“Reflecting on reflective practice” by Lynda Finlay (2008)
This article got me thinking about when and how I reflect on my teaching pedagogy but more importantly what I am not doing when I’m reflecting. There are many different definitions of reflection and Finlay concludes reflection is a process that caters for us all to improve from previous experiences (Boyd & Fales, 1983).
What I found interesting in this article…
Effective Improvements: The idea of reflection for effective improvement sounds great! However what happens when one over reflects? I’ve noticed some people including students tend to over reflect asking questions such as, what if I did this, should I have done this and why didn’t I do that? This has led to being over anxious and stressed and therefore for these people this can present problems not effective improvements. I know for some students reflecting collaboratively in small groups is more beneficial to their learning.
Lack of time: Finlay mentions the lack of time professionals have due to constantly being busy and finding the reflection process too difficult and time-consuming. Reflecting on our practice is important and defiantly possess advantages for the learner and it needs to be critiqued to manage issues like this. I know I find it challenging to find the time to sit down and truly reflect on the day’s learning. Some days this is possible and others I’m having to make time at home for this to happen. It shouldn’t be this hard! I have learnt to reflect-in-action (thinking while doing) like most teachers to change the direction or continue with the learning because of student interest, observations, feedback, the learning outcome and this too is important, but time needs to be made for more focused deeper reflecting not over reflecting.
One Size fits all: There are many different reflective practice models that exist in today’s society and therefore there is no, “One size fits all” and “Let us not forget that the model is a tool, not a mirror.” (Gordon, 1984, p.243). After reading and learning about the different models used to reflect on practices or processes, I found Gibbs’ Model for Reflection, (1988) allows a simplified method for critically reflecting on practices.
Gibbs’ Model for Reflection, (1988) is a six step concept that each answer leads onto the next step. This model allows you to think systematically about your experiences and the simplistic nature of the questions allows for clear and precise understanding and you have a clear map of their experience(s). Gibbs model of reflection will be an effective tool to reflect on situations and environments to help me improve my teaching pedagogy.
Reference:
Boyd E & Fales A (1983): Reflective Learning: the key to learning from experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 23 (2) pp99-117.
Gibbs, G (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Finlay, L. (2009) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Knowingnursing.files.wordpress.com,. (2015). Retrieved 28 September 2015, from https://knowingnursing.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/gibbs.png
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