Applying Reflection
Reflection is a crucial part to the learning process and is necessary for effective learning and teaching. As a student one must use the reflective practice to better understand the way one learns, as well as what was good and bad about previous work, in order to improve the quality of future work. The reflective practice from an educator’s perspective requires one to examine what was working and not working with lessons and the class. In both circumstances, reflection is a form of self-awareness. Learners that use the reflective practice are better able to understand themselves and the learning process. Being able to reflect can enrich ones learning and deeper ones achievements. Rogers observes, “Reflection on experience to action forms a large part of the learning process” (1996, p.109).
The process of reflection enables a practitioner to evaluate, identify with and gain knowledge through experience, sustaining a possible improvement and transformation in not only the classroom but in the individual that participates in reflection. The process of reflection is a positive action that lets one review, analyze and evaluate in order to develop as a learner and a teacher. The capacity to reflect upon practice helps to evaluate needs and plan to meet those needs, enriching teaching and learning skills. This paper will provide an overview of experiences I had while using the reflective practice: one from the vantage point of being a student and then later as being an educator.
Student Reflection
As a high school student, I did not participate in the reflection practice at a deep and profound level. The most reflection that occurred was a what grade did I get and how did I miss that number. I do remember atte...
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...vironment of open communication and collaboration” (Osterman & Kottkamp, 2004, p. 182). An educator must be able to trust colleagues to voice their thoughts in a positive manner that will advance the teaching methods. Teaching and learning is a symbiotic relationship, where one cannot teach without learning. The reflective practices allow a teacher to become a learner.
While I always said, all great teaching is learning I never lived the philosophy. I was a good learner and a good educator I did not become a greater learner nor a great educator until I combined the two and really understood the quote. As an educator, it is important to allow learners to have a voice in the classroom that targets their needs and styles. Learners are a vital importance to the teaching process, not just in bodies to fill a room, but also as actively engaged partners in the process.
The intention of this written essay is to demonstrate an understanding of my views on reflection and the issues surrounding reflective practice. It is based on nursing skills that I used during my practice placement, most importantly reflecting on the professional value of privacy and dignity.
Reflection, as explained by Moon (2013), is the process of looking back on an event or experience and thinking about it and learning from it. Reflection, which is learning through experience, is not a new concept. As humans, we naturally reflect on our surroundings and experiences on a day to day basis in order to make sense of them. (Norman, Vleuten and Newble, 2002). In a professional context, reflation is vital for a practitioner to learn and improve their practice. By using their own experiences, practitioners are able to analysis, and in turn, adapt or improve specific areas of practice
One reason for Reflection being used is to give practitioners the chance to change an aspect within their setting, which they feel can be improved in order to help the development of children within their practice. Reflective practice is about improving practice and coming up with theories to support the improvement (Holmes, 2011, p.7). Reflective practice using critical reflection will allow the practitioners to identify what they do well and what they need to improve on within their Early Years settings. It can also give practitioners the opportunity to develop their professional identity, and work at improving their working environment (Forde et al, 2006, p.65, 66). By allowing practitioners the chance to improve their working environment, it can have a huge influence on the children and their development within the Early Years. For example, a teacher looking back and being reflective over their lesson, will allow them to make amelioration for when they teach that lesson again, thus leading to further learning development of the
Reflection is a key element of the human learning process. It can be used to justify aspects of practice and legitimise the knowledge gained from it, as opposed to traditional forms of learning.
Reflection is a process that begins with looking back on a situation thinking about it, learning from it and then using the new knowledge to help you in similar situations in the future. We need to evaluate through reflection to examine whether change is needed. We can then decide what action is needed and what we would do the next time we are faced with a similar situation. It might not necessarily be something you have done wrong, it may well be you were happy with the outcome of a situation you had some input into and would do again. It may have been something you did differently that had a positive result and
Without agreement on what reflective practice is, it is difficult to decide on teaching‑learning strategies. Reflective practice may be a developmental learning process (Williamson 1997), may have different levels of attainment (Wellington 1996), and may be affected by a learner’s cognitive ability (James and Clarke 1994), willingness to engage in the process (Bright 1996; Haddock 1997), and orientation to change (Wellington 1996). However, there does seem to be some agreement that critical reflection consists of a process that can be taught to adults. Brookfield (1988) identified four processes central to learning how to be critically reflective: assumption analysis, contextual awareness, imaginative speculation, and reflective skepticism.
As it mentioned above this reflective essay is based on the main theory on Reflection, which is the Honey and Mumford’s learning styles that was developed from Kolb’s work. This is based on four stages of specific styles of learning:
Reflection within early year’s settings and schools allows for the practitioner to think about the work that is being completed either whilst doing it or after it has occurred, the reflection allows for seeing how the work has gone or whether it needs to be changed for future practice. Schön is a key writer about reflection and illustrates the differences between reflection in action, reflection on action and reflection whilst completing the task. The above critical skills help all practitioners to develop understanding as they hugely impact on others lives, if this skill is not engaged in then practice could be effected (Leeson, 2004).
