I love appraisal time as it is pretty much a time of
'Soul Searching'.
This year I have reflected a lot on the way I teach, who
I am (as a teacher) and where I want to go.
I haven't answered them all and I am still searching and
wondering about a lot of things.
What I do know is that last year was a very steep
learning curve for me and opened my eyes up to how I saw things. I will admit I
am stubborn, passionate and somewhat opinionated. Sometimes this isn't always a
great combination. And near the end of last year, I let my ego get the better
of me.
A recent trip to Wellington along with my professional
readings and comments on Twitter made me realise I needed to stop and take a
step back in regards to how I was approaching all the changes that were
occurring in our school. One of the highlights of the trip was listening to the
principal of Amesbury School talking about how new teachers entered their
school. Teaching them that it was 'sacred' ground and to tread lightly in
regards to their ideas, thoughts and opinions of how they thought the school should be operating.
I happened to attend this trip with my principal and at that moment I wanted
the ground to swallow me up. Everything she said resonated with me and what I
had done wrong!
I let my enthusiasm get the better of me. Now there
is nothing wrong with this but I pushed too hard and voiced (loudly) my
opinions. As much as I was keen to start changing my pedagogy and take on all
the great ideas off Twitter I had to realise that not everyone else was ready.
Things take time, and sometimes I am not the right person to be promoting this.
Yes, it's wonderful to be trying new things in your own class and feel a sense
of success but not everyone sees what you are seeing. I started only looking at
myself and my own ideas rather than the
vision of the school and what was best for our students.
This is the great thing about reflecting on your own
learning. You will make mistakes and get it wrong but you can move forward and
make changes.
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