Firstly, in this report, I will be exploring my personal self-assessment. Secondly, I will be drawing on my skills and skills that I need to develop to allow improvements to be made for personal development and my professional setting. Then during this report, I will be highlighting my reason for higher education study and how this will develop and enhance my future pathway, then finally I will be reflecting on my practice using Gibbs and Kolb’s reflection and my own reflective triangle.
Self-assessment
Exploring my self-assessment the area I would like to touch on is communication as this is paramount to my practice because, on a daily basis, I will be communicating and liaising with students that have additional needs for example autism, as well as being able to communicate with internal staff and external staff, then being able liaise using appropriate language and communication and with parents/careers about their own children. The struggle that we have using communication, jobs are not done quickly enough by external staff, and we are then having to chase jobs up, it can become very frustrating to the lack of communication from peers and very tough to have those difficult conversations with parents/careers, it can become challenging but I pride myself in this area as it's such a difficult job. Communication is a skill I feel really exceed in. I chose communication as my self-assessment because there can be many positives but also many negatives, through self-assessment I can find these negatives and find out where and what improvements need to be made.
Own skills
I have chosen 2 skills that I feel I am good at and 2 skills I feel need improvement. Firstly, I have chosen communication and my rapport with students. These are 2 skills I feel I am very good at. As I mentioned in the self-assessment, communication is something I pride myself in, and feel within my work role communication is vital. This is a skill I feel I have improved on over the years but it’s an area I am confident in, if there are any concerns, commination with parents, safeguarding, reports, incidents, achievements, etc. I know I will always do the right thing in my role to communicate with the appropriate person. I believe that communication is an essential skill for workers, effective communication will make workers' roles work. It can help with team building, and the growth of a team/individual, improves productivity, resolves problems, and engages and it enhances skills. ‘Communication skills are consistently one of the most valued skill sets sought by employers. Zeng, H (2013). One skill I strongly believe is essential in a learning environment is my rapport with students. My ability to build positive, professional relationships with pupils creates a safe learning environment for them to achieve their potential. Within an SEN setting, my rapport with pupils is integral and a trusting relationship helps them to regulate their own behavior and encourages them to understand their feelings. ‘Positive learning environment enhances students' motivation. Student-teacher rapport is a way of building a positive classroom environment’. Arslan, A (2018). Secondly, the 2 skills I have chosen for improvement are knowledge and confidence. I definitely feel the need to improve my knowledge, working in an SEN setting covers such a range of additional needs so my knowledge will always be increasing and my understanding of differentiation and support required will continue to develop, expanding my knowledge is something that will keep happening day in and day out, as a school setting we use a program called ‘Edu care’ this helps us to develop knowledge in certain areas for example, autism, anxiety, challenging behavior, etc. This also links in with why I am studying for a foundation degree. Confidence is something I feel I need to improve on, I understand that if I build my confidence in my work setting it will help me be successful and help me to achieve more within my role. I am more than confident to stand up in front of the class and teach an activity but making decisions and asking questions to help me to higher members of staff is something I second guess myself in. This is a working progress since working at Mowbray School I can feel my confidence each day improving.
Own reasons for doing the foundation degree
There are many different reasons why I want to do my foundation degree. Firstly, I would like to further my knowledge and my skills working in my setting, I work in an SEN School and I thrive from working there, it is a passion of mine and I would really love to become a teacher within the special educational needs setting, I have overcome and achieved so much in life, traveling America, working/living in Australia, volunteering, swim teacher and many more adventures and achievements I feel privileged to work in such an amazing school and this is why I want to progress in my position and get the degree I have always wanted. I chose the Foundation Degree course as it seemed to be perfect for me and my future, I liked that we get a tutor to help us get through the course, I seem to learn better through contact and listening rather than through an online course with no tutor, everything that is involved within in this degree is everything that I want to learn to progress, further my knowledge and to achieve the degree, after this degree, I would like to go on to do my level 6.
Use of reflection
Reflection is so important for everyone; reflectiveness helps you to develop your skills and helps you to improve. It's all about questioning what we do, why we do it, and if there is another/better way. Graham Gibbs (1988) believes that everyone learns better through experience, Gibbs made a ‘Gibbs Reflective Cycle’ Gibbs, G (1988) which has 6 different stages –
Description of the experience
Feelings and thoughts about the experience
Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad
Analysis to make sense of the situation
Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently
Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate. Gibbs, G (1988)
These 6 stages are a great way to work through an experience, this can either be individual or group work. It helps people look at the positive and negative influences, whereas David Allen Kolb (1974) also has a reflective cycle that only has 4 stages this is referred to as ‘experimental learning’ Kolb, D (1974). The 4 stages are –
Concrete experience – Describe what you see, how you feel, and what you think.
Reflective observation – What worked, what failed, why did the situation arise and why did others and I act the way we did?
Abstract Conceptualisation – What could I have done better or improved?
Active experimentation – Take your own reflection and thoughts, and see what you can improve on. Some improvements will work, some won't so if that is the case you use the cycle again.
I think Kolb’s and Gibb’s learning cycles are very similar, they both help to achieve positive outcomes and help people to reflect on their practice.
In my setting to help us reflect on the different courses we do and achieve we use a ‘reflective triangle’ This reflection tool is to see if we are implementing the knowledge gained from a course in day-to-day practice, it helps us to look back at key points here is an example of our ‘reflection triangles’
I find these reflection tools very useful, it helps me to remember what I have learned and also how I can improve and use this in my setting, it's good to look back at my ‘reflection triangles’ to help me reflect on what I have learned.