Reflective Practice - Trello Inquiry


Reflective practice is an essential part of being a professional teacher.  Stepping back and looking at myself, without an emotional agenda.  It improves my practice. Being honest and asking, what could be better? It's ok to admit I've made mistakes as well as had successes.  Reflecting on my understanding of why things happened and what I will do to improve them.  Reflective practice is a habitual part of what I do. It can be uncomfortable or even threatening, but over time, it becomes a normal part of the routine and an excellent part of my personal and professional growth. It must be genuine and authentic so I don't waste my precious time.  "For busy professionals short on time, reflective practice is all too easily applied in bland, mechanical, unthinking ways". (Finlay, 2008)

I particularly like the simplicity of Rolfe’s Model of Reflection (2001) and have used this to reflect on my current inquiry.  I explained some basic Trello fundamentals. Initially, Trello was a really easy way of monitoring student progress. It also allowed space for genuine collaboration amongst students, which was not a planned part of the task given, because they could easily see each others ideas.  This was a fantastic bonus as some of the students who were naturally drawn to the collaboration were not typical 'group workers' and preferred to work alone. Unfortunately, some of the students demonstrated low integrity and deliberately sabotaged others' work took. Additionally, I found limitations in terms of how the boards can be used.  It has been frustrating in terms of overestimating the capabilities of Trello and being underprepared with my own skill level when implementing a new tool.

I had not anticipated the students lack of integrity so some had to be spoken to, and closer monitoring was needed. Aside from this, the students really enjoyed using Trello and most picked up new skills quickly. Students naturally shared what they were learning with the whole class. It was wonderful listening to the natural conversation that was generated.  This lead to natural collaboration with four unlikely Tongan boys.

I had not upskilled myself adequately before launching into Trello in front of the whole class!  However, the students bridged the gap for me by sharing their own findings freely. I really like Dewey's (1933)  thoughts about moving away from routine thinking, and towards reflective action. (Finlay, 2008). This is, in effect, what happened.  The project kept evolving as the inquiry and student learning went on. Once I became more proficient with the digital tool, I was able to track who was sabotaging student work and monitor this more closely.

Next steps would include being more prepared with new digital tools before presenting them to children, although this is not always possible due to time restraints.  I would discuss the expectations of integrity with students before sharing work on a class forum. Next time I would potentially share the collaboration tools with parents and whānau to include them in the learning and discussions.  I think this helps students to be more accountable too. I am pleased with the idea sharing that Trello allowed, and feel that this is something to celebrate.  However, I would consider setting up a second set of individual/small group boards, after the initial brainstorming sessions, that could be used by whānau and myself to monitor and support the actual project itself. I think that might help students to have more agency over their project.



REFERENCES

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching - a New Zealand perspective. Ministry of Education, New Zealand.

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from
https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.






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