit
with your understanding of inclusivity and inclusive
classrooms?
May 14 2006
At X I have observed that the grade 1 and 2 teacher quite often
asks for students’ opinions and feelings about topics. This
gives the teacher an understanding of how the students are
feeling and the children a feeling that there (sic) voices are
being heard.
From the reading by Mel Ainscow and Ian Kaplan I have
learnt that student involvement betters there (sic) sense of
belonging and I strongly believe teachers need to make
students feel like they belong, that there (sic) opinions count. It
also helps the children trust the teacher as they have shown
that they care.
To deepen this reflection you could:
• Quote the actual belief or claim that has triggered your
comments
Eg ‘Authentic participation is evident when all students learn
alongside others, collaborate in shared learning experiences,
actively engage with learning, and have a say in their
education. More deeply, participation means being recognised,
accepted and valued for oneself’. (Booth & Ainscow 2002 as
cited in Ainscow & Kaplan 2004 p.9)
• Ask yourself why this statement was significant for you
• Reflect on how you could use this philosophy in your own
classroom one day
• Check the references for this article and find others to extend
your knowledge base and comment on how they compare
• Brainstorm other issues that come out of this article such as
leadership or students with special needs and find ways of
connecting these topics with the trigger question about policies
Week 11
Journal reflections
Reflect on school communities you have observed and
whether and in what ways collaboration and cooperation
have been used to address issues of student behaviour
management.
June 5 2006
The only instances of this that I can reflect on are where
individual class teachers support one another with
misbehaving children by offering special jobs and peer
support time amongst age levels.
For example, if a teacher has a student who has been having a
disruptive day and the rest of the class’s learning is being
disrupted, then another teacher may offer to have that child in
their class to help students, or do jobs or even just do their
work in a classroom that is not filled with their class mates.
I have seen that the students cope well with this, especially
when an older grade student goes to a younger level class and
gets to support the learning of the younger kids. They feel they
have some worth to give.
To deepen this entry you could:
• use educational jargon (cooperation, collaboration)
• extract other significant learnings from your readings (eg
preventative strategies for behaviour management or the PlanTeach-Evaluate Model proposed by Barry and King (1993)
and discuss the nature of being proactive as a classroom
manager as opposed to being merely responsive to disruptive
behaviour and
• discuss how this relates to being a reflective practitioner!
Is it always necessary to deepen my
reflections?
No!
How can I use my journal entries for my
Learning Evaluation?
• read the expectations and criteria in the DLiT handbook and
write your entries with these in mind
• write regularly so you have plenty of material to refer to
• use a highlighter to track and summarise common themes
throughout your journal (eg learnings, challenges, new
concepts, future teacher identity, topics such as learning or
inclusivity, past school or learning experiences)
• use excerpts from your journal as examples of your own
learning
• answer the questions in Week 13 which is a meta-cognitive
exercise about your learning and use your answers to plan your
essay
What other resources can help me?
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On line support Mon10th and 17th September 3-5pm
Whitton et al reading
Reflective Practice FLO site articles and references
Reflective Practice FLO site discussions - keep them
constructive, use them like a blog
• Practising teachers
Part 2
Aims
• provide opportunities to share journal writing experiences
• assess own levels of reflection using self assessment guide
• experiment with a group journal exercise
Week 7
Journal reflections
Reflect on the following “Best practice in promoting
learning is that which proves empowering or enabling for
students”.
Remember …..
• Focus on your professional learning - it’s not a diary of
personal experiences!
• don’t worry about spelling, handwriting or sentence structure
• make lists/dot points to begin
• use concept maps or graphic maps to start off
• write a haiku verse to start off (5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5
syllables)
• try content free ‘free writing’ for 5 mins on another piece of
paper and then write for professional purposes
Or try this ……
• take one sentence from a reading that sparked your interest and
reflect on its meaning to you as a beginning teacher
• ask yourself a series of questions about the weekly topic
• vary your format eg double entry format (left hand side for
descriptive and right hand side for further/deeper reflections
from Whitton et al)
• write an imaginary dialogue with a teaching issue or
intrapersonal or interpersonal conflict or difficulty or puzzling
problem eg write a greeting, state the problem and wait for
response from imaginary mentor or theorist (Progoff).
• write about a specific issue in the present, past and the future
(Currere)
• write a letter to or have a debate with a theorist/author from
your set or wider readings
And……
read your entries aloud! (Progoff)
Self assessment exercise
• choose one assessment model
• compare the reflective level of today’s entry with your first
entry but don’t judge! Be constructive.
• share your impressions with the group
Professional Journal Workshops 2007
Minute paper
Date of Workshop:
What have you gained from this workshop?
Is there anything more you would like to know about Reflective
Practice for
1) your Teaching Experience Days or Practicum?
2) the Professional Journal?
Thank you
marigold.francis@flinders.edu.au