Self Reflection Tools
For my self-reflection I selected three tools to conduct my personal inquiry: document analysis, journaling, and autobiography. Of these three tools, journaling was the most productive for me. I felt that with journaling, time was important in the sense that I couldn't think too long about what I was going to put to paper, I just had to do it. I am an empty-nester, working on a doctorate, whose day job consists of working alone or when in the presence of others I’m contemplating, making connections, and noting questions to ask about education. So for the most part I’m conducting “invisible journaling” much of the time. The actual act of writing what I was thinking forced me to slow down and provided an opportunity for me to reflect, rewind, and review my thinking. One of my favorite educator sayings is “make the invisible visible”. Journaling afforded me this opportunity.
My journal entries have a theme of making social studies important to teachers and students. This is partly in response to the current revision of elementary curriculum of several of our district’s schools. With new emphasis on writing and additional emphasis on mathematics and English language arts, the other core subjects of science and social studies are being further minimized in time and importance. The arts have not felt this pressure because when students are participating in the arts, the classroom or homeroom teachers have scheduled planning time. Because planning time is contractual, the amount of time scheduled for the arts is unaffected. My journal entries are centered on using the time allotted efficiently with several entries focused on individual teachers’ enacted curriculum which did not reflect the intended.
Connelly and Clandinin (1988) stated, “[f]rom the point of view of the curriculum, these research studies may assume that teachers’ thoughts and ideas have a history, but the studies do not take that history into account” (p. 19). In reflecting upon my journal entries, I see a clear pattern, an obsession if you will, with the lack of equity in terms of time, value, and money spent related to the social studies.
Teachers are under pressure to increase test scores, especially in the elementary grades where benchmark assessments are conducted on a scheduled basis. Teacher compliance is closely monitored by principals, who in turn are closely monitored by a supervisor of principals. There is pressure from many angles, which is felt in my journal entries—not the pressure, but the lack of attention and importance given to social studies. In all, it wasn’t a surprise that my journal entries reflected this feeling of inadequacy, but in reflection I see where I need to attack this issue differently and bring the value of social studies to the attention of my supervisors. A change in game plans is warranted.
Looking at my documents, another tool utilized for my self-reflection, I found that my personal curriculum, which is the way I share information with teachers, is organized, but lacks a concrete record of what to do in the classroom. For the past seven years I have built a website for teachers in the district to access the social studies curriculum. I use a ‘free wiki-like website’, but last year the files that had been added runneth over and I now pay for storage on the website. Each summer, teachers volunteer to earn summer stipends to help streamline and condense different grade levels of the website. This is website is the most important document that I maintain. Other documents include district social studies council minutes and emails. In thinking about these documents as my personal curriculum, I see the learners as the teachers in the district. The documents are written for teacher use to guide them in their own curriculum building. One characteristic of my documents is that there is a celebration of the teacher. The headline of the website always marquees recent teacher accomplishments like History Teacher of the Year and council meeting minutes always begin with member contributions of how social studies is celebrated in their schools. A propaganda technique, but a necessary one.
My final tool, an autobiography, has the same sense that social studies content is of utmost importance as my journaling, but there is a reflection of how my role has developed from teacher to supervisor over the course of nearly thirty years. There is no sense of “future” in my autobiography, but there is a sense of accomplishment. In reflecting on my autobiography I did not get a sense of where my personal curriculum originated, but it was difficult to write and remain focused on curriculum and the work that I do. The stories of my life outside of school were not included and I should include those as they are part of my psyche and character and make me who I am today: sister, mother, wife, friend, teacher, learner.
Of the tools, the autobiography was the most difficult for me to write, because of the time spent. I've been journaling, or keeping work journals but not about what is going on in my head and I found that journaling caused me to reflect on my practice. The documents that I evaluated are part of what I am responsible for in maintaining in my current position. Of course, I will continue those as well, but perhaps with a different lens. Instead of a repository of material, I'll view it from the users' perspective.
