Reflecting on my Reflective Practice Week 17
When I first began thinking about the way I reflected, I
thought I did almost all of that reflection in my head, introspectively, by
myself, thinking about my day, and deciding how things went and what future
changes I would need to make. Upon further reflection I believe I do this
equally with others, whether it is with colleagues, students, at Leadership or
Syndicate meetings or with the Community. I still believe that ultimately,
these thoughts have to resolve themselves in my head, but that majority of this
learning happens as a result of collaborating with and supporting others, and
in fact being supported. I am able to do this quite frequently due to my role,
where I get to appraise staff, and be a voice in strategic and evaluative
meetings, as well as an advocate for students and their community. All of these
decisions impact a multitude of stakeholders, and I am using a combination of
‘reflection-in-practice and reflection-on-practice’, as explained by Shon
(1983) as cited in Finlay (2008), to support decisions.
I believe I spend
a lot of my ‘reflecting in action’, a
term cited by Finlay (2008) in Schon (1983) where I always slowing myself down,
before engaging in situations ensuring that I am able to stay focused, and
(notice) the responses, and non-verbal feedback of the person/people I am
engaging with. I must admit that I am much more capable when this involves
students, moving ‘rapid reflection’ and review’, which are 2 of the 5 levels
identified by Zeichner & Liston (1996). I need to evaluate further the
engagements with students to analyse further what makes those interactions so
much smoother. Maybe I need another pair of eyes/ears or critical feedback into
this inquiry.
I also love hearing people’s stories, especially during
Appraisal feedback sessions or Practice Analysis Conversations, as I believe I
feel free from writing, and am just able to listen, and quite frequently am
able to revoice a colleagues voice, or find a different perspective that proves
helpful to them in their quests. While I find this satisfying, I do struggle
sometimes, in that there is no ‘set’ formula to this, and can be hit with the
fear or ‘what if I blank?’, but am slowly beginning to believe my own mantra,
about not having to have all the answers, and that sometimes that pair of ear,
with undivided attention, may be enough.
I find that my reflections with students and in groups
are a lot more fluid, and responsive, calling on previous knowledge to support
choice, especially when there are more than one other person in the room. I am
not always able to do that, when there is just one other adult or if I have to
write it down. Maybe I am not able to get past my own bias, or inability to
move past trying to ‘impress the other person, possibly linking to my upbringing
and own education experience, where a student was always ‘on show’, and maybe
the writing it down, for me, is still a bridge too far. I will have to use this
opportunity to do this more (Written) and hopefully through the use of this
Blog, and the work that we are doing on Critical Reflection, with evidence, and
investigation cultural bias, that this aspect of my reflection will grow.
REFERENCE LIST:
Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open. ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner.
Zeichner, K., & Liston, D. (1996). Reflective Teaching: An Introduction (Reflective Teaching and the Social Conditions of Schooling Series).
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