Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Starting Module 2 I was apprehensive; after completing Module1 I thought I understood how the rest of the course was going to progress, but then my thoughts changed. Module 2 has been very different and far more challenging than Module 1. The tasks were very different; no more creating new network pages and constant reflecting, which I was thankful for! Though, the thought of planning an inquiry had me very worried; at first I did not know how I was ever going to find a “question” that I could research and plan a whole investigation around. I actually enjoyed working through the tasks however; they kept me distracted and stopped me from panicking about my inquiry, for a while at least. Without noticing I was being lead closer and closer to my final chosen line of inquiry.

Learning about ethics was the most interesting part of Module 2 for me. I felt I learnt the most from the 5^th Reader. I never really understood what ethics were, I also didn’t realise how many ethics I was already using in everyday life and work. I have learnt about the many different types of ethics: personal, professional, organisation and society. I now understand just how important they are and by discussing my ethics with my colleagues at work, they helped me figure out which ones I will need to be aware of and use during my inquiry.

The big learning curve for me during Module 2 apart from studying the Reader5 on ‘ethics’ was creating my final inquiry subject from interacting online with my SIG members. I felt a little strange creating my SIG group at first; using my blog, I found some people who had similar ideas as mine on the subject of teaching, I felt uncomfortable adding people I didn’t know to my Facebook page and asking them for help and advice. Thankfully, it didn’t take long before we were all commenting on each other’s posts and have now created a friendship through the worry that we were all experiencing and all the help that we gave each other.

My SIG members have helped me through my confusion, their advice and answers to my questions guided me all the way to deciding my final line of inquiry. From their answers, I figured that my initial line of inquiry on 'advantages/disadvantages of having teaching qualifications' wasn’t going to make much of an inquiry; I had already found the answer to my question from their responses.

Experiencing this really changed my way of thinking and learning. I changed my questions to more of a 'teaching techniques' theme which actually interested me more and I was getting more of a variety of answers. Interacting with other members on the course proved to me that networking is a great way of learning and on reflection I can understand how I would have never been able to reach my final line of inquiry had it not been for my SIG Group members.

Piloting the tools suggested in the reader also helped me decide which I should use for my inquiry, I realised that by doing face to face interviews and teacher observations, I  would get a better set of results which were reliable because I could judge the situation myself and make my own notes and evaluations.  

Overall, I have enjoyed the Module 2 tasks, I’ve felt eager to do the work this term and really wanted to find something to inquire that interests me and will benefit me. I’m happy to be investigating teaching methods and believe it will guide others and myself in my position wanting to improve their teaching. I am looking forward to starting my inquiry and finding some answers to help me progress my teaching skills and use my findings to help me further my career.