Practice Story for Unit 2: Reflective Practice (Practice Context)

Dempsey (2009) points out that reflection is a normal human activity. We often think about what has just happened and how it affected us. However, reflection is a core competency in teaching and should therefore be more purposeful (Bauer, 2010; Dempsey, 2009). In this practice story I will explore different kinds and frameworks of reflective practice in relation to my own experience as a dance tutor and in lecturer in disability studies.

Reflection in teaching requires thought about why and what I am doing in the classroom? With what impact? How is it working and how can I adjust what I am doing based on feedback that I receive? (Bauer, 2010). In addition, Dempsey points out that reflection is dependent on motivation and moral agency that leads to action, improvement of practice and better consumer outcomes. Motivation and moral agency involve being aware of our own beliefs and values, and understanding the impact of these on our actions (Dempsey, 2009). For instance, when teaching the models of disability I may have clear preference for one over another. I therefore might paint the preferred model in a better light rather than teach the two models objectively. By reflecting on this preference I can plan to teach the benefits and limitations of both models of disabilities.

Donald Schön developed three types of reflection in the 1980's and 1990's that is 'reflection on action', 'reflection in action' and 'reflection for action' (Dempsey, 2009; Atherton, 2005):

Reflection-in-action involves 'thinking on your feet' and happens in the here and now of the activity. This type of reflection gives rise to spontaneous action (Dempsey, 2009; Atherton, 2005). Recently in a dance class I had the class warm up using a parachute activity. The students held onto the edges of the parachute and worked together to lift it high in the air to allow one or two class members to quickly run underneath before it floated back down. I encouraged everyone to have a go, however I noticed some people were holding back. Then and there I made the decision to count people off; then I called out a number so that students ran under the parachute in small groups. I realised that some people in the class were too self-concious to do the activity on their own but felt willing when there was safety in numbers.

Reflection-on-action occurs after the fact and involves thinking through a situation that has occurred in the past. This is used as a means of evaluating the experience and deciding what could have been done differently (Dempsey, 2009; Atherton, 2005). Bauer (2010) encourages reflection-on-action by evaluating the lesson plan after each class. Questions to ask include: how easy was the lesson plan to execute? How did the students respond? What will I continue doing and what would I adjust? In addition to these questions, I have started to consider Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle when evaluating my lesson plans. As a reflective tool, Gibbs offers a model that highlights the continuous cycle of reflection-on-action. The reflective cycles involves:

• Describing what happened,
• The feelings and thoughts I had at the time and afterwards, 
• Evaluating how the class went, were there any issues, were the issues resolved?
• Analysing the class - what sense can be made of the situation?
• Drawing conclusions - what else could have been done?
• Creating an action plan - if the situation occurred again, what would I do?
• Once I had the opportunity to put the action plan into place I would then begin the cycle again, starting a description of what happened.
  (Gibb's 1988 cited by The University of North Hampton, n.d.)

I tend to reflect on most of my lesson plans, but I have never followed a specific model. I naturally followed a process of reflection similar to Gibb's (1988), however I did not reflect so much on feelings and often skipped the analysis phase, going straight to drawing conclusions. The Gibb's (1988) reflective cycle has assisted me to think more deeply and more broadly about my teaching practice and situations in class.

Creating an a plan for future action (the last part of Gibb's reflective cycle) can also involve Reflection-for-action. This is the desired outcome for the first two types of reflection. When preparing for a future action, draw on past experiences of similar situations, and by critically analysing the current situation with a view to making a critical decision about the action to be taken (Dempsey, 2009; Atherton, 2005). Bauer (2010) encourages reflection-for-action by suggesting teachers analyse end of term course evaluations to discover trends and patterns over time. A teacher can ask, what areas do the students perceive they are doing well on? Which topics am I delivering well on?

I'm looking forward to doing receiving end of term course and teacher evaluations so that I can begin to create action plans for next year. This is my first year teaching the Disability Studies course at Polytechnic, therefore gaining perspective on the course as whole and what changes need to be made for the following year will be really valuable. One draw back is that I only three students, therefore finding reliable trends and patterns in the evaluations will be difficult.

