Task 2A ‘Reflective Practice’ and 2C ‘Reflective Theory’

Task 2A ‘Reflective Practice’ and 2C ‘Reflective Theory’

As I began writing an introduction to task 2A I found myself linking the Theory I had read in the Reader to the task of Journal writing. The theory I read taught me more about the task and what I would learn from it.

Initially when I read the task in hand I was unsure of how to approach it. As somebody who deals with most situations and tasks in life in my head, the concept of sharing those thoughts and writing them down in a journal style intimidated me. Keeping a journal is something that has never appealed to me purely because I don’t feel I would have anything to put in it. I recall my skype induction with Paula Nottingham in which I discussed with her the difficulty I find to express what I feel or think into words. Paula asked me to give her an example of a conversation I had with a colleague that day. When I told her the conversation we had she found an array of topics and opinions which could be reflected on and unknowingly things I had learnt or could learn from such an ordinary conversation. I found it fascinating that what I found to be normal in my life could actually be of interest and aid learning in others. This is when I realised I really should reflect more on my past and present experiences in order to turn experiences into learning; "Find meaning and give meaning to what we are doing". By writing down my thoughts and feelings I will be able to physically flick back to any point or event in my life and learn from it.

Task 2A asks us to keep a journal to explore your own thoughts, in a format appropriate to your needs. Simply by looking back on my notes from the very start of the BAPP course it has become evident to me that I have to brainstorm, highlight, illustrate text and make notes which make sense to me personally in order to allow myself to fully understand the tasks set out in the course. I have used this tool for learning since school, through my A Levels, Diploma and in my current studies. Before now I never thought about the ways in which I learn however I can see at this moment that I have always subconsciously used reflection and adopted ways of learning that have worked for me in the past.

Although this learning style works for me it will be very interesting to see if any of the other suggestions for Journal writing in the Reader work for me also. I will try out and evaluate each of the styles.

There is an assumption for many people that thinking and writing are linked. “Writing is a means of puzzling through what is happening in our work and our personal lives…” Boud (2001). This maybe because the main way that we share ideas in today’s world is through written text – books, blogs, texts, letters. It will be part of my professional development to puzzle through’ ideas and find ways of thinking that work best for me.This is where I begin to write my Journal to which I will come back to for Task 2B as I discover the eclectic styles of Journal writing.

Reflection is about active thinking and active looking for ways to understand the real life activities you engage in. It is a way to find meaning and give meaning to what you are doing.

Reflective practice is key to a number of professions, particularly those involved in a process of change such as Performing or Medical professions where the techniques, knowledge, demand and continually updating technology enhance the way we work, learn and progress.

Reflection is vital where Work Based Learning is concerned as it is the experience of doing something that will give you knowledge. Finding the knowledge that we are missing is the first step of understanding what we don’t know. In order to find the knowledge I am missing I need to experience and drive myself to do things out of my comfort zone for my own self development.

Having read reader 2, I discovered the different methods and hypotheses that theorists had written about in order to establish what we perceive as Reflection and its importance. I realised that there are many different ways of learning and as such different types of ‘learners’ evident in Howard Gardners (2005) article illustrating Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic learners as “Multiple Lenses”. By using this term he depicts that you should not be limited or labelled as one type of learner but instead use each ‘lense’ as a tool for understanding how you and others learn. He believes this will give value to the different ways we can engage with real world experiences. I particularly related to Gardeners concept of Multiple Intelligences as experience tells me that I learn from experience by engaging in these different intelligences.

From reading through various articles I feel as if I have almost ‘found reflection’ in a sense of relating ways of learning to my own experience. I always understood that you learn from experience, even from a young age if you were to touch something hot you learn not to do it again because it will hurt. When reading John Dewey’s reflection as ‘education as an experiential action’ I learnt that by “continual reorganisation, reconstruction and transformation of experience” we learn from doing/experiencing. (Dewey 1916).

Alongside learning from ‘doing’, David Kolb put forward the extended theory that there are 4 main ways of learning:

Concrete experience, Reflective observations, Abstract conceptualisation and Active experimentation.

This concept seems to strengthen my learning from multiple intelligences. Whilst thinking about my own teaching practice, the question that arose in my head were: Do I reflect throughout the class or does the reflection happen after the class? I began to look at Lewin’s idea of a ‘staircase of learning’ and Kolb’s idea of a learning circle, the idea being that the point at which you start to learn and find meaning is your entry point into the circle. An example of these concepts in my own personal life is evident in the production of my blog. At the start of the BAPP course I learnt about blogging using reflective observation – looking through other peoples’ blogs. I think I will use this predominately throughout the course as by evaluating others ideas, thoughts and knowledge I was able to find inspiration to aid my own learning.

