Task 2c: Reflective Theory

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started 

And know the place for the first time”

(TS Eliot, Four Quarters, 1943)

I came accross this poem whilst studying A Level English and thought it suited this task quite nicely!

For me, being a teacher heavily relies on me to constantly critically reflect on everything I do, whether I realise it or not! In this profession you have to keep up with changes in the curriculum for one but also, working with children, I feel it is important to make sure what you are doing is relevant to them. For example, being a young and recent graduate, I feel that the choreography I bring is current and and challenging, not an “old school” jazz piece to “Jamirioqui” that has been taught to the 20 years prior to them.

When researching online about 'Existing tools for reflection within Professional Practice' I got a link to a file, Improving Learning Through Reflection where it discussed how “Reflection is a way of maximizing deep learning and minimizing surface approaches” (Hinnet, 1997). It also looks at how reflection is a key component of the artistry in performance-based subjects (something I feel is very relevant to all those participating in the BAPP course). It then goes onto say, “Writing in the form of learning journals and reflective logs is often used as a way of capturing reflection” (Hinnet, 1997). We then use these journals to learn something from the experiences we wrote down. 

This leads me on to Kolb’s Learning Cycle. 

Concrete Experience: This is where Kolb’s cycle begins. This could perhaps be an individual or team task that has been assigned to them. In a teaching environment, more specifically, it could be ice-breakers, a practical exercises, or even a discussion or debate. In Kolb’s model, the individual or team member must actually “do” in order to learn.

Reflective Observation: This is stage two in the cycle. A time to step back from the “doing” part of the task and review (reflect) what has just happened (what they have just experienced). Again, from a teaching perspective this could be, peer evaluation, self evaluation or in the form of a journal. I know in the school I currently work in, through-out both the dance and drama BTEc courses, the students are asked to keep a log as part of their learning. For Kolb, it was very important for the individual/team to communicate to one another and discuss their learning.

Abstract Conceptualisation: This is the process of making sense of what has just happened. The individual/team makes comparisons between what they have done and what they already know and reflect upon this. When teaching, this would be the point where the students “give something”. Fore example, the theories or facts they have come up with based on the information they have been provided with, or more formally, present their findings to the rest of the class.

Active Experimentation: This is the final stage of the cycle and a chance for the individual or team to out what they have learnt into practice. It also leads them onto make predictions of ‘what happens next’. This is key part of both learning and reflecting because it is reflecting upon your learning that leads you onto where you will next take your learning and then cycle would repeat. In teaching, especially in say drama, give the learner the opportunity to use role play to express what they have learnt throughout the lesson. Or more simply, homework!

Looking back over my ‘Reflective Practice’ in both my online blog and private journal it would seem that I am reflecting on reflections.

“Reflection can happen while you are in the middle of it; reflection-in-action, 

or,

 reflection can happen looking back on it; reflection-on-action” 

(Schön, 1987)

When teaching, I often find myself adapting choreography to suit the capability of the children. This is a prime example of me ‘reflecting IN action’ in order to make the most out of the lesson and also get the most out of the pupils. One argument could be that I should know the standard the class are at before entering the room and so therefor should have planned an appropriate class, but everyone knows that there are always “off-days” or just wanting to push the class that bit further and this is why I feel, particularly in the teaching profession, reflection-in-action, is a vital part of the learning. I say “learning” because at the end of the day or lesson, you go away and use reflection-on-action and see what it was you had to change. You then use the experience for the planning of the next lesson.

“A reflection in a mirror is an exact replica of what is in front of it. Reflection in professional practice, however, gives back not what it is, but what it might be, an improvement on the original” (Biggs, 1999). In other words, reflection is not simply acknowledging the events that took place and where we might go next with the information we have and what may become of that, but it is a transformational process.

Task 2b: Reflective Writing Task

So it’s been quite a while since my last blog and although it has slightly hindered my blogging process a lot has happened recently which has somewhat aided my journal writing experience. One of the main things being that I have been asked to choreograph a dance for a national schools dance competition. Whilst not the next ‘Ghost Dances’ it is a still “A new and exciting learning process for both me and my students” (Amy, 2013). 

The first style of writing I tried was ‘Description’. I did what was asked and “described” the day in quite a detailed narrative, saying what had happened and what the main events had been, however, my account seemed to contain very little self-reflection of my own reactions. I would touch upon fragments of my emotions but would not continue to explore them further. As I researched more into this style of ‘Reflective Writing’ I found a quote that summed this up precisely, “There may be references to emotional reactions but they are not explored and not related to behavior”, (Moon, A Framework for Reflective Writing). This text further explores different methods of writing and separates, ‘Descriptive Writing’, ‘Descriptive account with some reflection’, ‘Reflective Writing (1)’ and ‘Reflective Writing (2)’. 

