The Importance Of Reflection

Metacognition is a complex notion that encompasses numerous mental processes in all areas of life. It is often simplistically described as “thinking about thinking.” However, there is no commonly recognized definition of metacognition. In his article “The Power of Reflection”, Stephen Fleming, a well-respected cognitive neuroscientist, agrees with the definition of metacognition given by John Flavell in 1970 as “our ability to evaluate our own thinking” (2). Fleming also accepts Flavell’s proposition that metacognition is “key to educational success”; indeed, the development of metacognitive thinking is vital in learning processes (1). Metacognition is a teachable concept, and has been proven to be crucial in education.

making Practice-Based Learning work Reflection on PRACTICE A resource commissioned by the Making Practice Based Learning Work project, an educational development project funded through FDTL Phase 4 Project Number 174/02 and produced by staff from the University of Ulster. www.practicebasedlearning.org Author Patricia McClure School of Health Sciences, University of Ulster www.practicebasedlearning.org contents Reflection on Practice 02

I feel strongly and I am convince that the fact that I had a headache and blocked sinuses affected my learning during the course time.

The aim of the reflective essay is to highlight my own personal development skills that I have developed during first semester of my module. However, in this report I will make sure my learning ability phase and what this module has allowed me to work and understand in improving my personal skills and purpose. My major aim is to develop and assess an in depth range of my personal traits as a student in order to endorse my future development plan.

Starting my journey through college again was a big decision for me. Being a single parent of two children, a homeowner, and holding a stressful, full-time job left me with little free time. However, I longed to reinvent myself and find a way to advance my career. Meeting personal goals to further my education outweighed the guilt I felt, as my children were not young any longer. I decided to make advancing my education a top priority. Discovering that when I have a goal my follow through is definite, but it is not always easy. What I overlooked as I headed down the path to fulfill my educational goal, was that stress has real health consequences.

John Dewey considered as the pioneer scholar who proposed the reflection as a tool for learning from experience. According to Dewey (1933), reflection is associated with a thinking about the experience or event which contains five steps in order to make sense of it and internalise meanings. These steps are; problem, suggestions, reasoning, hypothesis and testing. In the first step of ‘problem’, he proposes that we need to see big picture of the event which includes the actions, conditions and contextual factors of the event. As our actions operated in open system (social world), thinking about small entities may distract us to identify the real cause of concern. In this way, there is high probability to recognise and understand the perplexity of the event, resulting in more comprehensive action plan to tackle the situation. Schön (1983) argues similar notion by referring ‘discomfort/ surprises’ in actions, but he did that propose any strategy to figure out the actual problem or issue in action. There is a consensus in literature that reflective thinking is triggered by doubtful situations, discomfort (Dewey, 1933), surprise (Schön, 1983), inner discomfort (Boyed and Fales, 1983), uncomfortable feelings (Atkins and Murphy, 1993), critical point (Barnett, 1997) and issue in action (John, 2005; Boud, 2010) and many more. These are various terms used for the recognition of problem in practice that initiate the reflective practice in practitioner. It suggests that nature of

Intern met with resident K. Brown for the purpose of addressing her personal concerns and speaking with her about her community service hours. Kiara informed me that she completed her community service hours for the previous week. Intern asked her to verify the days she completes CS hours, and she stated Sundays and Wednesdays. Resident did express her frustrations by saying that she used to mess up with her CS hours, but she is really trying to do better. Intern advised her that another resident completes hers during that time, so she will have to do CS hours on Mondays and Thursdays or Mondays and Fridays. Intern also explained to her the importance of doing CS hours. It was explained that not only is this a requirement of the program,

Reflection can be defined as an active process that evaluates experiences, draws on previous learning and provides an action plan for future experiences (Kemmis, 1985). Kolb (1984) stated that reflection is required for effective learning to occur. Therefore, as a practitioner, reflection is a significant aspect of the role. This is because, a reflective individual is able to critically analyse their actions, allowing them to become self-aware. In turn, reflection gives them an insight of how they could have behaved differently to achieve a better outcome (Boud et al. 1985). The NMC (2015) advocates life-long learning by taking account of current evidence and knowledge. For this reason, without the constant application of reflection, health care professionals may find themselves practising, using outdated customs. In midwifery, it is our obligation to ensure that our knowledge is up to date. Additionally, it is vital that we are constantly challenging and improving our practice. This will ensure that women and families under our care always remain safe as well as improving the practice of midwifery.

