Reflection - Are we missing the point?

Prompted by the need to complete 15 reflective accounts I recently sat and considered (or was it reflected?) on whether I fully understand the purpose of self reflection. I have been wrestling with the concept of producing clear and effective reflective accounts and quickly realised that in reality I had limited understanding of the process and potentially was missing the point. Defining and understanding self reflection has become an urgent mission fuelled by the need to identify a process which I can apply to my work.

A quick exploration of reflective practice

As one of the pioneers of reflective practice Dewey (1933) suggested that reflective thinking is closely related to critical thinking; in that it is “the turning over of a subject in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive consideration”. Dewey believed that reflection was not only a rational, intellectual act but also an act that involves the whole person, including their emotions. To be effective Dewy suggested that people need to be open minded, responsible, and wholehearted. In the context of learning, Bould et al (1985) believed reflection is a “generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations”

I found myself contemplating the prospect that reflective practice is not just another way of monitoring work but instead a state of mind, a philosophy and a process of helping us as professionals to realise ourselves (Schon, 1983, 1987), and to stimulate a review of and change in our values (Mezirow, 2000).  Indeed several writers; (van Manen, 1977; Schön, 1983,1990; Boud et al. 1985; and Brookfield, 1995) have all proposed that reflection is indeed a learning tool with implications for the teaching-learning process.

How do we self- reflect?

Having started to understand the purpose of the process I still needed a guide or framework to follow that was meaningful and could be implemented on a consistent basis. Some ideas I considered included;

van Manen (1977)  Three distinct stages of the reflective process.

Stage 1 Effective application of skills and technical knowledge in the classroom environment concerned with analyzing the effects of the teaching strategies used.

Stage 2 Reflection about underlying assumptions of a specific classroom practice and its effect on student learning.

Stage 3 Critical reflection, involving questioning the moral and ethical dimensions of decisions related, directly or indirectly, to the classroom situation.

Schön (1983, 1990) three methods of reflection

Schön (1983, 1990) argued that professionals in their everyday practice face unique and complex situations, which are unsolvable by technical, rational approaches alone. He differentiated by suggesting three different methods of reflection:

Reflection-in-action, is a spontaneous reflection in the midst of the action itself, also known as “thinking on your feet”. Reflection-on-action, involves thinking through a situation after it has happened. In this method, one consciously returns to the experience to re-evaluate and decide what needs to be done differently. Reflection-for-action is the desired outcome of the first two methods of reflection and engages one in reflection to guide future action.

Brookfield (1995) 4 complementary lenses

Brookfield (1995) encouraged reflective practice by examining one’s own practice through four complementary lenses as a way to become more attuned to the ambiguities and complexities of one’s practice. These lenses are:

• One’s autobiography as a learner.

• One’s colleagues’ perceptions, as they are “reflective mirrors” .

• The students’ eyes.

• The literature grounded in research, theory, and philosophy.

My solution

On analysing these strategies I accidentally stumbled across a simple framework of questions in the form of a reflective diary/ journal process (www.businessball.com). The set of questions I feel allows the ideas, concepts and theories of reflective thinking to be applied in a simple and practical way. These questions include;

1.       What happened/ what did I do?

2.       How did I feel about it?

3.       What is my honest objective assessment of what happened and the causes?

4.       What can I take from this?

5.       What improvement do I want to make or assist?

6.       What do I need to do or learn to achieve this?

7.       How will I measure and know that I’ve succeeded in this?

In writing this blog post I may have unwittingly engaged in a reflective process resulting in the realisation that the art of reflection is not just simply writing a diary of what I have achieved each week, but instead it needs to be a process of self discovery in which I constantly think about my personal as well as students learning experiences. To achieve this I feel I need to embrace the reflective process by exploring not only what improvements I can make to my teaching  but to continue to identify new ideas, questions, and knowledge that challenges and changes my values and perspectives.

References

Brookfield, S.D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Reflection: Turning experience into learning. London, UK: Kogan Page

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process (2nd ed.). New York: Heath & Company.

Mezirow, J. (1990).

Fostering critical reflection in adulthood. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. London, UK: Basic Books.

Schön, D. (1990). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schön, D. (1991). The reflective turn: Case in and on educational practice. New York: Teachers College Press.

van Manen, J. (1977). Linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical. Curriculum Inquiry, 6, 205-208.