Week 17: Part 2 - Reflection on my previous post regarding my reflective practice.
It has been about a week since I wrote my first post about my reflective practice. Since then I have spent sometime mulling over the post and have some more thoughts about my reflective practice.
Firstly, a critical reflection of my reflective practice was definitely not what my initial post was. It was, in effect, a simple summary of my reflective practice to this point. This realisation made me question the depth of reflection in the posts I have been putting on my school blog. I went back and looked at those posts and realised that the majority of them are also simple summaries.
So, what is it that I am missing? What do I need to do to ensure my reflections are meaningful and bring about new learning and change in my practice?
As I mentioned in my previous post, reflection for me is very much 'rapid reflection' and 'repair' as discussed by Zeichner and Liston (cited in Finlay, 2008, p.4). I am missing the depth of thinking or reflection that comes about from taking the time to review, research and re theorise and reformulate which sit at the higher levels of Zeichner and Liston's (cited in Finlay, 2008, p.4) five levels of reflection.
I think what I need to use is a model of reflection. A reflective model will guide my thinking and move my reflection from the what, when, and who descriptive thinking towards a more how, why and what now type of reflection. As Fewings (2015) states, "If reflective practice is to become anything more than random navel-gazing, it is advisable that the reflective practitioner employs a particular process or model."
So, what models are out there?
Fewings (2015) talks about a simple approach that asks series of questions:
- what worked well?
- why?
- what did not work well?
- why not?
- what will I do the same next time?
- what will I do differently next time?
For me, I think these questions may still result in a less reflective reflection. I need something similar but with more depth.
Peters (1991, pp.91-95) cited in Fewings (2015) talks about four step process, called DATA:
- describe
- analyse
- theorise
- act
I like this process but I think I need something with a little more guidance.
Brookfield (1995) talks about reflection using four critical lenses:
- our own view
- the view of our students
- the view of our colleagues
- the view of current educational theories and research literature.
I think Brookfield's four critical lenses would be a very useful reflective model as it encourages the user to consider of the viewpoint of others as well as themselves.
Gibbs (1998) created a model of reflection:
The step-by-step nature of this model with the questions to support the action is something I could use to support my reflective practice.
I think the use of Brookfield's reflection model combined with Gibbs step by step directional model could be what I need to ensure my reflections are more than ' random navel-gazing'.
Fewings, J. (2015). Brainboxx:Models of reflection. Retrieved from http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/ReflectionModels.htm
Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. The Open University.
