By Dr. Yeon-seong Park
The 7th anniversary of Gwangju-Jeonnam Reflective Practice Group is coming on April 13. Seven years of fellowship of learning! I feel so lucky to be included in this group because we have innovative co-founders (Maria Lisak and Jocelyn Wright) and dedicated co-facilitators! Naturally, I felt both honored and embarrassed when my name was called as the Thomas Farrell Reflective Language Teacher Award 2019 winner. With thanks to Bryan Hale who recommended me. In my mind, I am now thinking what I can do for the future of GJ Reflective Practice SIG for the year 2020.
In retrospect we have reflected on our teaching from a creative angle as well as educative one. We’ve reflected on recent successful teaching experiences, fear and anxiety in our classroom, critical incidents, etc. Those approaches are classic, and we had fantastic exchanges on those issues. But the facilitators have stepped one step further; they adapted disciplines of other academic areas from as fine arts, science, communication to reflected practice. Those methods can be called a fusion of different disciplines. I’ve attended several study groups in my career of three decades, but this group will be remembered the most because of our joyful camaraderie and professional growth in reflective practice, not to mention the polishing of my English skills.
A long time ago at an international conference, I heard about how wild geese fly long distances. When the leading wild goose becomes tired, another one in the group takes its place; in that way they can successfully complete their flight. My first resolution is to facilitate the GJ RP SIG three times to lessen the burden of our facilitators. My second resolution is that I will practice what I learned from reflective practice when working with students at the Kona Storybook Center where I will provide a monthly talk from March to December. After each lecture I will collect data by asking students:
- What they thought the lesson was about?
- What was difficult for them?
- What was easy for them?
The questions above are from Farrell’s (2013) book. By collecting data, my practice can be more evidence-based. One final resolution is related to one of the four Reflective Practice principles (Farrell, 2019). It is a way of life. I will set my mottos for 2020: love, righteousness, and truth. Each day before I go to bed, I will look back on my day through the lenses of these three mottos. I pray I can fulfill all my New Year Resolutions with ease and efficiency.
References
- Farrell S. C., Thomas. (2019). Reflection-As-Action in ELT. Alexandria, Virginia: TESOL International Association.
- Farrell, S.C. Thomas. (2013). Reflective Teaching. Alexandria, Virginia: TESOL International Association.
Bio
Yeon-seong Park is a researcher, writer and lecturer. She specializes in modern British and American poetry, focusing on W. H. Auden, W. C. Williams, Denise Levertov, Joy Harjo and Joseph Brodsky. She has received the Korea National Research Foundation grant seven times so far. As for her teaching career, she taught credit courses on English Conversation, Speech and Debate, English for Current Issues and British/ American poetry at Chonnam National University for two decades.
