Standard 6: Engage in professional Learning Focus: Engage with colleagues and improve practice 6.3.1 seek and apply constructive feedback from supervisors and teachers to improve teaching practices.
Throughout my practicum, I was able engage in professional learning by receiving and applying constructive feedback from other professionals. This shows I am meeting standard 6.3.1. The evidence I have collected to show this includes mentor feedback and lesson reflections.
During my practicum, I was able to participate in a range of professional learning where I was able to seek feedback on my own teaching. My practicum involved working closely with my mentor teacher who was able to review my lessons, help provide me with ideas or clarity when unsure and who provided appropriate feedback on strengths and weaknesses of my lessons so I am able to improve in the future. When teaching my lessons, my mentor teacher filled in feedback sheets to give me feedback on how my lesson went. This usually also involved creating a goal or focus to improve on for future lessons. This allowed me to see what strategies did and did not work, and allowed me to refine and improve my teaching practice. I also received verbal feedback from my mentor teacher, where we were able to discuss lesson plans and I could make any changes that were required to improve my teaching. This verbal feedback also allowed me to discuss how I felt the lesson went and different strategies I could use in the future to improve my classroom management and teaching.
During my practicum I also attended weekly collaborative stage meetings where all teachers were able to discuss what did and did not work in the previous week’s lessons. I was able to be involved in this during the last few weeks of my practicum. This was a valuable learning experiences, as I was able to be a part of a professional collaborative team where we evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of lessons, and then thought of ideas of where to move forward in the future.
Overall my practicum experience showed me the importance receiving feedback on my teaching practice. This allows for reflection on what did not work and allows for ideas on future improvements or different strategies. My collaboration with many other professionals allowed me to strengthen my own knowledge and learn a range of new teaching strategies. This allowed me to continue to refine and improve my own teaching and was an extremely beneficial part of my practicum experience.
Standard 6.3.1 Evidence
Mentor feedback often praised my ability to take on and apply feedback that I have received from my mentor teacher. This allowed me to refine my teaching knowledge and helped to me to make improvements over my practicum experience.
Throughout my practicum experience I reflected on my lessons I taught. This involved identifying the positives and negatives of the lesson, and then reflecting on how I would change it for future lessons.