Task 2c. Reflective theory,

Task 2c. Reflective Theory

As part of Module 1 this task is about focussing on looking at what other people may feel and think about reflection and looking outward about those theories which people have created. I am going to be looking at how some of these relate to my own profession and which reflective practices fir within my own professional career. After researching and investigating the theories of Dewey, Schon, Kolb and Moon, i have found that i can relate to two different theories with being both a teacher and also a performer.

Firstly, as the role of a teacher the Kolb theory is something i can relate to. The Kolb theory was published in 1984 where David Kolb developed a four stage cycle. It is the idea of our learning/reflective cognitive process is something that has no end and is continuous within our lives. There is the idea that everyone enters the Kolb cycle at a different point within the four stages depending on their own learning and reflective style,

  

When I first started teaching I would say I entered the cycle at 'concrete experience' needing to gain my classroom experience and teaching different age groups as the start of my learning and growth. Experience was crucial as you learn a lot from your hands on experiences dealing with a number of challenging occurrences. It is the time within the classroom that has allowed me to adapt my teaching style such as behaviour management, every day you face a different situation. However, now a year on from my very first teaching session and with more experience under my belt, after looking and reflecting on the Kolb theory I have found my entry point of the cycle has changed.

I would say I now enter the cycle at 'active experimentation' because as my teaching experience has grown I now plan my sessions and classes at home from things I have learnt in the past and previous lessons, building and creating lessons around things I know will work and are beneficial to the students. This then goes on to 'concrete experience' as talked about above, which would mean for myself, delivering my planned lesson and 'having the experience' teaching the lesson. I then have to reflect on that class which takes me to the stage of reflection observation and abstract conceptualisation thinking about what worked well and things that I could of changed and improved. This reflection process will then help me to start the cycle again with planning my lesson around things I learnt and gained from that specific class enable to improve for the future.

Following further research into the different theories I have found that on the flip side, as a dancer and a performer I think the Dewey and Schon's theories link together to  best describe the learning and reflective process for this role. These two theories of reflection are primarily based on learning and reflecting as you experience it. As a dancer, we pick up choreography from our teachers and choreographers by watching them do it and then mirroring it. This requires quick thinking and reacting on the spot, for example, if I was to get something wrong I have to have the ability to react, respond and change there and then by covering up a mistake. This means we are reflecting as we are going through the experience meaning we are learning things from our mistakes without necessarily sitting down and writing about them.

 I also came across Sarah Persons blog from the course in 2012 and she had posted a 'which style of learner are you' quiz. My results were a visual learner which I would say is correct as a performer as I mentioned above, learning by watching and copying then having to reflect and react quickly. This links to Dewey and Schons theories by doing and experiencing in the moment. Doing and copying the dance links into being a visual learner because doing the movements as you see them (visual) is also the learning style of Dewey and Schon (doing and experiencing.)

Over the period of the last few tasks, I have mentioned in the previously about reflective writing I am finding it hard to reflect on a personal level regards to feelings and emotions. Looking into these different theories really have brought to light the importance of reflecting on thoughts and feelings. Whilst researching into various avenues over this task I found this-

'Boud and Walker were also critical that the level of personal disclosure required might be beyond the capacity of some novice teachers.  They point out that "it is common for reflection to be treated as if it were an intellectual exercise - a simple matter of thinking rigorously.  However, reflection is not solely a cognitive process; emotions are central to all learning." 

http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/Reflective.htm

 I have learnt that this is something I really do need to work on and need to include. This quote links back to task 2b. It is an aspect that links back and could be included in the reflective observation part of the Kolb cycle as well as considering it with in the Schon and Dewey theories regards to how you felt in that moment.