Reflective Writing Task

Before I even began tackling  Reader 2 - The Reflective Practitioner, I isolated the word reflection in a bid to establish what this really meant to me. I took its definition into a physical sense:

'The change in direction of a wave, such as a light or sound wave, away from a boundary the wave encounters. Reflected waves remain in their original medium rather than entering the medium they encounter.  According to the law of reflection, the angle of reflection of a reflected wave is equal to its angle of incidence.'

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Though a very wordy explanation, I then explored the imagery it created and stumbled across an array of visual definitions, and have decided shared these:

I feel that the contrast and comparison in the way reflection is shown between the images, imitates how we use it cognizably and as feedback in our own personal lives. In many ways we can become so wrapped up in the 'critical' part that we forget the real beauty 'reflection' can entail.

Feeling I had a more in depth grasp on how I felt about reflection in use as a reflective practitioner, I began to explore the theories behind it as part of Reader 2 - The Reflective Practitioner. The idea that reflection begins as an experience is one which never occurred to me, even more so in the form of education. John Dewey believed that this played a key role in developmental reflection, stating:

'Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.'

I further went on to discover Donald Schon's theory, who in essence was a development on John Dewey. His book, The Reflective Practitioner (published in 1983) challenged practitioners to reconsider the role of technical knowledge versus "artistry" in developing professional excellence. I researched this title and found these short articles, analyzing and delving into this matter further:

'Schön's book remains interesting today as a pioneering attempt to explore the boundary of 'hard' and 'soft' thinking, the role of observation and reflection in professional practice, and the limits of academic thinking (based on Aristotle's primacy of the intellect over other forms of knowing). His examples are simply and clearly described, and his arguments based on them are stimulating and informative. That he didn't come up with a theory of everything isn't something we should hold against him. This is a book that professionals in all disciplines should find worthwhile. It has already undoubtedly triggered many useful lines of thought in both research and practice.'

(c) Ian Alexander, 2001, 2009

'A practitioners reflection can serve as s corrective to over-learning. Through reflection, he can surface and criticize the tacit understandings that have grown up around the repetitive experiences of a specialized practice, and can make new sense of the situations of uncertainty or uniqueness which he may allow himself to practice.'

'When a practitioner reflects in and on his practice, the possible objects of his reflection are as varied as the kinds of phenomena before him and the systems of knowing-in-practice which he brings to them. He may reflect on the tacit norms and appreciations which underlies a judgement, or on the strategies and theories implicit a pattern of behaviour. He may reflect on the feeling for a situation which has led him to adopt a particular course of action, on the way in which he has framed the problem he is trying to solve, or on the role he has constructed for himself within a larger institutional context.'

Af: Birgitte Michelsen

As I read on I learnt, moreover, the theory of Jennifer Moon, where by she articulated 'journal writing' as a key tool in recording our reflections. While researching her I also came across Gibbs (1998) model which I felt thoroughly simplified the action of 'critical reflection':

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Steph_Gib_Model.jpg

Once familiarizing myself with the format in which I now believe possible to 'critically reflect', below I have posted an extract from my journal applying these techniques:

Wednesday 22nd February 2012

Today I begin on a new journey within my career. I have realised that in order to be a successful performer you need to be able to turn your hand to everything and anything to ensure a constant flow of work. I am teaching a free jazz class to a group of 16 and 17 year old girls, of which I am finding the prospect very daunting. I have prepared a playlist, and have a rough idea of all the exercises and order of which I wish my class to run, but also completely remember how 'unorganized' it can become dependent on who walks into your class.

Upon reflection of my teaching I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Though I did not complete everything I had scheduled for the class, I was able to improvise and incorporate other exercises I felt would be of more benefit for the girls at the time, for example; they were unable to turn effectively to execute a convincing pirouette. This being the case I identified the problems being:

* The spot

* The arm positioning

* The impotence and effort into the turn 

And slowed up the tempo of the music until each dancer had grasped the technique. The feeling watching each student improve was so enthralling and uplifting. I feel I completely surprise myself in how much control I gained over the class, and how confident I was in correction. Though to improve upon for next time, as I am adapting more so to the style and personality of the girls in my class, I will be able to taylor the lesson to suite them better from the word go!