Hi, I’m Ami, and like Kayla, my revision during this unit of what it’s like to be an adolescent, and

all

that goes with it, stirred up some interesting memories.

For myself and my students, I need to take a reflexive approach to my teaching. By being able to

take a step back from my pedagogical practice, and critically analyse how successful or unsuccessful

my methods are and making changes where necessary, I hope to continue my journey as both

learner and teacher. I need to always “apply critically reflective lenses to my work” (Faulkner &

Crowhurst, 2015) by taking what I’ve learnt in preservice and continuously building on and applying

it to my pedagogical practice, thereby becoming a reflective and reflexive teacher, continually

building my own skills and resilience (Ferfolja, Jones Diaz, & Ullman, 2015).

As an English teacher with high expectations of my students, I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to achieve a

connection with them through the use of language, and pedagogical activities such as creative

writing and close analysis of texts. The choice of these texts needs to aim high – I don’t want to

generalise my students and underestimate their capacity to deal with powerful or confronting

material (Sulzer & Hertling Thein, 2016). Additionally, I don’t want to necessarily always focus on

the negativity in some texts, I’d rather promote positive education and unpack the strengths of

characters and how they deal with setbacks (Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, & Linkins, 2009).

What I’d really like to be mindful of is to try to avoid ‘essentialising’ (Sulzer & Hertling Thein, 2016)

my students, and grouping them under the ‘Adolescent’ umbrella that is socially constructed in

Western Society. By recognising that my individual students have multiple competing demands for

their attention, and how these intersecting spheres of influence can impact on their ability to want

to or even believe that they can achieve great things, I aim to be a mindful and considerate teacher.
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