Activity 3: Responses to Finlay's (2008) article

Activity 3:
Responses to Finlay's (2008) article:

Reflecting on reflection

As I read this I kept thinking why? Why should I reflect? It came down to this: learners - us and the students. We should be aware of the impact we have on them and their impact on us. It made me think of this - Teaching as inquiry

(Ministry of Education, 2009)

As long as we reflect, it should be fine? But after reading this article, I realised we need to reflect on reflecting  - does the reflection work for us? Is it having an impact? What does it really mean to "reflect"?

Points struck me the most:	In which way?
Chaos and order: Finlay (2008) starts with a quote from Ghaye stating “reflective practice offers courage to work at edge of order and chaos” (as cited in Finlay, 2008, p. 1).	This quote resonated with me. Being in a 1:1 environment, it was chaos. It was like throwing out, re-examining, adapting old practice, adopting new practices and synthesising old and new. I felt that reflections organised my thoughts and feelings - I felt I was making order of the chaos.
Reflection as assessments: Students tend to adopt a minimalist approach, writing just enough to meet the requirement for a pass or even writing fictionalised accounts of idealised practice (Wellard and Bethune, 1996; Hobbs, 2007 as cited in Finlay, 2008, p. 14).	We recently introduced reflections as a record of their learning in our digital classrooms - it was an assessment. However, we were confused about why students/learners were reflections that weren’t thorough. It was just finishing task. What were we missing? When I read Finlay (2008) I understood what was happening. The learners/students were disengaged with the whole reflection process.They went from a very fixed mindset assessment obsess with academic success than a growth mindset of honest self-growth. Now that we know what is going on, we can think of ways to guide the students/learners through that. Another point Finlay (2008) makes is being too prescriptive with the way we reflect. Are we doing the same thing with the students/learners? Are we not getting the best out of them because we are being too prescriptive with our reflection methods? This was something I didn't think of before and need to reevaluate and change.

What reflection model suits me?

Level of Complexity		Explanation	Does this suit me?
	Schon’s reflection in action	Finlay (2008) describes this as reflecting while the situation is happening. You change your behaviour accordingly.	I reassess and reflect during a lesson. Although, this is useful method of reflection I find myself sometimes unable to pinpoint what to change exactly. The reflection is not accurate.
	Critical reflection	Finlay (2008) describes it as more than personal reflection and includes political and social analysis. It calls for social action change and be “aware of hidden power of ideas” (p.5). Brookefield (Finlay, 2008) talks about the impact of behaviour on self and on wider and social context.	I really liked this concept as I believe that reflection is worthless if there is no change or action. It becomes just words. I also like the idea that a person's reflection occurs within in a social group - no man is an island - their behaviours ( due to reflection) have an impact on their social group.
	Reflexivity	Finlay (2008) describes it having self-awareness, negotiated encounters, intersubjective reflection, conversations with others, social critique and examining the multiple messages of organisations(p.6).	What I really liked about this reflection is the inclusion of conversations with people as part of reflection. Often by talking to the right person you can obtain new insights. However, this concept has a hidden danger as Finlay (2008) describes. We can go beyond our level of expertise (Finlay, 2008, p.11) and offer something we don't know about. How accurate is the reflection then? There is also the ethical line - if we question institutions how can we question without being disrespectful and disregarding work that has been done before?

To ensure my reflection has an impact I have to think of what works for me? I agree with Finlay’s  (2008) argument one needs to personalise their reflection - choose a model that suits the learner.

There are a few criteria I want to look at:

1. Suits my learning style
2. Suits my writing style

Learning style:

The model I will be using is a critical reflection. I felt that I needed to go beyong personal musings and see myself in social context. This was something I needed to practice. When I have done so, I feel I have the confidence to tackle the contested and complex concept of reflexivity.  I still feel I haven’t grasp the reflection structure yet.

Writing style:

I waffle and I go on and on. I need a reflection that will structure my reflection but not too much. Finlay (2008) discusses how if it is too structured reflections became meaningless (p. 9). I was attracted to Burton's (Trinity, 2010) basic reflection structure. It allowed me to be free in writing in the confines of What? So What? Now What? Once I am able to grasp the structure I will continue to make it more complex.

And, of course, I'll have to reflect on my reflection model.

References:

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on 'Reflective Practice'. Retrieved from 
               http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting
               on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Ministry of Education (2009). Teaching as Inquiry. Retrieved from 
                http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Case-studies/Teachers-as-learners-Inquiry/Teaching-                 as-inquiry#1

Trinity, A. (2010, April 19). Reflection models. [Video]. Retrieved from 
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt0-2nucCMI&feature=youtu.be