Assessment 2

PART TWO- CRITICAL

REFLECTION

Group presentation URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmB
CcIpMH1k&feature=youtu.be

Rabia Deeb
17464491
 Critical reflection
The multidisciplinary unit Contemporary teacher leadership is among one of my many

influential units throughout my Masters of Secondary Education journey. The unit has helped

strengthen a variety of my teaching skills particularly with reference to my critical and

problem solving abilities and along the way has also allowed me to attain new skills and

perspectives. The unit focuses on helping teachers of the 21st century attain the professional

qualities they require with accordance to relevant standards, in order to become progressive

change agents within a community of practice. Furthermore, through the online tutorials,

designated assessments and relevant literature associated with local and global systems; I

was able to build on the knowledge of what is required of a teacher to demonstrate effective

change, leadership and innovation within their careers.

According to Caruso & Wooley (2008), group collaboration can enable students to develop a

variety of host skills that are significantly essential within the professional world. The dynamic

of our group was relatively strong, we shared similar ideas and beliefs in regards to how we

wanted to proceed with assessment two. However, there were ideas and perspectives that

still differed. This was particularly prevalent in the proposal stage of the assessment, our

group faced obstacles in regards to deciding on what approach to take towards the

assessment with reference to the curriculum themes and the school setting we wanted.

Through active discussions over the online zoom meetings a member within our group

proposed Bossley Park High School a school they were currently working at, although this was

a generous proposal other challenges came with it. Considering the other group members

and myself did not attend the school it was difficult to decide on a theme based on the
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school’s demographic. Therefore, through the groups recognition of this issue we came to the

understanding that we must first examine the school thoroughly by determining the school’s

assets, barriers and potential in order to select a theme that best suites it (Kenway, 2013).

Through this process, each member came to the conclusion that the theme Meaningful

learning best fits Bossley Park High due to its cultural diversity. Additionally, this helped the

group reach a clear objective, whereby we aimed to build a school based on the foundations

of a safe, respectful and meaningful culture.

As a group we established that engagement through collaboration enriched our learning and

understanding in becoming better leaders (Holt & Lopez, 2014). This unit helped our group

comprehend the significance of fundamentally understanding what leadership means and its

relation to teaching. Over the course of this unit, there were a number of difficult situations

our group faced due the diverse social, personal and academic obligations we each had. As

the weeks went by we began to thoroughly understand the meaning of leadership and we

came to the conclusion that in a group project a leader does not have to be designated

initially, it is a mutual process whereby over time as the team develops a leader emerges

(MacBeath et al., 2018). This was evident within our group, however we also began to

understand that each individual person within the group was also a leader in some way, as

we each had a role and responsibility and in that aspect we led our part. As proposed by Lee,

Hallinger & Walker (2012), our group learnt that successful group work is achieved through

distributed leadership, whereby each member acts as a leader in a collaborative matter rather

than a hierarchical matter. We achieved this new understanding by acknowledging the

importance between employee satisfaction and employee engagement (Lightle, Castellano,

Baker & Sweeney, 2015). The concept of employee engagement took on practical significance,
102098: Contemporary Teacher Leadership

we understood that our group leader also had other personal obligations and thus we realised

that we needed to apply the foundations of employee engagement. We achieved this through

voicing our opinions and ideas to one another and in being proactive in supporting one

another in understanding new concepts/ideas. This new support and feeling of engagement

helped our group build and engage in a supportive community of practice.

For positive development to occur, educators are required to be active in their research and

development of their respective programs. Kenway (2012) provides us with a guideline for

student engagement. She states that teachers must put forward distinct examples for change

and that students need to be exposed to both challenging and positive learning experiences.

The alternative is that students will likely become disengaged from learning. Assessment two,

the Understanding by Design (UBD) framework by Wiggins & McTighe (2005) was a practical

example for this positive development. We through the integration of a backward design

process were able to refine and improve our group project. This was carried out in three

stages including, Identify Desired results, Determine Assessment Evidence and Plan learning

experiences and instruction. These interconnected stages especially helped guide the

construction of our program and in a practical way highlighted the relevance of our

goals/objectives. Initially the first stage; Identify Desired results, allowed our group to

consider our objectives and assess the known requirements a teachers are exposed to; this

was quite visceral as often teachers are faced with heavy workloads and restricted time

(Northhouse, 2010). The second process Determine Assessment Evidence, motivated each

group member to critically think about the efficiency of the program through assessments.

Lastly, the third process the Plan learning experiences and instrcution, motivated our group

to question how the project can be tweaked? It is perhaps the realisation that this ever
102098: Contemporary Teacher Leadership

moving target is the nature of the education system which I found most profound.

Furthermore, the integration of the Understanding by design framework strengthened and

added great relevance to the assessment, through constructing greater engagement,

practicality and potential applicability within schools across Australia (Rooney, 2012).

In conclusion, although our group faced a few obstacles, it is through these obstacles that will

prepare us for real life challenging classroom contexts. This journey helped our group view

sharing ideas, experience’s and perspectives as a vital component of continual professional

development. Furthermore, Contemporary teacher leadership taught us the true value of

leadership and has broadened our knowledge into the methods we can use in order to

enhance the relevance of our pedagogy to ensure that we provide our students with engaging

and stimulating learning environments. The interactions encountered over the past few

weeks throughout this unit have helped me achieve a variety of host skills and knowledge.

These achievements have helped shape our shared journeys in becoming educating leaders

and have provided us with the confidence we require in order to become strong change

agents throughout future learning environments.

 102098: Contemporary Teacher Leadership

References

Caruso, H.M., & Wooley, A.W. (2008). Harnessing the power of emergent interdependence to

promote diverse team collaboration. Diversity and Groups. 11, 245-266.

Holt, L. J., & Lopez, M. J. (2014). Characteristics and correlates of supportive peer mentoring: A

mixed methods study. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 22(5), 415-

432.

Kenway, J. (2013) Challenging in equity in Australian schools: Gonski and beyond. Discourse

studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 286-308.

doi:10.1080/01596306.2013.770254

Lightle, S., S. Castellano, J. Baker, B. & Sweeney, R., J. (2015). The Role of Corporate Boards in

Employee Engagement. IUP Journal of Corporate Governance, 14(4), 7-13. Retrieved

from

https://search.proquest.com/openview/1be8abdf3137a4ffd4cdd5557ae07e8f/1?pq-

origsite=gscholar&cbl=54446

Lee, M., Hallinger, P., & Walker, A. (2012). Leadership challenges in international schools in the

Asia Pacific region: Evidence from programme implementation of the International

Baccalaureate. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 644-698. DOI:

10.1080/13603124.2011.605475

MacBeath, J., Dempster, N., Frost, D., Johnson, G. & Swaffield, S. (2018). Strengthening the

Connections Between Leadership and Learning: Challenges to Policy, School and

Classroom Practice (1st ed). Milton: Routledge

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Northouse, P., G. (2010). Leadership: Theory & Practice (5th Ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Rooney, P., K. (2012). Schools as cultural hubs: The untapped potential of cultural assets for

enhancing school effectiveness. The International Journal of Learning: Annual

Review, 19, 23-33. DOI: 10.18848/1447-9494/CGP/v19/48750

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.