Personal Learning (Development) Plan

Reflective Leadership Through your course work thus far, a great deal of discussion has focused on the dynamics of the school leader and how their effectiveness is often measured in quantitative outcomes. While certainly a vital part of the role of a leader is to show positive, measurable outcomes, it is a leader’s ability to reflect on, and enhance relationships with all stakeholders that make goals achievable (ZEROTOTHREE.ORG, n.d.).  Parlakian & Seibel (as cited in ZEROTOTHREE.ORG, n.d.) propose three important skills that characterize reflective leadership—the key to creating a relationship-based organization. They include; self-awareness, careful observation, and flexible response. 

· Self-awareness: A leader knows herself, her strengths, and her limitations. It implies that a leader is interested in, and committed to, examining her reactions, thoughts, and feelings about the work.

· Careful observation: Leaders can decipher the meaning of what they see and hear. They are curious about the meaning of their own and others’ behavior, voice tone, body language, and reactions. They solicit more information in order to more clearly and fully understand.

· Flexible responses: As a teacher should know her students, a leader must know her staff. This means they take the time to learn their personal styles and the circumstances in which they work best. They consider motivating factors and each staff members’ unique needs, strengths, and areas of development when approaching them. Flexible responses express mutual respect and are the most basic, and oftentimes most difficult skill associated with reflective leadership.

The Reflective Practitioner Donald Schön coined the term the reflective practitioner (1983, 1987) with his principles of reflection setting the framework for how to translate theory into action for educators. From his work, countless research has been conducted and applied across various fields of study.  Schön defines reflection as knowing-in-action and suggests two ways for practitioners to reflect—either by ‘reflecting in action’, during the experience, or by ‘reflecting on action’, after the experience (1983). For the educator, reflecting in action means thinking about what is occurring during teaching as it occurs, much like we ask students to reflect on their learning. Schön challenges teachers to “move into the center of the learning situation, into the center of their own doubts” (Merickel, 1998). This can be applied quite easily to those in leadership positions as well. For example, when confronted with an inflammatory email by a teacher upset with the ever-expanding population of students in his class, the principal may pause before responding to the teacher and consider why the teacher feels as he does to the point of communicating in anger through email. The displacement of the principal’s frustration, confusion, and even anxiety over the teacher’s communication allows the principal to reflect on alternative ways to respond without adding to the stress they both may feel.  Reflecting on action is the process more likely to be used during pre-service teacher training, and when for example, the teacher or leader needs to pause and reflect after an event has occurred. For example, after teaching a lesson for the first time, the pre-service teacher might be asked to reflect through either a guided or non-guided journaling exercise. They might think about how their instructional delivery was received, if their planning was adequate, to what degree learning occurred, and where adjustments will be made in subsequent lessons. Another way they could reflect on action is through a verbal debriefing with their mentor teacher focusing on similar discussion points. Let’s think about the principal who has been told in the most recent meeting with the Superintendent that student math scores for the mid-year benchmark assessment need to increase by at least 5% in 3 different grade levels by the end of the year. After allowing some time to sort through his thoughts and ideas, the principal would certainly benefit by reflecting on the current practices occurring in his school as well as what hasn’t been tried and what could or should be tried. He might also find evidence to support his thinking before bringing his potential solutions and plan to his staff. Through reflective practice, a practitioner of any type can reframe a troubling situation so problem-solving actions may occur. Reflection is part of the learning process, whether a novice or an expert. It allows one to utilize a repertoire of understanding, images, and actions so as to respond most effectively (Merickel, 1998). 

Week Six Discussion Guidance: Your final discussion asks you to reflect on your learning and experience pertaining to the concepts specifically learned and applied in the course. You will be taking a look back at your original, preconceived ideas and understandings from week one and discovering ways your thinking has changed. Before responding to this final discussion, think about what you learned here in the Guidance—you are now exercising meaningful reflection on action. In a way, because you are not completely finished and are putting together a very comprehensive summative project, you can reflect in action as your continued learning occurs. Keep in mind, the point of reflection is not to tell anyone else, including the instructor of this course who will be evaluating your response, what they want to hear. This is your final opportunity to authentically evaluate your own learning and development as well as ponder how this learning can be applied in your current and/or future practice as a practitioner!  TIP: Since the final discussion requires a two-part, thoughtful response, it is encouraged you draft out your ideas first in a Word document, think on it, then whittle it down to a more digestible response while still touching on all discussion points in both parts. These could be quite lengthy and the goal is to have others want to read and respond to your post without having too much to sift through. This is a great exercise in writing with precision---as graduate level students and beyond must consistently refine and apply their own practice. 

References