ILP- Professional Skills Audit
ILP -Langauge Numeracy and ICT Skills
Review and Personal Development Plan
REVIEW 2 sameera (Mid point review by Tutor)
Personal Development Plan
Summary Reflection of Personal and Professional development
I am using Rolfe et al (2001) reflection theory (What?, So What?, Now What?) to reflect on my personal and professional development over the past 2 years.
What?
I wanted to become a teacher because I was sure that I would be able to help people achieve their goals of learning English as a Foreign Language(EFL) and as a Second Language (ESOL). With good communication skills and having the confidence to teach I embarked on a CELTA course which would qualify me to teach English as a Foreign Language. This course enabled me to have some practical skills in teaching English. However It did not teach the theories behind learning and learning styles. I had no real understanding of what it really meant to teach, and what my role would be as an FE teacher.
I began my Diploma with very little teaching experience and no knowledge of learning theories. My concepts of teaching and professionalism were very different to when I started the course. I was taught to believe (from past life experience) that teachers must “teach” in a behaviourist manner and the students are to sit in a passive manner and “learn”.
My lessons to begin with were teacher led and my observers commented on this in their feedback stating that I need to increase learner autonomy. I struggled with concepts of differentiation and was unsure of how to respond to individual learning styles. I was not sure how devise and use appropriate assessment tools, and a definite area for development was to use peer and self assessment more. I needed to improve on my feedback techniques and I did not correct errors enough or at the appropriate time.
Planning lessons was a challenge in the beginning and I struggled with defining my aims and objectives. These were not clear and I always seemed to note down the learner’s activities instead.
The module I found most challenging was The Curriculum Design module where we had to define the purpose of education to be able to evaluate theories and models of curriculum design. I had to reflect on why we educate and how. In the past I was told by parents, family and the community at large that a good education leads to a good job, and thus education is for gaining the skills to work. I found that the current Government policies believe in this purpose. However now after completing the research required for this module I had to question what my beliefs were after decades of being told one thing. .
Over the period of our course we were made to reflect after every lesson and write a formal reflection using some of the reflective models. As a person I do not usually reflect deeply about issues in life generally. Thus writing a deeply though out refection of my lesson was a steep learning curve. I found it difficult to be truly honest and found it hard to analyse the issues of my practice without bruising my ego too much.
So What?
On the Diploma Course I learnt that although Behaviorism plays a part in English language teaching it is not the dominant theory an longer. Over the past two years I have developed a more humanistic approach with elements of cognivitism and constructivism.
I was influenced about the thinking of Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Promiximal Development, and how learners learn with help and without help. I learned how Scaffolding techniques can help learners, and that teachers do not have to spoon feed the learners.
I learnt that the Silent Way of teaching can be just as effective and steers you away from a teacher centred classroom.
I tried to meet most of my targets that I set out in Action Plans (Please see Action Plan Tab), I have improved a great deal since I began my teaching 2 years ago, as now I am aware of what is required of me as a teacher. I think about differentiation methods now when planning.
My research of the purpose of education and the theories behind curriculum design led me to understand that I do not believe that the purpose of education is for learners just to gain skills for work but to learn for the sake of learning, for the sake of self development, and for the sake of science advancement and for the better good of society. I have a much better understanding of how to make my lessons more inclusive for learners and I am now aware of Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement issues that surround FE teaching. I was praised by my tutors for designing an ESOL curriculum which demonstrated my ability to be inclusive and that utilised appropriate Quality Assurance and Quality improvement systems. I am however sceptical of issues relating to evaluation and accountability as I strongly feel although this is a necessity for the profession (see reflection on accountability and evaluation seminar under reflection tab) that there is too much of this required from FE teachers and this has led to many teachers who are stressed and not enjoying what they are good at and not having that teacher/learner relationship.
Writing deeply though out reflections has become a much easier task with time and practice and I have understood the importance of reflection for the improvement of my professional skills. I am able to reflect using various models such as Gibbs and Kolb. I see that writing action plans using SMART targets can lead to active research and development.
Now what?
Now that I have completed the course my aim is continue with my professional Development. I need to revise what I have learnt over the past two years and go over my notes again and refresh my memory. I have joined some English learning organisations such as Lingua house.com and Pearson ELT, and http://www.onestopenglish.com. I visit the iatefl website and the British council website.
I would like to evaluate my own teaching in the future by filming and recording and keeping a reflective journal. This will allow me to develop my practice and make changes and improvements in my teaching.
I will also continue to develop my own language awareness using grammar books., and methodology books to research particular approaches such as Task Based Learning .
I will also continue to observe my peers and watch more filmed lessons to improve my teaching.
sameerasharif 