Reflection
0 How many of you are good at reflection?
0 Why? (not)
0 Write your answers down in 3 sentences
Why reflect?
0
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
0
Reasons? Brainstorm them
To improve teaching practice
To learn from
Enhance your problem solving skills
To become a critical thinker
To make decisions
Improve your organisational skills
Manage personal change
Acknowledging your personal values
Take your own advice
Roffey-Barentsen & Malthouse (2009)
“Often we hear that one of the most important
tasks of education is to teach students how to
learn on their own throughout their lifetimes.
But how do we learn how to learn? How do
we know what we’ve learned and how to
direct our own future learning?
These are all questions addressed by the
concept of metacognition. Simply put,
metacognition means “thinking about one’s
own thinking.”
There are two aspects of metacognition:
1) reflection—thinking about what we
know;
2) self-regulation—managing how we go
about learning.
Thinking About Thinking:
Metacognition
Developed by Linda Darling-Hammond, Kim Austin, Melissa Cheung,
and Daisy Martin
With Contributions From Brigid Barron, Annmarie Palincsar, and Lee
Shulman
Stanford University School of Education
Bit o’ theory
0 1.Common Sense reflecting ( Moon 2004,p.82)
0 “ reflection is akin to thinking but with more
added to this”
0 Thoughts that occur after a difficult session
0 You know you have to do better and try to work
out why
0 Its vague because lacks element of directed
learning
0 Write a quick scenario of what happened
2. Dewey’s reflective thinking
0 Main interest stems from problem solving
0 Why do you think?
0 Starts with a worry or a problem?
0 So you feel uneasy and need to stop and take
stock
0 Here you now identify the problem
0 This is reflective thinking
0 Not always easy or pleasant
0 “What did I do?” “Could I have been better?”
3. SchÖn, Donald(1983)- Reflective
Practice
0 Reflecting on teaching and learning to modify practice is drawn
from the work of Schon. He discussed the benefits of reflective
practice for those engaged in professional occupations.
0 acquisition of new knowledge was less important than the need to
reflect and inform practice in an ever-changing workplace. He said
there are different parts of the reflective process:
0 1. Reflection in Action is working with awareness
0 thinking on your feet
0 responding to feedback signs
0 storing experience for next time
0 Examples? Where in your teaching have you had to do this?
0 2. Reflection on Action is the usual meaning of
reflective practice. It is:
0 reflecting after the event
0 making sense of what you did
0 having that ‘reflective conversation’
0 3. Reflection for Action: thinking in advance as you
plan your teaching with your knowledge of the
learners
0 http://www.resources.scalingtheheights.com/Schon
%20and%20Reflective%20Practice.htm
More than omphaloskepsis!!?
• Omphaloskepsis is contemplation of your navel as an
aid to meditation
• SO ….if Reflective Practice is to become anything more
than random navel gazing,
• it is advisable that you, the reflective practitioner,
employs a particular process or model.
David Kolb(1984) Experiential Learning
Cycle
Do
Plan
reflect
Read
Or in other words:
Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle is
relevant to this process of on-going reflection and
self-evaluation.
Adapt what you have to teach to suit your learners
Experience/teach
Have reflective conversation with a colleague
Learn
Put new learning into practice
Start cycle again
How to use it practically
Do it
Get some feedback from the class
about how they experienced it
Reflect
on it
What went well? what went less well?
Read up
on it
Search Internet – read a book/journal;
Plan the
next
stage
So what will you change?
Gibbs reflective cycle(1988)
Encourages reflective
practice by asking questions
at each stage
Brookfield’s (1995) critical lenses
• This is the next step – adds a critical element to
reflection
• 1. the point of view of the teacher (autobiography)-
•
•
•
•
one of the most important sources of insight into
teaching to which we have access.” (1995 p.31)
2. the point of view of the learners
3. the point of view of our colleagues
4. the point of view of theories and literature
What did you do? How did your learners feel?
Colleagues act as critical friends, take into account
what the theory says
Rolfe et al (2001) Framework for reflexive
practice
• What? – describe the situation; achievements,
consequences, responses, feelings, and problems.
• So what? – discuss what has been learnt; learning
about self, relationships, models, attitudes, cultures,
actions, thoughts, understanding, and improvements.
• Now what? – identify what needs to be done in order
to; improve future outcomes, and develop learning
• third and final stage is of the greatest importance in
contributing to practice Rolfe et al (2001).
Task 1
0 Using the handout- basic introduction
0 Use the sample on page 1.
0 Break it down into
0 A) the description (what happened?)
0 B) The interpretation (what’s most useful about the
idea/event?)
0 C) The outcome (what was learned?)
Task 2
0 Jenny Moon says reflective writing has 4 categories
0 Samuels (2008) devised 5
0 See handouts
0 From the 2 excerpts work out which is “reporting
level” writing and which is “reconstructing level“
writing- why?
References
0 Roffey-Barentsen, J. & Malthouse, R.(2009) Reflective
Practice in the Lifelong Learning Sector. Exeter:
Learning Matters
0 Moon, J.(2004) A handbook of reflective and
experiential learning theory and practice.
London:RoutledgeFalmer