Although I criticized the lack of reflection in my ‘Descriptive Account’, I do feel that out of all the styles, this is the one that came most naturally to me, as would it appear in many of the other blogs I have read on this topic. That being said, it could be further developed as a reflective method by incorporating more of my emotional reactions throughout the day.

The next style was ‘List’. This was a quick and straight to the point account of the day but consequently lacked detail you would get from a ‘descriptive’ journal entry. Looking back and reflecting on the journal entry I made in this particular style, I seemed to include lots of small occurrences that happened through the day. I did the lists in bullet point form and found that one bullet point would lead to several more. In some ways this would be a good choice of layout, for example, for an inquiry, but in terms of detailed account of my day, this method would not suffice. From reading the Handbook, I ‘googled’ the site www.listography.com, this is a site you can join and upload lists of whatever you want. One example I read was just a list of movies someone put up entitled, “Movies to watch”. This is a nice idea and another expansion of ‘Web 2.0’ with everyone sharing their opinions/views with, well everyone! However personally, this is not something that wold interest me because I do not feel that I would have a particular use for it.

From here, I went on to explore the style of ‘Evaluation’. What I thought went well. What I learnt/discovered. When writing this felt very similar to ‘Description’ and upon reflecting on this I think that when I wrote in the descriptive style, I was perhaps doing it in a more evaluative style anyway. I read some blogs of past students and one in particular stood out where he had stated that he was strict on himself in terms of what he wrote in his journal in order to stick to the style. I think I should have done this too. I found this style a lot more fluid as it enabled me to include how I felt the day went in both a productive and constructive way. “Today I taught a new warm-up involving different timings and change of direction. The students found this challenging at first but in a positive way and after doing it a couple of times, there was already a huge improvement. It also made me feel good as a teacher because I could see I was pushing them, but they were enjoying it at the same time”. (Amy, 2013). This is just one example of how, in my journal, I was evaluating the point I was making.

Moving onto, ‘Graphs, Charts and Diagrams’. For me, this in no way helped me reflect on any part of the day and when I look back, it hardly even makes sense! I wrote on one blog that I could perhaps use a graph or chart to represent my energy levels or stress levels in comparison to what it is I am doing, and on another blog I noticed they had drawn pictures and diagrams describing what had happened in their day. But to me, this just seems a very time consuming approach and would leave little in terms of detail when they go back and look at the events had taken place. On the other hand, many people find it soothing and relaxing and sometimes easier putting how they feel into a picture rather than writing down the words, there is also the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” but I shall leave that one to your own interpretation as to whether or not you agree...

The idea of ‘What If’, was almost like writing a fairly tale as my brain seemed to forget about the bad side of things and always just wandered to what could be the best possible situation with the perfect “happily ever after” ending. As nice as it was to use my imagination and let my creativity flow, unfortunately, I was soon brought back to reality and well, that was the end of that!

Finally, writing in the style of, 'Another View’, I found very, very difficult. It’s hard to imagine how another person could view your day or, on a bigger scale, life and it felt really strange trying to see it from a different point of view. As I am currently teaching at a secondary school, I thought it may be quite interesting to write from the perspective of one of students. Or from one of my colleagues. On doing this it came to my attention that the majority of my day would be spent alone (when I am not teaching that is) and although that is not necessarily a bad thing, on a social front, perhaps a could make more of an effort to speak to people. This sounds silly writing it down but I think I could try this particular method again as it helped me learn something that I wouldn't usually even think about. 

I think learning something about myself was definitely the main outcome from this task. Taking time to sit down and reflect is a huge part of learning and moreover without trying something new like this, I wouldn't have learnt anything. Out of all the styles, O would try ‘Another View’ again just as a kind of experiment but in terms of the style of will most regularly be writing in throughout my journal, I think would be ‘Evaluation’ just because it is what I am most used to and how I would naturally tend to write. I do like using lists and so would use them if making short points I wanted to remember but at this point in time I cannot see myself thinking to use the other styles of writing.

A Framework for Reflective Writing

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CE8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tawasol.org%2Fdownload%2Ffile%2F340%2F&ei=tqiKUtWYFY2qhAfBsIGYAg&usg=AFQjCNGxKUXQzt9EpokIh2651ShkEDyOkg&sig2=fXKJaLr_DVcP5qyjS7wYBw&bvm=bv.56643336,d.ZG4

Listography

http://www.listography.com