Yvonne MacKinnon's Reflective Musings

Using Jay and Johnson’s (2002) critical reflection model, I examine proposed inquiry topics within my Community of Practice (CoP). Description: I am currently part of many CoP; working collaboratively with a shared purpose and vision in mind, building our understanding and identity as we go, often morphing into elements no one individual could have determined from the outset (Wenger, 1998). The CoP I turn to, to guide my inquiry of choice, is my Mindlab support group consisting of past, current and future (hopefully) Mindlab students. The key difference between this CoP and the Community of Learning (CoL) I am part of leading, is choice. We are part of a CoL due to geographic location, however, the members of my Mindlab CoP freely participate in the joint enterprise of leading the educational change required to build learners for the future through their combined drive, passion and collective resources (Wenger, 2000). We meet regularly to discuss, share, reflect and move our colle...

Examination of changes to future-oriented practice, guided by prompts in Gibbs’ Model for Reflection (1988). Description Of late, I’ve been re-thinking what I have chosen to hold dear for quite some time; the assessment of the individual. Having spent years developing Assessment for Learning practices, leading learning on making accurate OTJs, building school-wide systems of learning progressions, etc. it has really challenged me to ask some tough questions, like… “How did I teach for so long without spending much time on assessing the input of a collective?”. Feelings Changing focus to encompass collaboration on a wider scale has necessitated new learning whilst I reconcile the Yvonne of old with the new me in the classroom. Given that I ultimately will lead others in this direction, I need to be able to articulate the ‘Why?’ of collaboration, the benefits for our tamariki and how we translate that into accurate assessment information for students, whānau and the powers-t...

In this blog entry, I will attempt to clearly outline my current level of critical reflection using three steps as defined by Jay and Johnson (2002). Descriptive Stage We’ve all heard our colleagues lament over the lack of time to fit everything in and I am no exception. I’ve been trying to set time aside all last year to critically reflect on my practice at both a classroom and leadership level to the point where I have reminders on my phone that say “Reflect now!” (and still I manage to ignore these). The majority of my reflection occurs ad hoc, akin to Schon’s theory of reflection-in-action (1983, cited in Finlay, 2008), as I mentally adjust my next movements based on observable data. I believe reflection is an essential component of our profession, not an add-on (Robertson, 2016). To ensure this is given priority, I need to find a way to make it feature more regularly. This is the first time I have attempted blogging as a way to share my reflective thinking and, f...