Understanding How Children Learn, critical reflection

heatheruk86 1 / -

Mar 31, 2009 #1

I have to write a 3000 word essay from my PGDE on Understanding How Children Learn where I relate theory/research/policy to my own classroom practice.

The outline we have been given is:
- Introduction
- What I understand about the topic from my research (relate to literature: research, theory, policy as appropriate)
- How I have used this knowledge to influence my classroom practice (relate to classroom via reflection on practice)
- Conclusion

I am able to write the research part easily and have wrote it but I have no idea how to write the second part which should me a critical reflection on how the research has reflected my practice as a teacher.

Anybody got any ideas how to write this or even how to start this?

EF_Kevin 8 / 13053

Mar 31, 2009 #2

I have no idea how to write the second part which should me a critical reflection on how the research has reflected my practice as a teacher.

Is that really what it is? How the research "reflected" your practice? Probably they want to know how it "affected" your practice.

How did it affect your practice? This is about metacognition. You need to reflect on what insights you gained while doing that research. What thoughts came? What questions arose? Based on your process, you have changed as a teacher. Every little thing changes you, so they want to know what effect this had.

By the way, please check out the EF Contributor Page (link at the bottom of the screen). Helping students via essay forum is like pure charity -- something you give of yourself to make a little difference in the world. As a teacher, maybe you want to become a contributor. :))

Does this advice help?

EF_Sean 6 / 3460

Apr 10, 2009 #3

It would make a great deal more sense if you were being asked to think about how your teaching reflected what you had learned from your research, rather than vice versa. Assuming that is actually the case, the section shouldn't be too difficult to start. Even if you didn't really alter your teaching practices that much (or at all) based on the research you did, you can presumably see how you could alter your practices to reflect the principles you were learning about, or how existing practices already incorporated those principles. So, start with that.