As I began facilitating my scheduled students, a classroom teacher requested I also support non disable students not being serviced in the program including them in minor groups. Overjoyed with this innovative position, I knew instantly this was my calling to be an educator. The love of engagement of the lesson that reflects unambiguous communication between students and their peers, collaboration between teacher and student, motivation from students to students. In addition, I appreciated and accepted my newly found role, becoming euphoric when the Special Education Director employed my services in the summer of 2006. I carefully observed numerous effective and efficient teachers’ model positive curriculum lessons and strategies to students

Reflection is considered to be a process that can be developed to support continuous learning as well as personal and professional development. This can include the process of reflective writing as a means of capturing the thought and experiences (Ghaye,1998). A significant relationship is found between reflective writing and academic learning, as one can identify the need for self-development, critical review, awareness of individual functions and decisions. Reflective writing is valuable for students to identify their role when working with others (Anne Sen, 2010).

What concepts, principles, or ideas that you have learned, do you think you will remember the most after you leave this class?

Critical reflection is the process of probing our thoughts, feelings, and experiences in order to understand how they fit in with the ideas, concepts, and theories that are presented by others (Ryerson University, 2016). On the other hand, reflective practice is the cornerstone of critical analysis to construct meaning. As Brookfield (1998) stated, “critically reflective practice is a process of inquiry involving practitioners in trying to discover, and research, the assumptions that frame how they work” (p.197). In this paper, I will shed light on my personal critical reflection practice, how it helped me succeed in my higher education studies, and how critical reflection benefited me as a student and an individual.

Reflection is considered as a vital element of professional practice as it precedes to insight and then subsequent change in practice. The hypothesis of reflection is not new as it can be tracked as far back in the 5th century by the influential Greek philosopher, Socrates and to the 1930s primarily focusing on John Dewey’s work. Dewey is one of the founders of learning from experience. He theorised reflection as ‘active, persistent and careful consideration’ (Dewey, 1933) initiated by a specific situation which was opposing, perplexing or uncertain. One of its most common use today is coming up with a thought, an idea, or opinion made or an observation made as a result of concentration, suggesting in essence a way of thinking in which one looks back and meditate upon (Agnes, 2004).

For the past three years, my learning has been predominately influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. During my AS studies, my attendance in school dropped to 55%. Anxiety prevented me from taking part in: sleepovers, shopping and school trips, group work at school, birthday parties and holidays and as a result, it made me feel excluded from my peers, both academically and socially. However, throughout A-Level I received cognitive-behavioural therapy, which brought an understanding to my triggers. Mindfulness has also helped to alter my thought process and behaviour by teaching me how to zone out and put information into context.

To begin I introduced the learning intentions at the start of the lesson. Students were extremely responsive to this. Tim commented that chemistry was less ambiguous as he knew what the purpose was and what each class’ purpose was (Appendix P). Tim preferred when learning intentions were introduced at the beginning encouraging him to engage as he saw its purpose and how it connected with his life. For Mark, it gave him a purpose and he could understand the importance of each lesson (Appendix P). John enjoyed when learning intentions were discussed in the conclusion as it was an individual interpretation of what was important in the lesson (Appendix P). With all three students, I observed a greater level of engagement in class, especially during discussion around the learning intention. It allowed the lessons to look more closely at real-life context, which I think is extremely important, and this class discussions led. Utilising a sheet with learning intentions, students wrote what they knew at the start of the lesson and what they knew at the end (Appendix Q). This was an extremely valuable piece of formative assessment as it gave a direction for my next lesson, depending on what the students had learnt, and where there were still areas that could be covered in more depth. The class were more engaged in the learning and had more enjoyment and focus during lessons where the expectations of their learning were discussed. Students know their expectations and the purpose of