Is reflective practice something that you do by yourself or do you need other? Chris Trevitt (2007) offers four useful lenses through which we can practice critically reflective teaching that involves reaching out to our students, our colleagues as well as our own minds:

1. Our autobiographies as learners and teachers (self-review). This lens is about placing our selves in the role of the "other" so that be begin to see our teaching from the perspective of what our students experience. In this lens we become aware of "untested assumptions" that require further analysis (Trevitt, 2007). Recently, I was thinking about the students understanding of certain terminology I often use in my class, such as stereotype, stigma and discrimination. I realised that I have never actually discussed the meaning of these terms, rather, I assumed that my students would have already learnt this at some point. I have come to the conclusion that I need to investigate the possibility of including a session or two on common terminology used in disability studies.
2. Our students’ eyes (student review). When asking for feedback from our students we need to be prepared to listen. At times, we may be reassured by what students have to say, however at other times, we may find that students are interpreting and making meanings of the content beyond what we intended (Trevitt, 2007). I have not asked explicitly for students to feedback on my teaching before. One method that appears to be simple and fun for students is the Stop/Start/Continue exercise. This tool can be used to collect feedback on reading materials, learning activities, teaching methods and the use of technology (Strobino, 1997). To employ this tool, direct students to draw three columns on a piece of paper a label one of each - stop, start, and continue. In the start column students write down any instructional practices, polices and behaviours they would like the teacher to start doing. In the stop column students should write down elements the teacher should stop doing and in the continue column any elements the teacher should continue. The teacher can then collect and summarize results, and feedback to the students in the next class.
3. Our colleagues experiences (peer review). Having conversations with trusted 'critical colleagues' can prove very useful as these conversations can help us to explore new ways of seeing and thinking about our practice (Trevitt, 2007). There is a regular forum for peer review in my role as a dance tutor. The co-ordinator for the course and all of the dance tutors meet once a week to reflect our classes that week, to ask for feedback and ideas from others and discuss our plans for the following week. However, this is not something that is automatically structured into the disability studies course I am teaching at Polytechnic. In the latter context I need to be more proactive about approaching colleagues and engaging in conversations about my teaching practice.
4. Theoretical literature (benchmarking). Continuously reviewing relevant theoretical literature allows us to discover multiple perspectives, and expand our vocabulary and understanding of our practice (Trevitt, 2007). Completing the certificate in tertiary teaching this year has given me the opportunity to review relevant theoretical literature on adult education. Once I have finished this course I need to set myself a goal of continuing to read literature and finding professional development opportunities so that I continue to discover and learn about the multiple perspectives on teaching practice. 

Reflection is an important task in developing as a teacher and ensuring my students receive the best possible education. I have discovered that reflection is more than writing thoughts and ideas down after each lesson, but involves how I reflect and act in the moment, and long term strategies such as analysing course evaluations. Reflection also involves self-review, student-review, peer-review and benchmarking. Limitations in my own reflective practice includes student-review and peer-review and therefore are elements I need to give more consideration and action. 

References
Atherton, J. S. (2005). Learning and Teaching: Reflection and Reflective Practice. Accessed 1st September 2014, retrieved from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/reflecti.htm

Dempsey, J., French, J., Hillege, S. & Wilson, V. (2009). Fundamentals of Nursing & Midwifery: A Person-Centred Approach to Care. Broadway, NSW, Australia.

PSU World Campus Faculty Development (2010). Become a Reflective Practitioner - Bauer [YouTube]. Accessed 1st September 2014, retrieved from URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWnpsiwmups

Strobino, J. (1997). Building a Better Mousetrap. The Teaching Professor. Accessed 19 September 2014, retrieved from URL: http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/survey_modules/stop-start-continue.pdf.

The University of North Hampton (n.d.). Practising in-depth reflection - Gibbs' Model of Reflection. Resources for Personal Development Planning. Accessed 19 September 2014, retrieved from URL: http://pdp.northampton.ac.uk/PG_Files/pg_reflect3.htm.

Trevitt, C. (2007). What is critically reflective teaching? Oxford Learning Institute, University of Oxford. Accessed 4th September 2014, retrieved from URL: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7300353051857141819#editor/target=post;postID=3756691672246412604;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname