Assignment 2- Part 1

Before I was able to begin my placement for Preston council I was required to complete various online training certificates (Appendix 1) and a manual handling course. This experience was useful, as future job opportunities are likely to follow similar procedures; therefore I will have greater confidence when completing similar training/courses in the future. During my four months working with Preston City Council I feel I have further developed various skills and attributes, with relation to personal and professional development. In order to utilise these gains, it is imperative to critically reflect upon experiences encountered during my work placement. Within the literature, definitions of reflective practice, or critical reflection vary, dependent upon which aspects of learning are being emphasised (social, cognitive, political). Experiential learning, put simply is leaning from experience. Mezirow (1990) suggests that “reflection enables us to correct distortions in our beliefs and errors in problem solving”.  In order to effectively reflect upon my learning experiences, I used various models of reflection throughout my work placement.

Mezirow’s (1990) ‘the thinking process’ identifies that before one is able to assess events and the ideas of others, they must first examine their own thoughts. With relation to my work placement this stage involved me thinking what I wished to achieve from the placement; this was solid experience in a school environment and the opportunity to further develop personal skills and attributes. The second stage of the thinking process, involved me revisiting previous experiences in this sector. Previously I have worked in primary schools delivering multi-sports lessons; this was mainly successful however I did find controlling the class quite difficult at times. The third stage concerns why you think the way you do, examining your beliefs values and attitudes. With regards to my placement I was aware that organisational skills were essential, as the sessions often have strict time constrains, with a lot of information to convey in little time. Other skills and attributes which would prove vital to this role include: the ability to use my initiative, leadership skills and a certain level of patience and understanding. The final stage of Mezirow’s model is justifying actions and clarifying important connections between what you know and what you are learning. What I already knew and was aware of before my placement, changed considerably upon finishing my placement. Having only taught younger children in a physical activity setting before I presumed that speaking aloud to the class would be a transferable skill from the playing fields to the classroom. However I found this was not the case and found it much more difficult to control the class and teach effectively in the classroom.

One of the initial aims of my placement was to improve my communication skills, with relation to addressing the class as a whole. During the third week at one of the primary schools, I lead a small part of the session. As I started to lead my part of the session the class became very talkative and disruptive. My supervisor stepped in asking the children to quieten down, this was unsuccessful. The teacher provided very little support, in regard to our attempt of controlling the class. I felt extremely unprepared and unsure of what to do. I continued to teach my part of the session, speaking over the disruptive students, which I realised after the session was a mistake. In order to equip myself with better skills to handle similar situations in future, I used The Framework for Reflective Practice (Rolf et al., 2001) to reflect upon my experience:

Descriptive level of Reflection (What) - The main issue in this situation was my lack of authority and inability to control the class. By continuing to speak over the class, it was unfair on those students whom were listening, as they missed out on an important aspect of the programme.

Theory and Knowledge Building (So What?) – I believe that the ‘duty’ of controlling the classroom was that of the supply teachers. However, I recognise that I may have worsened the situation by continuing to speak over the students. There are various strategies and techniques for controlling students, therefore it may be useful (in future) for me to do some research of these.

Action Orientated Level of Reflection (Now What?):

Upon reflection of this incident, I believe that I could have suggested to my supervisor quietly speaking to the teacher, asking him for help controlling the class. After this incident I decided to research some methods for controlling a class. Utilising techniques such as non-verbal communication (Grubaugh, 1989) could be beneficial if I encountered a similar situation in the future. However it should be noted that this was only the ninth hour of twelve at this particular school. I found it is very difficult to distinguish myself as an authoritative figure in the class; only teaching the students for a limited amount of time makes it difficult to gain a rapport. Mckeachie (2002) stated that when students first meet their teacher they want to find out what kind of person they are. Therefore in an attempt to form any rapport with the students it may have been useful for me to firstly explain a little about myself.

Another significant learning experience occurred during an early week of my placement, in order to explain this incident Gibbs Reflective Model (1988) is used. The model compromises of six stages of reflection: description (provided above), feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan. 

Description- Whilst managing a group of students sowing cress seeds, I suddenly realised that I had made a mistake whilst giving them instructions. This was mainly due to the fact that I had never run this session before and made a conscious decision not to take my briefing sheet in with me. I made this decision because I was apprehensive by using my briefing sheet I could be perceived as inexperienced. The consequences of my mistake resulted in the children quickly realising their work was wrong. Leaving me with little time to gather more materials so they could start again and complete the task before the session finished

Feelings- When the students realised that their seeds were different to everyone else’s, I felt instantaneously embarrassed. Before telling my supervisor about the situation, I felt very nervous and worried about what she would say. However the conversation with my supervisor went very well, she re-assured me that everyone makes mistakes and even made a joke out of it.

Evaluation- Upon reflection of the incident, I believed I handled it fairly well; however the situation could have been completely avoided. Not wanting to appear inexperienced I made the conscious choice not to carry my briefing sheet with me, if I had done this the situation would have likely never occurred. Speaking to another volunteer after the session reassured me; she explained how her first few sessions were rather daunting and she too made simple mistakes a few times.  

Analysis- Speaking to my supervisor straight away was certainly the best thing to do, if I was to delay having this conversation my nerves would have built up. I quickly realised it was a mistake not to bring my briefing sheet to the group with me, however the situation was resolved and the students got to sow their seeds in time with the rest of the class.    

