Task 2c: Reflective Theory

In this blog I will be discussing critical thinking and reflective theory. I will be looking into well known practitioners of reflective theories, comparing them and finding out the opinions of other practitioners. In reader two it states 
"learning from experience' is a process of turning information into knowledge"

As a teacher, and a work based learner reflecting on myself and what I do plays a big part in my work. In order for me to keep progressing, I need to constantly reflect on everything I do. However it wasn't until recently through doing this course that I found the best way to do this... through my journal. 

Critical thinking is to be able to think rationally and clearly. To do so, you need to be logical and understand the connection between ideas/theories. The subject of critical thinking has been up for debate for a long time, some even dating back to Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates. To be able to think critically you need to engage in independent, reflective thinking. Therefore if you are critically thinking properly you will reach the best possible solution for your reflection/practice.

There have been many theorists on reflective practice. All who show various ways of thinking and reflecting. But they can have similarities between them.

Kolb
David Kolb invented 'The experiential learning cycle', which looks at the four stage learning cycle, in this the learner is required to touch all of the sections. You can see the cycle below:

As you can see, the four stages are:

• Concrete experience: this can be a new experience of an event, or a reinterpretation of an experience.
• Reflective observation: this is looking back on what you have experienced and reviewing it. 
• Abstract conceptualization: from your reflection you may think of another idea or a modification.
• Active experimentation: you then apply these to your practice to see the results. 

From this, you can see how the cycle can definitely be ongoing. I feel when I have used this I learn most from the active experimentation process, as I can see clearly my new ideas and if they are working or they aren't. 

Kolb also discusses different learning styles. He has 4 ways of learning:

• Diverging - feeling and watching
• Assimilating - watching and thinking
• Converging - doing and thinking AC/AE (find solutions to practical issues)
• Converging - doing and feeling CE/AE (intuition)

Adding these to the experiential learning cycle, will help you develop further. Typically there would be one that you are more inclined to learn through. But using all styles can definitely help you progress so much further, and recognizing others learning styles (especially when teaching) is really helpful, as you will know how to engage all your participants. 

Dewey

John Dewey believed that reflection was a further dimension of thought. He see's reflection as purposeful and rational using careful consideration of any supposed forms of knowledge or beliefs. This includes a conscious effort to find a strong basis for support your knowledge and beliefs by thinking rationally and finding evidence. By using different forms of knowledge and levels of experience it shows Dewey's willingness to apply rationality and emotional concerns, it enables people to use his theory in even the modern world today. 

Schon

Schon focused on understanding the development of professional practice by using rational reflection. His main argument focuses on the idea that theory within practice is driven by reflection which could lead onto a state of expertise. This then lead him to create the two terms 'reflection-on-action' and 'reflection in action'. Below is a diagram which illustrates the two...

As you can see, there is a clear difference between the two. Reflection-in-action is where you reflect while the event is occurring, as a teacher I find I do this the most, by thinking on my feet a lot of the time. Whereas reflection-on-action is done after the event. 

Quite a few people disagree with Schon's theory, Linda Finlay has said this could prove to be difficult for busy professionals short on time, and doing reflective practice this was could easily make you fall into reflecting in unthinking, bland ways. I see Schon's theory as quite simplistic, which could work for people just starting out on reflective practice. 

Boud

"Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull over & evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is most important in learning."

Boud, Keogh and Walker (1985.)

Boud's reflective theory is based upon exploring a wider range of 'experiential dimensions'. Dewey looks at emotions specifically in reflection and Schon the opposite. So Boud decided to look at combing the two and more. Therefore in his practice we are to reflect on an event and record it, then consider both cognitive and emotional levels of that. From here we can re-evaluate and then plan changes for the next time. He seeks to avoid dehumanization throughout he practice. These steps can be shown in his 'Triangular Representation' which covers 3 basic steps:

• What?
• So What?
• Now What?

Using these 3 steps you can quickly and easily reflect on an event that happened. However you can also use it to go as in depth with your reflection as you like. 

Moon

Jennifer Moon discovered her '5 ways of learning' as you can see here:

• Stage 1: Noticing (you find something important or interesting during the event)
• Stage 2: Making sense (you look more into what you have found to try to understand it better)
• Stage 3: Making meaning (you ask questions and try to connect ideas together)
• Stage 4: Working with meaning (you link this to other events/ideas, this is where learning by reflection is starting to take place)
• Stage 5: Transformative learning (you have reached the point where you can use more of your own ideas, you would know what to do in a similar situation in the future)

Moon believes that reflection and learning cannot happen without the other. You either reflect so you can learn from it, or learn as the result of reflecting. Moon believes in all manner of ways to reflect, but each one will be a different result of reflecting, for example, writing in a journal as a description would show different perspective to drawing a picture to reflect. Moon says that reflection is not a straight forward process whatsoever, and this I can completely agree with. 

Roffey-Barensten and Malthouse

"It is the thoughts that occur to us during our day-to-day living, perhaps following a different lesson or a particularly challenging student. It is the thoughts we cannot put down after a difficult encounter with an aggressive student or the muses we choose to have when we feel we could do better and try to work out exactly how. After these events you may think about the situation in terms of what went well and what did not. You could consider the behaviour of the students or how well a particular exercise went."

Roffey-Barensten and Malthouse use the idea of common sense in their reflective practice as you can see from the above quote. Between them they introduced the '10 benefits of reflective practice.' Below is a summary of each:

• Improving your teaching practice (where you reflect on lessons each time, either with good or bad, you are able to reach solutions to improve each time.)
• Learn from reflective practice (there is a range of evidence to show deep learning taking place. Therefore making the different connection in reflective practice can gain new learning in teaching.)
• Enhancing problem solving skills (you may tend to concentrate on problems which arise, by considering and analysing honestly you will improve you problem solving skills.)
• Becoming a critical thinker (this is about taking charge and thinking well to help you adjust and see what to take into account in different circumstances.) 
• Making Decisions (you will find you need to make decisions about what to do next. This could include a number of choices which could be difficult. The more you reflect the more simple these choices become.)
• Improving your own organisational skills (as you progress in reflective practice can reach into various aspects of your work. Using the steps/stages of reflective practices you will be able to organise yourself better.)
• Managing personal change (through our careers our work can become very stressful, however reflective practice is a calm way of thinking, therefore you will be able to think more positively, and so managing your work will become easier.)
• Acknowledging personal values (you will wholeheartedly agree or completely disagree with aspects during work. reflective practice is a way of seeing both and carefully thinking through this, from this you will be able to make the right choices.)
• Taking your own advice (you can become your own worst enemy in your workplace, constantly criticising your own self/work. Through reflective practice this allows you to become more confident in yourself and the way you think.) 
• Recognising emancipatory benefits (after going through the last 9, by this point you should recognise that these will enable you to approach your work with confidence and be able to make the correct decisions.)

As you can see, there are so many theories for reflective practice. There are so many more practitioners and theorists out there, this is just a select few. From the theories that I have found, you will notice that most overlap in one way or another. Due to this, I will take the parts that suit me most and will continue to write with various influences in my work. After reading through these theories I had noticed that I do use a lot of their practices in my work already, without even realising I was doing so. I have enjoyed researching this subject, and will continue to do so further in order to improve myself as a professional practitioner.