Professional Portfolio
a snapshot of my learning journey
by: Dana Garlock
Although I like to consider myself a reflective practitioner who is constantly (and I do mean constantly) seeking professional learning opportunities to get better at what I do, there have been a few "aha" moments as of late that are worth mentioning.
As a class we have explored many learning disabilities, struggles, and syndromes that affect the students in our classes. We've discussed strategies, accommodations, and modifications for these kids. Yet I continue to come back to a few recurring themes and ideas that all efforts inevitably come back to: relationships and the classroom environment.
Relationships
Furthermore, as explored and discussed in the latter part of this course, engaging, differentiated lessons and good teacher-student relationships play a key role in self-regulation as well. As I dug a little deeper into this topic, I found an article that supported the many things we had discussed online: "when students are supported in their learning and view tasks as personally meaningful and relevant, those students are inclined to use effective, self-regulated learning strategies that enhance learning and success in terms of grades, test scores, and future achievement."
An extension of this is how important relationships are in self-regulated learning as well. As we learned from Dr. Stuart Shankar, "when children are calmly focused and alert, they are best able to modulate their emotions; pay attention; ignore distractions; inhibit their impulses; assess the consequences of an action; understand what others are thinking and feeling, and the effects of their own behaviours; or feel empathy for others. (p. 3) Teachers play an important role in modelling self-regulation for students. According to research, when teachers model and explain their own thought processes necessary for completing tasks, students are more likely to adopt those same strategies - especially for younger students who generally fail to utilize self-regulation strategies independently.
The classroom environment
Some research indicates that "a positive environment is one in which students feel a sense of belonging, trust others, and feel encouraged to tackle challenges, take risks, and ask questions", and that an environment like this "provides relevant content, clear learning goals and feedback, opportunities to build social skills, and strategies to help students succeed." As a result, I'm now left with the important task or re-thinking how I start off my school year. I think I will take on the challenge of creating climate for the first few weeks of my courses, with the hopes that this climate will flourish over the school year.
Back to self-regulation for a moment...
Self-regulation skill development was an important topic for me in this course as I find so many students that I deal with (that have difficulties functioning in school) have lagging self-regulation skills. I also know that good teacher-student relationships paired with a safe, comfortable environment creates an exceptional setting for self-regulation to occur.
A good number of teens really struggle with aspects of self-regulation such as impulse control, mood regulation, judgments, and decision-making, so the more help they receive to support this, the better able they will be to develop these important cognitive processes. Laurence Steinberg (2005) cites a study that describes self-regulation during early adolescence as “starting an engine without yet having a skilled driver behind the wheel” (p. 70). Teaching self-regulation skills to adolescents is providing them with the skills they need to navigate their way through their own maturation and social challenges.
Some of the ways we have explored this in the last few weeks was through utilizing resources/strategies such as The Zones of Regulation, Self Regulation Strategy Development (SRSD), “think alouds” for problem solving, and encouraging mindfulness practice. The latter is not something I’ve spent much time implementing into my classroom, but there is growing research in its value. It is fairly well known in that adolescents undergo major brain growth in the teen years and that their frontal cortex, responsible for executive functioning, is considerably underdeveloped until the late teens or early twenties. If mindfulness can help strengthen executive functioning, thus aiding in improved self-regulation and learning, then it appears to be far more valuable than what I initially perceived.
Mindfulness and self-regulation...
Self Regulation Strategy Development (SRSD) summarized:
Further reflections...
Conclusion
I will always be a champion for the kids who need it most.
My collection of useful resources:
a bit about me...
Thanks for allowing me a chance to add depth and breadth to my teaching practice!
Works Cited:
Shanker, Stuart (2013). Calm, Alert, and Happy. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Toronto.
Steinberg, L. (2005). Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(2), 69-74.