“I'm doing a whole lot of reflecting”… (Critical reflection on Reflective Practice)

I found the Reflective practices reader compiled by Adesola Akinlye very thought provoking. It has made me consciously aware of the benefits of reflection and the people around me who use it as a tool for progression. A day after President Barack Obama’s democratic party suffered a large loss in the November 2010 mid-term elections, he held a press conference and said “I'm doing a whole lot of reflecting”… I thought to myself “so am I”.

Reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice (Reid, 1993 p.305). A Chinese proverb that I thought encompasses the idea of reflection states “to know the road ahead, ask those coming back”, meaning that one can gain information by drawing from a past experience or event and learn from it as in reflection. I believe reflection consists of two parts “doing and reviewing”, the practical and theoretical. The benefits of reflection allow us to assess an experience, turn the acquired information into knowledge and create possible theories to learn, change or replicate the outcome. In order to learn “One must understand what is being defined in order that one judge for oneself the accuracy…. Moreover, the definition itself must be understood” (McFee, 1992).

Like playing with a jigsaw, you experimentally discover which pieces fit and which pieces are missing. I think it can be useful to have clear objectives when reflecting. (Dewey, 1933) described reflective thought as “active persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends”. He believed that education was an experimental action involving “continual reorganization, reconstruction and transformation” (Dewey 1916).

There are various tools for reflection. The tools that I tend to use are journal writing for educational purposes (Reflective Observation), verbally expressing out loud thoughts (Abstract Conceptualisation) about learnt information to family and friends as it helps me to process information gaining clarity. Audio or visual recording enabling me to repeatedly look back at my performance based work. Using the mirrors in a dance studio to analyse myself and make the necessary changes while dancing to improve on the quality of movement (Active experimentation, reflection-in-action). I have observed that employers tend to ask for references and resumes from potential employees so they can build a profile on the candidate and know whether they are suitable for the job or role, this is common form of reflection.

Schön (1987) proposes two types of reflection, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. To differentiate the two concepts, reflection-in-action is reflection during an experience and reflecting-on-action is post reflection, looking back on the experience. Coming primarily from a dance background I work better with the “hands-on” approach of reflection-in-action. I find it easier to scrutinise movement “on the go” as I do or watch it, as opposed to waiting until the end and processing all the information in its entirety. Waiting until the end would increase the potential of me forgetting what I had to change. Sometimes when trying to process information in-action you are not fully able to conclude or evaluate what is missing until the end, this is where reflection-on action can prove to be productive. Reflecting-on-action is useful because I think you are able to judge the subject as a whole in its totality. However the disadvantage is that it may be harder to inject active change, resulting in one having to restart the action from the beginning which can prove to be time consuming.

Kottcamp thought reflection-in-action was “more difficult to achieve because the actor must simultaneously attend to performing the action and observe and analyze his or her action, as if from an external perspective.” (Kottcamp, R. B. (1990). Means for facilitating reflection. Education and Urban Society, 22, 182-203.) This opinion has had a positive effect on me, it makes me aware that the ability to multi task has almost become “second nature” to me. He also highlights the fact that with reflection-on-action it is not “imperative for immediate action”.

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David Kolb an American educational theorist believed that there were four stage of learning which he represented by a cycle. Each point is on-going leading to the next. The four stages are Concrete Experience (feeling and doing), Reflective Observation (watching and reviewing), Abstract conceptualisation (thinking and concluding) and Active Experimentation (trying out and doing).

Each person would have a unique starting point on the cycle which represents their individual style of learning. I began to ponder upon which route I thought most represented my learning patterns. I believe I watch, conclude, try out and have the concrete experience. By pinpointing my starting point I realise the reason I start by Reflective Observation is that I think there is less risk involved by “looking before you leap”. It makes me uncomfortable to start off with Active experimentation, but I now feel by not pushing myself to do so I could be putting a limit on my learning as I have pre empted what I would like to discover.

I am very interested in Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theories which stem from psychology, as I too believe that people learn in numerous ways e.g. sight, sounds, touch and taste. I think Intelligence Quotient should not just be assessed on how much information an individual can retain through textbook information. In my view, I am able to give an intelligent critique of a dance piece based on the quantity of dance pieces I have performed in and have viewed. Should I be thought of as more or less intelligent as someone who can build a television? Gardner suggested a Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic learning Style (VAK). As a learner he also thought that there are multiple “lenses”, multiple ways to look at things (Gardner, 2005). From my experience when viewing magazines, visual intelligence is more than just an 'Eidetic memory' style, it is the understanding of shapes, sizes and dimension and not the retaining of textbook information. When retaining a song, Auditory intelligence is not just remembering the verbal content but also tonal quality.

Having carried out my own reflection I have noticed that if my energy level drops when teaching a dance class, it affects the amount of energy my students put into their dance movements. I then am reminded that when I was learning how to dance that the teachers who inspired me the most and kept me engaged were the ones that were not lacklustre and monotonous in tonal quality. I hope to review this more in-depth by logging more observations in my reflective journal and use it as a tool of progression for me and others.

References:

Dewey, J. How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process. San Francisco: New Lexington Press, 1933.

Kottcamp, R. B. (1990). Means for facilitating reflection. Education and Urban Society, 22, 182-203.

Moon, J. Reflection in Learning and Professional Development.London: Kogan Page, 1999a.
Moon, J. Learning Journals: A Handbook for Academics, Students and Professional Development. London: Kogan Page, 1999b

Schon, D. A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books, 1983.

Schon, D. A. Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 1987.

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