In today’s classroom, the teacher is no longer viewed as the sole custodian of knowledge. The role of a teacher has evolved into being amongst one of the sources of information allowing students to become active learners, whilst developing and widening their skills. Needless to say, learning has no borders – even for the teacher. One of the strongest beliefs which I cling to with regards to teaching is that, teaching never stops and a teacher must always possess the same eagerness as a student. Through several interactions with other teachers, I always strive for new ideas, techniques, teaching styles and strategies that I might add to my pedagogical knowledge. Furthermore, through personal reflection, feedback and evaluation...
(Howard & Lyons, 2014, p152) Being able to reflect on an experience including how you responded or felt and how you might do things differently if it were to happen again can help us to work through such situations. This can involve looking back and asking questions such as, ‘why did I feel like that?’ and ‘was there something I could do differently if it happened again? ‘Boud (2001 as cited by Moore et al 2011, p545) ‘describes reflection as the process of turning experience into learning that involves making sense out of what has occurred in our lives.’ Reflection can also be useful in terms of learning from experience and so help towards self-care and self-development. ‘Reflective skill is described as an ability to identify personal errors and make evidence-based decisions. Self-awareness and reflective skills are closely related in which self-reflection involves learning processes, whereas self-awareness becomes the objective of the process.’ (Siraj, Salam, Azmina, Chong, Saidatul, Faiz, Murnira, Kang & Nabishah, 2013,
The intention of reflective practice is to help the teacher/learning coach evolve and develop the quality of their teaching by the continuation of personal development. Although most teachers have done this for years, reflective modelling or methods have formulized a structure which can be followed and adapted to best suit their methods. It is an ongoing process which takes feelings and emotions into consideration and so it will not always have a definitive answer/ending. Since most models of reflection require subjective and objective thinking then there is a willingness to be honest to engage constant self appraisal. It asks that the teacher become flexible analytical and socially aware when addressing their chosen model of reflection.
For my assignment I have decided to choose a group which I have just finished taking for level 1 Hairdressing and they have progressed on to level 2 Hairdressing. This is within my current role as a hairdressing lecturer at Hugh Baird College which I have done since October. Within this group there are a couple of people who have support workers. There is one student within the group who has severe learning difficulties and is a more mature student. She also has many health problems which results in her having to carry an oxygen tank around for when she has any problems with her breathing due to her having problems with her heart. There is also another student in the class who has learning difficulties, she is very clever but just needs someone there for when she needs something explaining. She also has a support worker that comes in to give her support. This student has also been going through personal problems at home and has attendance issues. There is another student within this group who has severe dyslexia. She doesn’t have a support worker but the support people who are in there do give her help as she can have a tendency to give up, not to listen and just needs to be kept on track so by sitting next to a person that does have a support worker she gets the help from them. These three students have all had their level 1 qualification extended for a year were the rest of the group have progressed on to level 2 Hairdressing. Two of these students may progress on to level 2 but one doesn’t have the ability to be able to do this as the requirements are too high for her. The reason the course was extended for them was because they were struggling with the work that was required for this qualification, but as the col...
The reflective dimension is the journey of self-development through a critical analysis of one’s thoughts, behaviours and values. Reflection allows you to relate your inner self to the environment around you. It encourages social responsibility and constant improvement as you learn from experience and acknowledge success. (Olckers, Gibbs & Duncan 2007: 3-4) Reflection can boost learning by stimulating awareness of our feelings and practices. This allows health professionals to cope with unfamiliar circumstances and conflicts.
For instance, I have learned that just simply reflecting on what I am seeing in the classroom is not enough that I have to comprehend and gain knowledge about the classroom in a more profound and meaningful way, such as relating observations to theories and psychology studies. Also I have learned to reflect more deeply on what is going on around me, not just looking at what is at the surface. I took notes during my observation. I tried to not only write what was happening, but also why it was happening and tried to convey any thoughts or feeling the students, teacher or myself had. Lastly, in my reflection, I improved my reflection skills by asking myself questions, such as, “what would I do,” “how would I do it,” and “how would I react?” Then, I would reflect back on what I had learned throughout the semester to see if I could find the most appropriate
Teachers face a lot of daily choice problems, such as, how classrooms and curriculums should be organized, how students' behaviors should be interpreted, how learning time can be protected, and others. Sometimes these problems seem to be so ordinary that, the teacher needs to solve the problem automatically. But in the teaching process there are also complicated choices about difficult problems that, if left unaddressed, often increase. These difficult choices call for teachers to engage in sophisticated reflection (including self-reflection). Expert teachers tend to adjust their thinking to accommodate the level of reflection a problem situation calls for.