Critical Reflection

For this assignment, I will be choosing to reflect on Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach. He impressed me as from the beginning since he tells us that the emphasis of throughout the entire book is built on the fact that the identity and integrity of the teacher are the basis of good teaching rather than having good teaching technique since the identity and integrity of the teacher are able to connect with his/her students and hence, connect them to the subject being taught. She should make himself/herself available and vulnerable to “the service of learning”.

Critical Reflection

The first part of this book encourages me to find myself; it encourages me to have a strong sense of self. This should be done before I can teach students. Palmer

It is a must that I create safe, supportive and respectful learning environments that promote socio-emotional development, self-responsibility, and character to optimise learning for all students (Allodi, 2010). I believe that it will be beneficial for myself, students and learning support assistants that I foster a sense of community in the classroom and develop positive relationships with and among students. Therefore, I believe that I have to do my utmost to adapt effective skills and strategies for managing dynamic and flexible classroom structures and for teaching conflict resolution as well as for building positive relationships and engaging in effective communication and problem-solving with parents and families. I am also in favour of gearing teaching and learning towards student-centred learning since such instructional strategy leads to efficacy in increasing student engagement in learning activities (Twigg, 2010). Although the author did not mention student-centred learning in a specific way, I believe that my belief is in line with what the author thinks. This is because this is Palmer’s ideology in a more innovative way. In fact, the 21st century curriculum requires me to develop skills and strategies to prepare students for living and learning productively in today’s society. In order to do this, I must promote student-centred learning. This is a shift in ‘power’ from the

However, this reflection is regularly perceived as based on the teaching and lessons themselves solitary, whilst this study unit enquired reflection on the spiritual self. Mayes (2001) implies “[t]here are probably few subjects that are so inadequately explored in teacher education as our students ' spiritual beliefs and practices-whether or not those beliefs and practices are grounded in a formal religious commitment.” Every so often we tend to lack spirituality within us, which as we have seen in several presentations brought up by colleagues can be practiced in so many simple ways. It gives such peace in oneself to be involved in such spiritual moments as presented throughout this unit. Several colleagues have used soft music, candles and other methods to create an atmosphere for effective self-reflection. A couple of groups have used such an atmosphere to get the rest to think about the things or acts we regret and the burning of this listed act would make you feel better. Some may also have asked the Lord for forgiveness while burning the piece of paper. I realised that frequently I find myself trying to reflect without getting in into an individual spiritual space, which often leads to diverting my thoughts from the subject I had been reflecting on, to a complete different subject. Sometimes we are too busy to stop and dedicate some time to ourselves and