Staircase

• Action
• Planning
• Evaluation
• Action
• Planning (Research)
• Fact Finding
• Idea

David Kolbs Cycle Analogy

Where you enter the cycle is determined by the point at which you 'realise'/start to learn something new or notice that knowledge is missing.

Alongside reflective observation, an important vice for my personal learning and development is through active experimentation. For instance, whilst choreographing I will try out ideas and if they work I will keep them or if they don’t work I will look to adapt or completely change the original idea. Through this action I am learning by trying out ideas. I see there being a fine line between active experimentation and concrete experience as both involve doing the action. It will be interesting to try other learning styles and evaluate the outcome. 

Relating these theories to my own life has made me realise that we are constantly learning both in action and after the action has taken place. When I look back at past actions ‘reflection-on-action’ I find it easier to reflect on my experiences with more knowledge and understanding than I would have done in the present moment. As dancers however we have to adapt and change in the present moment all the time, correcting choreography, alignment, performance and technical skills which illustrate ‘reflection-in-action’. We have to be able to do this as it would be less beneficial and simply not time effective to reflect back on the moment days, weeks or months later. Reflection-in-action is essential for performers as usually we are on a strict time scale for rehearsals and curtain call!! Robert Kottcamp supports this by saying reflection-in-action is harder to achieve but more powerful for improvement. Kottcamp put forward Donald Schon's idea of reflection-in-action as 'online' and reflection-on-action as 'offline'. He depicts that the latter "results in online experiments to adjust and improve one's professional actions".

Having made a connection with these trains of thought and practice in my own life I found further interest in Osterman and Moon’s discussion of Tacit knowledge. I found this to be very significant in my work both as a Dancer and Teacher of Dance. I find myself reacting in the moment frequently. Whilst training you continually adapt choreography and learn from on the spot mistakes for example if you were to lose balance on a turn you change what you are doing to regain stability. Similarly in teaching, you will not always be able to stay strictly to your lesson plan. The lesson is essentially teaching and guiding the students in their learning; thus if they need a longer amount of time to grasp the choreography or need a longer warm up as their muscles are aching or even if the students have questions, then it is sometimes necessary to change and adapt what you are doing in the moment hence ‘online’.

Tufnell, Tharp and Moon have agreed that reflection does not necessarily have to take the form of a written process, but that being able to articulate and communicate it is fundamental. “Without a sense of the body, of sensation and feeling, we lose connection to what is around and within us, to the immediate and present moments of our lives” (Tufnell and Crickmay, 2004). How something feels is crucial to our learning and professional development. As Tharp explains, we are so in tune with our ‘muscle memory’ as dancers that “her memory of movement doesn’t need to be accessed through conscious effort” –it is something that is already there. Having learnt and taught a warm up known to our college as the ‘Bodywork’ warm up it has become muscle memory and my body takes me from one movement to the next without having to think and register the movement in my head. I also find this happens in show pieces which you have been working on in rehearsals. The choreography becomes second nature allowing you to focus on your performance, presence and facial expression on stage as well as the minor and intricate details of the dance. I find great understanding in the point made my Polanyi that “we can know more than we can tell”. When choreographing my audition solo I would lie down and close my eyes to envisage choreography fitting to the music. Why these movements worked for me and why somebody else lying next to me listening to the same music would see something different I can’t express. It is knowing more than we can tell – what works for YOU. It can be extremely difficult to pass on to someone else the vision in your head. How they do something physically and how they looked doing it in your head can often be very different. Once you have passed that information on the information is almost ‘second hand’. With the help of reflective practice I hope to find new ways of communicating and developing as a professional.

Even though an individual may have one preferred method of learning, it is important to understand that an amalgamation of all learning styles is likely to be beneficial. Despite the fact that reflection, even if unknowingly, evokes learning, it is realising that you use it which opens up windows of opportunity for learning in new ways. It is the exploring and learning which enables this professional development.

Fox Martin and Green suggest that “What the practitioner research decides to do in a given situation will be determined by what he or she believes to be the ‘right’ thing to do… Professional practice is underpinned by the judgements that professional make based upon value-based knowledge” (2007). When considering ‘reflective thought’ or more recently referred to as ‘critical thinking’, it is our professional practice that will be determined by the judgements we make as professionals in terms of our knowledge of values.