Critical Reflection

Reflection is something I have been doing for a few years in my profession without realising. Although I may not have gone into deep thought on my reflection at the end of the day, I have still come home and discussed my day with my family around the table, or rang a friend to chat about our days. Without realising this is reflection. Some days more than others I would talk about my day, if it was a good day I would think why was it a good day? And if it was a bad day I would think how can tomorrow be a better day?

Since starting reader 2 my relationship with reflective practice has become more bold. I am aware each day that the events that happen have reasons behind them, I am aware to improve them if all is not going well and I am also aware that you can improve on the go, for instance reflection-in-action which leads me into what I would like to talk about next.

David Schons theory written about reflection-in-action stood out to me straight away. It is something I realised I already do in my teaching practice but something I wanted to add more into everyday life. In the classroom I am now fully aware of reflection-in-action at all times, my way of doing this is taking a step back, looking at the class and thinking at this moment in time is this technique with my class working? Are all students fully engaged? Or do I need to change anything? Although before reading reader 2 I do believe that I already used this, I also think I did not use it to the best of my ability. 

I recently read Emily Richards blog and noticed that her critique on reflection in terms of David Schons theory is very similar to mine. I believe as teachers we are having to adapt daily in order to keep the students coming back to your lessons. Emily's blog matched up so well with what I wanted to write, it was nice to see that people can have similar opinions to theories. In Emily's blog I especially enjoyed reading her section on Kolbs learning cycle, at the end Emily wrote 'Never assume you know everything, reflection is a great way to grow.' This inspires me to keep growing as a person and it also proves to myself that reflecting daily on my professional practice is helping me grow into who I aim to be. 

Reflection in anticipation when reading Bouds theory made me sit back and think. Using teaching as my profession this is also something I have been using. Although it may not have been in thought in my professional practice it now is. As a teacher you use reflection in anticipation on a daily and weekly basis, especially with class planning. Before I go to teach on a Thursday I will spend Wednesday night planning what I want to do with my class in order to achieve what I want them to, or what techniques I will use to keep them interested in the whole lesson. Although reflection in anticipation is not just used as a teacher it can be used before an interview, before an audition, before you head out for the day. My thoughts on using it as a teacher in my professional practice is that it helps you be organised and ready for whats ahead of you, and if all fails you have reflection-in-action to fall back on and keep going. 

'One must understand what is being defined in order that one judge for oneself accuracy.' 

(Mcfee 1992)

The above quote I found on Jessica Dinmore's Blog, another blog I read to see whether we had similar critiques or not. First of all I loved her explanation to how each theory worked or didn't work for her. On Jessica's blog I noticed she connected really well with Moon's theory where as this is the theory I feel I least connected with. It is always interesting to read why something has worked for one person and not worked so well with somebody else. I think it all depends on your daily events to whether each theory will work for you. Although I am saying I did not fully connected with Moon's theories I also can say that some quotes of his left me inspired. 

'To enable learners to understand their own learning paces.' (Moon)

'To enhance the professional practice or the professional self in practice.' (Moon)

When researching some other theories about reflection I came across a quote that I really liked. 

Here it is below. 

Lambright (1995)

When reading this I believed this is something as a teacher you aim to do. You aim for you students to go from unclear to clear which gains them more knowledge. I believe that as a teacher you play a big part on a students future as education is there core. Reflection has played a big part in my professional practice without even realising, and now I am more aware, and keen on using some of the theories in my practice I hope I can only keep growing and also help the students grow and build too. 

References

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http://skillsforlearning.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/preview/content/models/02.shtml

https://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/thought.htm

http://mdx.mrooms.net/pluginfile.php/729979/mod_resource/content/2/Reader%202%20WBS3730%20BAPP%20Arts%202016-17.pdf