Activity 2 Metacognitive reflection on learning and practice

I first heard about the Mindlab through a workshop I attended as part of our communities’ tech day.  At this workshop were two teachers who were attending already and talked about their learning.  Then I went to the principal’s conference in Wellington and there was the ‘stand’.  Well, I thought, this must be a sign, so I signed up.

On attending the first session I discovered what I had signed up for, and what I thought I was going to learn, were miles apart. The assignment workload floored me.  Despite that I stayed, and found the first 16 weeks enjoyable as I was learning in a collaborative environment.  Then came the second 16 weeks, and my enthusiasm fell after the second week.  I found it hard to keep on top of the workload and I missed the collaboration with 

Which key competencies have I developed the most?

In my responses to the Mindlab survey, I did say I wanted to develop 'managing self'.  I know in terms of this course I did not achieve this.  I found the challenge of studying on top of my school responsibilities and family life overwhelming.

The key competencies that I feel I have developed the most are thinking, relating to others and participating and contributing.

Thinking:

‘Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas’ (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2007).

For the last twenty-four weeks I have done nothing else but think.  I have had my ideas challenge and supported.  I have reflected critically on both what I thought I knew and what I now realise that I didn’t know.  I have asked questions as well as answered the questions of others.

Relating to others/ Participating and contributing:

Relating to others is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts’ (MoE, 2007), ‘participating and contributing is about being actively involved in communities’ (MoE, 2007).  I see that these two key competencies go hand in I have always related to others in a face to face situation, but during my time at the Mindlab I have spread my wings and now make connections with educators out in the wider educational community through on line tools such as Twitter.  On these sites I ask questions, and respond to the posts and tweets of others.

What are two key changes in my practice?

My two key changes would have to do with understanding; using Carol Dweck’s growth mindset and understanding my leadership style.

Growth mindset:

The understanding of what is meant by the term ‘growth mindset’ and how it has a powerful consequences on student motivation and success, as it makes them much more likely to engage with learning tasks and persist despite setbacks (Farrington et al., 2012). One of the most important things we can do for students is to promote growth mindset as it fosters a sense of motivation and determination, and helps to create lifelong learners.

Leadership:

After a lot of reflection during the Mindlab course I have come to realise that my leadership style is fluid, depending on what the situation is.  I have a transactional style which in literature is described as a managerial style.  This style has its place when you have administration tasks to complete and organisational aspects tasks to be completed.  At other times I have a democratic leadership style, where staff are encouraged to contribute to the vision, goals and decisions made, to ensure we are always improving the educational outcomes of our students.

Farrington, C., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T., Johnson, D., & Beeschum, N. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners. The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance: A critical literature review. Chicago: University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago Schools Research. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED542543.pdf

Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-90. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.unitec.ac.nz/ps/pdfGenerator?actionCmd=DO_DOWNLOAD_DOCUMENT&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=per_unit&tabID=T002&docId=GALE%7CA60471886

Leithwood, K. A., & Riehl, C. (2003).What we know about successful school leadership. Philadelphia, PA: Laboratory for Student Success, Temple University. Retrived from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Pedagogy-and-assessment/Building-effective-learning-environments/What-We-Know-about-Successful-School-Leadership

Ministry of Education, 2007. The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media, Wellington.

Sturgess A. & Higson P. (2013) Democratic leadership style. Apex Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.defining-leadership.com/democratic-leadership-style/

The Mindlab. (2015), Key competencies response form. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UelkVV0rsoE7ZosECrQWVrC3QOs82Y3C-P766bjkTBI/edit#gid=982098410

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