Conclusion- I believe that the manner in which I handled the situation was ideal; however I am fully aware that this was a completely avoidable situation.

Action Plan- It is vital for all future classes I thoroughly read my briefing sheet beforehand and refer back to it during the lesson if needed. Speaking with my supervisor, who stated that she often has to refer back to lesson plans herself re-assured me that it is nothing to be embarrassed about.

As stated in my original aims, I wished to diversify my social skills, with relation to working relationships and adapting positively to working with new people. Working closely with my supervisor and other volunteers was essential in order for the programme to run smoothly. Having developed social relationships (outside of placement) with two of the other volunteers, this encouraged me to be more confident when working alongside them in the classroom. My supervisor, Alison was very understanding of my time constraints and supportive throughout the placement. Upon completion of the programme I exchanged personal contact details with Alison and she offered to be a professional reference for any future job opportunities. A few weeks after completion of the programme, myself along with the other volunteers were invited to Alison’s home for a thank you meal (Appendix 2). I believe that this invitation evidenced that a good working relationship was built. Creating and maintaining effective working relationships is an essential skill to possess, regardless of which career path I may choose.

Schon (1983) described two types of reflection: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Teachers may have to reflect upon a situation in-action, more so than other professions with less social interaction, this in-part is due to the unpredictability of the students. Throughout my placement I had to react and reflect upon situations very quickly at times. For example during one of the cookery sessions I asked the students to sort themselves into groups of five, however this resulted in arguments among the children. To amend this situation I asked the children to sit back down and organised them into groups myself. This incident also brought into perspective the teaching style I was adopting, firstly taking a more democratic approach, before reverting back to an autocratic approach. Using Schon’s reflection-on-action after this incident, I realised that it’s important not to give students as much freedom with decisions such as this. During a previous week students were grouped in their social groups, this however did not prove beneficial to learning, mainly due to the disruptive behavior.

In accordance with The Experiential Learning Theory, proposed by Kolb (1984) individuals with an accommodating learning style are able to learn by having a concrete experience and using active experimentation. I believe that I fit into the accommodating learning style as I am prone to acting upon ‘gut instinct’ and often think on my feet, using my initiative. Throughout my work placement, I conveyed any ideas or amendments to the programme I had to my supervisor, many of which were implemented. During one of the cookery sessions, I realised that one group of students had made their dough incorrectly. During the break I suggested to my supervisor making another batch, she agreed, allowing for all of the students to take part in the tasting afterwards. In a previous class the same situation had occurred (concrete experience), therefore I took it upon myself to rectify the situation during this session (active experimentation). To confirm this was my learning style, I completed the learning styles inventory (Learning Styles Inventory, 2014), which suggested I was predominantly a physical 'hands on' learner (Appendix 5). 

Johns (2000) model for structured reflection is a very in depth framework to look at reflection in an academic context. Johns supports the need for an individual to work closely with a supervisor throughout their learning experience, which I did. Johns uses Carper's (1978) four patterns of knowing aesthetics, personal, ethics and empirics, adding a fifth pattern: 'reflexivity'. When using this model of reflection it is not essential to answer all questions, but use those which are appropriate. Upon completion of my work placement I wished to improve my communication skills, with relation to addressing the class as a whole. During the last week of my placement I taught a small section of the lesson on physical activity, having had problems with this previously I was somewhat apprehensive to start. I waited until all of the students were quiet before beginning to speak, this ensured that I could concentrate fully on what I was saying, but also that all students could hear me. The ‘personal’ questions of John’s model relate to how I felt in the situation, as mentioned I was slightly apprehensive to begin, however as the session progressed I gained more and more confidence. The ‘empirics’ of this situation involved my realisation that my ability to control the class and convey information effectively to them, was improving. The situation changed my way of knowing, in the sense that two weeks previously I was tempted to give up and not deliver this part of the session. However accomplishing this in such a short space of time brought me to the realisation that I could accomplish much more, with additional experience.

Within the reflective practice literature, many models have been critiqued, for aspects such as being too simple, too complex, ignoring vital aspects of the reflection process etc. However I believe that reflection is a very individual process and models or frameworks used should be down to personal preference.   Whilst reflecting upon my significant learning experiences I found that the Gibbs (1988) and Rolf et al., frameworks for reflection were most suited to me. I found the simplicity of these two models useful when reflecting upon my learning experiences, they encouraged me to ask myself questions about the experience/s which I wouldn't have previously. By answering these questions and identifying my areas for improvement, I was able to work towards improving them. When using more complex models, such as Johns (2000) model for structured reflection, I found that the many different aspects were not entirely relatable to my reflection. I did not find the focus on ‘influencing factors’ very useful within Johns model, by going into too much depth I found that I would create too many external factors which could have influenced me making a poor decision. Opposed to the other models where I would primarily focus upon internal factors and how to improve these for future reference.

As previously mentioned in my blog, this was the first time my supervisor had ran this programme. Having not tested it out on a class before she was also quite apprehensive of how the students would respond. I believe that it would be fair to say the programme was very successful, with excellent feedback provided from both the students (Appendix 3) and staff (Appendix 4).