2C - Reflective Theory

What is reflection and why?

The day to day activity we engage in gives us information that we can draw from - experience (BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3730 - Reader 2, The Reflective Practitioner - 2011/12). 

Every day we are engaging and subconsciously learning from new experiences, I am interested to learn how scholars believe we can 'turn our experience into learning' and what tools we can use to do this, growing as a professional practitioner this seems key to our growth - learning is developing.

Reflection is a key tool for our development, and I personally reflect on a daily basis, learning how to improve, looking at experiences from a different perspective. 

At the start of this module I would reflect on all of my blogs and my creative passions and began to create ideas for task 1C - my video.  Using previous life experiences to gain ideas for a video that I wanted to reflect both me as a person, my personality and my passions.  I learnt from experiences at work, reading articles, studying photography, visiting exhibitions etc – all of which when I came to plan my video I had to reflect upon to help me start. I have learnt new experiences along the path of life all of which help me every day, as every day one is reflecting and learning.

In my current profession I use reflection in the process of creating and designing, but at what stage do I start to learn?  Using Kolb’s learning cycle (Kolb, D, A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall). I believe my learning style starts at the point of abstract conceptualisation – working it out in my head first, before getting on with the task in hand.  I then move on to active experimentations, concrete experience and then reflective observation.  Using my previous experiences through life whilst training, working as a performer and now in my current profession has defined my learning cycle to me – this is my grounded style and the way I am used to working across any situation.  I have to gain an effective understanding before I can continue.

I think Howard Gardner’s theory of using multiple intelligences (Gardener,1983) to engage with understanding and learning is really interesting as it validates a number of ways in which one can ‘turn their experience into learning’ – there is not one method by which we all must learn which makes reflection more abstract and interesting.  Gardner’s intelligences includes,

• Spatial
• Verbal-linguistic
• Logical-mathematical
• Bodily-kinaesthetic
• Musical
• Interpersonal-understanding people and relationships
•  Intrapersonal-relates to one’s emotional life as a means to understand oneself and others

Gardner believes that we should not limit our learning, and pigeon-hole ourselves to be one kind of learner introducing the idea of multiple lenses (Gardener, H. (1983). Frames of Mind : the theory of multiple intelligences. New York, Basic Books).  In my opinion this is wholesomely refreshing, as everyone can relate to at least one or more of the above intelligences, making our learning and development more expansive, we have more tools to draw experiences from be it spatial, verbal or musical – we have more to reflect on and therefore more to learn and grow from.  “They give value to the different ways we can engage with real world experiences” (A, Adesola (2011/12) - BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3730 - Reader 2, The Reflective Practitioner).

Throughout my career as a performer I was subconsciously using Donald Schon’s theory of ‘reflection-in-action’ (Schön, D, A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass).   I responded to what was happening as it happened, reflecting automatically at how my body moved using my musical intelligence.  In comparison to my current profession, where I am more inclined to use reflection-on-action, I gather information and brief out ideas, complete a task in hand and then go back to tweak and refine it.  I completely agree with Dewey’s temporal distinction of looking at how time impacts on how you engage with new ideas – the present or future being 2 distinct and different ways to engage with experiences )Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience, New York, Minton).

 You will reflect differently on an experience in the present ‘right here, right now in comparison to how you will reflect in ten years time.  Both develop our learning and I think is a really interesting concept to look at, as in the future your maturity has developed, you will have gained more life experiences and will reflect using different intelligences.

From the reader, I found the extract below from Twyla Tharps’ Creative Habit (Tharp, T & Reiter, M. (2006) The Creative habit : learn it and use it for life : a practical guide.  New York. Simon & Schuster.) hugely interesting and has actually helped me recognise the difficulties I initially had in reflecting when changing career paths.

‘...muscle memory.  Automatic. Precise. A little scary.  The second time through, however, or trying to explain the steps and patters to the dancers, she will hesitate, second-guess herself, question her muscles, and forget.  That’s because she’s thinking about it, using language to interpret something she knows nonverbally.  Her memory of movement doesn’t need to be accessed through conscious effort’

As a performer I completely associated myself with the above reflection, as a dancer your body helps to talk for you ‘non-verbally’, yet in my profession - buying I have no muscle memory to reflect on whatsoever.  I have to reflect on current experiences in an entirely different situation, therefore using different reflection techniques.  This transition was difficult for me to initially accept and understand as I spent so many years relying on my non-verbal reflection that now needed to be physically articulated and communicated.

Initially I was not convinced writing a journal was the most effective way of voicing a critical reflection, but after some research I stand corrected.  ‘Journals promote reflection on experience’ (BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3730 - Reader 2, The Reflective Practitioner - 2011/12). 

David Boud (‘Boud, D. (2001) English, L. M. & Gillen, M. Promoting Journal Writing in Adult Education, Eds.Education No. 90. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 9-18.) concludes that we can capture experiences, record events, explore feelings, narrate something of importance – it can be viewed as a form of self-expression.  Individuals can use journals to enhance their own learning – turning experience into learning, we are exploring experiences in order to learn new things from it.

Any events provide the base material for journal writing and reflective practice, be it events from the past, mundane day to day activities, workshops and exhibitions, the list is endless!

‘In learning terms, the journal is both the place where the events and experiences are recorded and the forum by which they are processed and re-formed.  This working with events is intended as a way to make sense of the experiences that result, recognise the learning that results, and build a foundation for new experiences that will provoke new learning’ (‘Boud, D. (2001) English, L. M. & Gillen, M. Promoting Journal Writing in Adult Education, Eds.Education No. 90. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 9-18.).

The above highlights that we can reflect and learn from every experience, utilising it in every professional practice.  One can look at past experiences and emotions and recognise what factors were used in gaining this new experience to learn and grow from it and use it subconsciously in future experiences. 

Bibliography

A, Adesola (2011/12) - BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3730 - Reader 2, The Reflective Practitioner.

BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3730 - Reader 2, The Reflective Practitioner - 2011/12

Boud, D. (2001) English, L. M. & Gillen, M. Promoting Journal Writing in Adult Education, Eds.Education No. 90. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 9-18.

Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience, New York, Minton.

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Gardener, H. (1983). Frames of Mind : the theory of multiple intelligences. New York, Basic Books.  

Tharp, T & Reiter, M. (2006) The Creative habit : learn it and use it for life : a practical guide.  New York. Simon & Schuster.

SchÖn, D, A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.