Sunday, 31 January 2016

My Respons to Finlay (2008)

I found Finaly's (2008) reading 'Reflecting on Reflective Practice' really insightful from the first words on the page. What especially resonated with me was the main question/idea - what really is reflection? Since the beginning of my journey into education we were always told to reflect, reflect, reflect. I remember being given a short tutorial on the Smyth (1991) model and told 'go'. As an 18 year old about to go into my first practicum I remember feeling pretty anxious about the whole situation. What did it all mean? Would other people read it? How deep did I need to go? I also think that if I am honest with myself (and you the reader) I still feel some apprehension about the whole process!

Another point that I can relate to is that question of  what do we need to reflect on and when? The idea I could see helping me with this question is Dewey's thinking on the problem and having a trial and error approach (1933) and also Schon's (1983) reflection on and reflection in practice. When reflecting I definitely try to use my prior experiences in order to help me in my future practice.

Am I using a model?

 At our school we use the computer programme Appraisal Connector. This is to encourage and enable us to be more reflective in our practice. It is set with a space to write our reflection and then align it to the Registered Teacher Criteria. Professional Development was given to teach us a little about the mindset of a reflective practitioner and how to use the programme effectively. However it was just given as a tool and the space for our reflection remained blank until we could put our words down on paper. As previously mentioned my only tool for reflection at this time was the Smyth model given to us in 2007 at the University of Auckland, so with a using what I know approach Smyth got the call up.

Figure 1 http://michellefepuleai.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/reflecting-on-reflective-practice-for.html

However in a one size does in fact not fit all I found this structure quite restricting in what I could do and would often just write the title of each section in bold leave an unthoughtful comment underneath and tick it off my appraisal to do list. It carried on this way for quite a while until I came across Borton's Model (Mindlab 2016). As seen below it has a three W approach. I have found this model incredibly helpful as it has really made me critically think about what I have done, what I am doing and where I am going to take my practice next. I will continue to use this model for now as this is what I have found the most helpful in actually being 'real' with myself and actually being reflective.

Image result for burtons reflection
Figure 2 http://myreflectivepracticejuanes.weebly.com/burtons-model.html


Mindlab (2016).  Reflection Models.  Retrieved from: https://app.themindlab.com/media/8209/view
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