Perspectives on Reflective Practice: Evidence from the Literature

See http:// http://reflectivelearningwithdigitalmedia.pbworks.com/ This wiki has been set up with numerous resources on reflective practice using digital media located on the wiki. These will also be added to the Lilly conference proceedings.

Stephen D. Brookfield Ideas about Critically Reflective Practice

In explaining what it means to be a critically reflective teacher, Brookfield (1995, p. 1) reminds us that teaching is far from being an innocent activity since “the cultural, psychological, and political complexities of learning and the ways in which power complicates all human relationships (including those between students and teachers) confound our best intentions. Not only is it challenging to be fully aware of our actions and their effects in the classroom, we cannot assume that the meaning and significance we place on our actions as teachers are understood in the same way by our learners. Therefore, teachers must have a critically reflective stance towards their practice as educators.

Reflection becomes critical when educators consider (a) how power undergirds and distorts the educational process, and (b) how to challenge our own untested hegemonic assumptions to uncover practices that appear to make teaching easier but actually work against our own long-term interests (Brookfield, 1995, p. 8). Hegemonic assumptions are those that we think are in our own best interests, but have been designed by others who are more powerful to work against us; they have, however, become so embedded in our practices that we can no longer identify the oppression or disenfranchisement contained within them. It is therefore necessary that a teacher have a well- grounded philosophy of practice about what he or she does and why.

Examples of hegemonic assumptions include beliefs about teaching as a vocation or calling that justify an overwhelming workload to our own physical and mental detriment; being overly invested in student evaluations to the point that we berate ourselves for anything less than perfect ratings; attempting to meet everyone’s needs (an unattainable standard); and assuming that the answers to our teaching dilemmas can always be found if we locate just the right resource. Examples of mistaken assumptions about power in the classroom include use of the circular seating as a democratic form of participation, not accepting that shy or timid students can be terrified of such an “exposed” classroom stance; failure to intervene in discussions by viewing our sole role as facilitators of learning without offering the benefit of our experiences to learners, in essence withholding our own points of view from students or assuming that we are equals with students. As much as we might like to consider ourselves equal in many dimensions of practice, the classroom is always infused with the power position of the teacher.

In his 1995 book on Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, Brookfield offers four lenses we can use to better grasp the true nature of our teaching practice to become more critically reflective. These include strategies for examining our own autobiographies, both as learners and teachers; learning to see ourselves through our students eyes; accessing our colleagues’ perspectives on our teaching; and examining the theoretical literature for alternative interpretations to our experiences.

Among the strategies suggested in his writings, Brookfield has developed two tools for teachers as well as learners to use to engage in critically reflective practice: the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) and the Critical Practice Audit. In addition, he has created a series of questions to guide journal writing as reflective practice. Perspectives on Reflective Practice: Evidence from the Literature

Donald Schön’s Ideas about Reflective Practice

Schön’s (1983; 1988) seminal writings on reflective practice defined a unique relationship between the learner as apprentice and the educator as coach. Sufficient challenge and support are necessary to scaffold the learner towards increasing levels of competence, particularly within the gray and “messy” areas of professional practice in which definitive answers to confronting problems are rarely clear cut. Schön described reflection as three types: (a) reflection-on-action, in which the learner reflects on an action past and engages in retrospective sensemaking; (b) reflection-in-action in which reflection occurs as an attempt to “stop and think” in the midst of action, a time during which action can be modified; and (c) knowing-in-action, the most tacit of reflective processes in which knowledge is embedded in the action itself, rarely considered at a conscious level.

Respect for Schön’s ideas within the adult education field led scholars, including Brookfield (1995; 1997), to develop educational practices to promote critical reflection. Brookfield’s critical incident questionnaire (1995) and critical practice audit (1997) are attempts to structure the reflective process through writing and thus make explicit that which is often tacit.

David Boud’s Ideas about Reflective Practice

David Boud and his colleagues, Rosemary Keogh and David Walker (1985) have described reflection as a process of turning experience into learning—a way of re-examining the messy and sometimes confusing nature of experience in order to learn new things from it. This definition of reflection implies that the raw, unprocessed material of our experiences in the world can lead to sensemaking when we focus on the thoughts and emotions that accompany our experiences (Boud, 2001). Journal writing, Boud asserts, is ideally suited to such personal exploration, whether it is undertaken as an informal personal activity for its own sake or as part of a structured learning experience.

Many others who write about reflective practice would agree, and paper journaling has a long history in higher education. Reflective journals have been employed by educators to deepen the quality of students’ learning by (a) promoting critical thinking; (b) encouraging a questioning attitude, enabling students to understand their own learning processes (metacognition); and (c) strengthening active involvement in learning through personal ownership of the learning experience (Boud, 2001; Moon, 1999). Reflective journaling has been shown to contribute to the exercise of voice (Peterson & Jones, 2001), and the narrative nature of journaling has been shown to contribute to development of a professional identity (Blevins, 2007; Redman, 2005).

REFERENCES FOR THIS SUMMARY OF PERSPECTIVES ON REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Blevins, D. G. (2007, Summer). Story telling or storied telling? Media’s pedagogical ability to shape narrative as a form of “knowing.” Religious Education, 102(3), 250-263. Boud, D. (2001, Summer). Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 90, 9-17. Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). (Eds.). Reflection: Turning experience into learning. New York: Kogan Page. Perspectives on Reflective Practice: Evidence from the Literature

Brookfield, S. D. (1987). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brookfield, S. D. (1997, Fall). Accessing critical thinking. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 17-29. Carter, T. J. (2010, in press). Blogging as reflective practice in the graduate classroom. In K. King & T. Cox (Eds.), Teaching with digital media: Best practices and innovations in higher education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publications. Moon, J. (1999). Reflection in learning and professional development. London: Kogan Page. Peterson, E. A., & Jones, A. M. (2001). Women, journal writing, and the reflective process. In S. Imel (Series Ed.) & L. M. English & M.A. Gillen (Vol. Eds.), New directions for adult and continuing education: No. 90. Promoting journal writing in adult education, pp. 59-67. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Redman, P. (2005). The narrative formation of identity revisited. Narrative Inquiry, 15(1), 25-44. Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York

The conference wiki for this session: http://reflectivelearningwithdigitalmedia.pbworks.com/ This site will remain up and available after the conference.