Personal Reflective Statement

During the course of this year I have enjoyed the challenging combination of full time employment and postgraduate study. I believe that having the opportunity to study whilst working as a class teacher has enabled me to become an effective practitioner quickly, as I am able to embed new skills immediately. In the coming years I aim to take on leadership responsibilities within a school. I believe that this course will equip me with a body of knowledge of management in education and leadership within schools, this will help me become an informed, capable and effective classroom practitioner and school leader. As part of my PGCE I was required to conduct some small scale class based action research, I would be very interested to deepen my knowledge …show more content…
This year I have used Iris connect (a recording device) to record lessons. Prior to a lesson I choose a key focus (e.g. effective questioning) I have then recorded the lesson. After the lesson I have re-watched it either individually or with a more experienced practitioner. I use this time to highlight strengths and areas for development based around the key focus. I have also availed of coaching opportunities within my school, I have been live coached through various teaching skills via Iris connect by several experienced practitioners. These sessions have been invaluable to my professional development. Towards the end of the year I began live coaching other unqualified teachers in the school, I enjoyed this experience and would be interested to learn more about the literature surrounding coaching and mentoring and the definition of the two in an educational setting. This year I also attended a meeting at Iris Headquarters in Brighton where myself, other classroom practitioners and the managing director of Iris connect to develop a rubric which highlighted the progression structure and the necessary components needed to introduce Iris Connect as an effective form of CPD (Continuous Professional